JWOC 2015: Norway with twelve athletes in the Middle Distance Final A

With the Middle Distance's qualifying heats, continued today in Norway the Junior World Orienteering Championships JWOC 2015. Straining all the twelve athletes into the final A, the home team is the great winner of the day, while Portugal stayed out of the big decisions scheduled for tomorrow.

Krossen, in Telemark region, Norway, hosted the second day of the program of the Junior World Orienteering Championships JWOC 2015. In a very detailed and technically demanding terrain, 158 male athletes and 136 female, representing 40 countries, participated in the courses. Divided into three heats each, male and female athletes discussed a place to the final, ensured by positioning among the top 20 of their respective boards. Norway, with twelve athletes, was the big winner of the day, while the individual triumphs in each of the heats belonged to the Swedish Simon Imark, Erik Andersson and Sarah Hagstrom, the Finnish Olli Ojanaho and Noora Koskinen and Sandrine Mueller, from Switzerland.

Among the sixty athletes from 26 nations qualified for the final A in the Men class, highlight Norway and Finland, with six athletes each. Sweden and Switzerland, with five athletes each and Russia and Denmark with four athletes each, complete the set of the most represented countries in the final. The New Zealander Tim Robertson, currently the World Champion in Sprint and the Italian Ricardo Scalet, silver medalist in last year's JWOC, are some of the names that will be present in the final, along with the north american Morten Jorgensen and the canadian Alexander Bergstrom, real surprises in this very particular list. Out of the finals are the Portuguese Daniel Catarino and André Esteves, as some other respected names, including the Swedish Oskar Leinonen and the French Quentin Rauturier.

In the women's class, the sixty athletes who stamped the passport to the final represent 21 nations, with Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and the Czech Republic placing six athletes each into the final. With five athletes in the final will be Finland and Denmark while Germany and France lead four representatives to the decisive stage. Among the best performances, the focus is on the Swedish Sara Hagstrom, shattering in her heat, leaving the second placed at a distance of more than three minutes. Who hadn't a good day was the Norwegian Heidi Martensson, losing about ten minutes on the first control, but eventually reaching the final for narrow margin. The surprises in the final gave by the the name of Amanda Johansson (United States) and Martha Guijo Alonso (Spain). On the negative side, a reference to the British Fiona Bunn (out of the final for just five seconds), the Finnish Karoliina Ukskoski and the Polish Angelika Maciejewska. Here too, Portugal saw its athletes staying out of the big decisions, with Joana Fernandes and Carolina Delgado ranked in the second half of their standings.

Results

M20A

1. Simon Imark (Sweden) 00:14

2. Sven Hellmuller (Switzerland) 24:54 (+ 00:40)

3. Jens Ronnols (Sweden) 25:46 (+ 1:32)

(...)

43. Daniel Catarino (Portugal) 37:47 (+ 13:33)

M20B

1. Erik Andersson (Sweden) 23:41

2. Markus Holter (Norway) 23:42 (+ 00:01)

3. Audun Heimdal (Norway) 24:49 (+ 01:08)

M20C

1. Olli Ojanaho (Finland) 00:49

2. Simon Hector (Sweden) 25:16 (00:27 +)

3. Alexei Yaganov (Russia) 25:52 (+ 01:03)

(...)

47. André Esteves (Portugal) 43:54 (+ 19:05)

W20A

1. Sandrine Mueller (Switzerland) 25:13

2. Anine Ahlsand (Norway) 25:37 (+ 0:24)

3. Simona Aebersold (Switzerland) 26:36 (+ 01:23)

W20B

1. Noora Koskinen (Finland) 00:39

2. Andrea Svensson (Sweden) 24:58 (+ 00:19)

3. Sigrid Alexandersen 25:57 (+ 01:18)

(...)

33. Joana Fernandes 42:20 (+ 17:41)

W20C

1. Sara Hagstrom (Sweden) 25:00

2. Niina Hulkonen (Finland) 28:10 (+ 3:10)

3. Lisa Schubnell (Switzerland) 29:01 (+ 04:01)

(...)

34. Carolina Delgado (Portugal) 44:32 (+ 19:32)

Full results and further information at http://www.jwoc2015.org/.

[Photo: Lars Rönnols]

Joaquim Margarido