Two or three things I know about it...

1. Regularity and consistency were the successful ingredients adopted by the Russian Anton Foliforov and the British Emily Benham towards the victory in the MTB Orienteering World Cup 2015. Virtual winners at the entrance for the last stage held in Liberec, during the World Championships, both athletes managed to renew the titles achieved in 2014. Anton Foliforov triumphed with 290 points, corresponding to four wins and one second place. The two other major starts of the season, the Finnish Jussi Laurila and the Italian Luca Dallavalle, finished in the immediate positions, at 44 and 68 points, respectively, to the winner. With 60 points, Davide Machado was the best Portuguese, finishing in the 32nd place. Three wins, one second place and one third place offered to Emily Benham a total of 275 points and the victory in the Women's World Cup with a five-point lead on the great revelation of the season, the Czech Martina Tichovska. The French Gaëlle Barlet finished in the third position with 246 points. See the final standings at http://ranking.orienteering.org/WorldCup.

2. The Finnish TrailO Championships took place last weekend. With maps and courses designed by Lauri Kontkanen and supervised by Antti Rusanen, the competition attracted to Selsien Siku about sixty athletes fighting for the TempO and PreO national titles 2015. The first day was dedicated to the competition of TempO, with Risto Vainio being the winner with 515 seconds. Faster than the winner but less accurate, Martti Inkinen was the second placed, with 28 seconds more than Vainio. With an incredible average time of 5,77 sec/point, Jari Turto was the fastest of all, but the 11 wrong answers in the 44 challenges of the course dictated the final third position, with a total of 584 seconds. By winning the PreO competition, Jari Turto was again in first plan on the second day. In a hard fought course - the first four finished with the same number of points, serving as a tie-breaking factor the time spent in the timed controls - Turto only failed the last of 44 controls, with the 14 seconds spent in the timed controls giving to him the national title, beating Jani Leppäniemi by one single second. Ari Tertsunen finished in the third position with 23 seconds in the timed controls. Complete results and further information at http://www.trailo.fi/sm-kisat-2015/.

3. On the weekend of 15th and 16th August, the Unofficial European Cup in TrailO 2015 had in Bollnäs, Sweden, its fourth round. With courses designed by Lennart Wahlgren, the stages made on both days offered an exciting challenge for the 49 participants from 6 different nations that attended the "deep forests" of Hälsingland county. On the first day, were four the athletes who finished tied in the top of the table with 19 points from 20 possible. Thanks to a fantastic performance in the timed controls, the Norwegian Lars Jakob Waaler imposed to the Swedish Ola Jansson, second placed, and to the Finnish Ari Tertsunen and the Swedish Robert Jakobsson, ranked third and fourth respectively. The second stage saw the Norwegian Sigurd Dæhli share with the Swedish Erik Stålnacke the first place, both with 22 points of 23 possible and 16 seconds spent in the timed controls. The Finnish Ari Tertsunen repeated the third place with one point less than the winner, despite being the fastest in the timed controls, with 9 seconds only. At one round for the end of the Unofficial European Cup in TrailO 2015, Martin Jullum continues in the lead of the overall standings, but the weak performances in the fourth round put in question the revalidation of the title by the Norwegian, allowing his most direct opponents shorten distances and stand themselves also well placed to reach the final victory. Jullum has currently 159 points, 8 points more than the Latvian Janis Rukšans and 25 points more than the Norwegian Lars Jakob Waaler. The Swedish Marit Wiksell was also below the expectations on this round and get down one place in the table, being now the 4th ranked with 131 points.
 More information at http://orienteering.org/events/?event_id=439.

4.
 With a total of 3520 points, the Finnish team of Kuntokeskus Huippu, with Petteri Muukkonen and Hannu-Pekka Pukema, won the Rogaine world title 2015. Held for the first time above the Arctic Circle, at the stunning landscapes of the Urho Kekkonen National Park, in the Finnish region of Saariselkä, the 13th edition of the World Rogaine Championships WRC 2015 was contested by 374 teams from 21 countries. In the second position, with 30 points less than the winners, were classified the team of Estonian ACE Adventure Team (Silver Eensaar and Rain Eensaar), while the third place fell to another Estonian team, Salomon, consisting of Timmo Tammemäe and Rait Pallo. The victory in the women senior class fell to the Russian Ann Shavlakova and Natalya Abramova, of Squirrels team, while the Russian Konstantin Ivanov and Natalia Zimina, from Blondie / KAT team, won the mixed senior class. A prominent note to the Spanish team of Fuby Sport, with Albert Herrero and Jaume Folguera, who finished in the 9th place with 570 points less than the winners. For more information and complete results, please check the WRC 2015 webpage http://wrc2015.rogaining.fi/.

Joaquim Margarido

City Race European Tour 2015: Antwerp hosts the circuit's first round

Next 5th and 6th September starts the second edition of City Race European Tour. The Belgian city of Antwerp held the opening round of an event joining six cities in five different countries and that will end in Seville, Spain, on 15th November.

There it is, the City Race European Tour 2015, a circuit whose identity is founding on the sportive tourism and in the promotion of Orienteering on the populations of large cities. After having involved the cities of London, Edinburgh, Porto and Barcelona in the first edition, carried out in 2014, the event grows this year in size and ambition. Edinburgh - with the flagship "Race the Castles" - will not be part of this issue, but come to its place the cities of Krakow (Poland), Seville and Antwerp, allowing to extend to six the number of events spread over five different nations. To achieve the global sum of 5.000 participants seems plausible for a circuit that reached three thousand in 2014, with 1447 scoring for the circuit's ranking in 12 competition classes.

Will be in Antwerp that the City Race European Tour 2015 will give the "kick-off", integrating the first edition of ASOM 2015 - Antwerp Sprint Orienteering Meeting. Three urban races in two days of competition - 5th and 6th of September -, such is the proposal of the Belgian organization, with two Sprint stages (with a time of 15 minutes allotted for the winner) in the afternoon of the first day and one stage more “fat” to fill the final day of competition, with times for the winners situated between the 35 and the 45 minutes. This will be a good way to explore the city of Antwerp, taking the opportunity to learn or improve the practice of an exciting sport and whose challenge has been accepted by more than 300 athletes so far, some of them world-class. This applies to the Russian Galina Vinogradova, bronze medallist in the final of Sprint of the recent World Championships, the Belgian Yannick Michiels, ranked fifth in the final od Sprint of the same competition, the British Christopher Smithard, the Spanish Antonio Martinez and the Norwegian Øystein Kvaal Østerbø and Elise Egseth, among others. More information about this event can be found on the official website, at http://www.asom.be/en/home.

After Antwerp, London will receive on 12th and 13th September the second stage of the circuit, followed by Porto (25th/27th September), Krakow (10th/11th October) and Barcelona (31st October and 1st November). Everything will end in Seville, on 14th and 15th November, with the Sevilla O-Meeting. For more information, see the webpage of the City Race European Tour at http://cityracetour.org/.

Joaquim Margarido

MTBO: Ups and downs in the IOF World Rankings

The World MTB Orienteering Championships 2015 are over and it’s time now to look at the IOF World Rankings, trying to understand its ups and downs. Sensational performer at Liberec, Martina Tichovska jumped to the first place in the women's ranking. In the men's ranking, Anton Foliforov reinforced the leadership, position that he retains since the distant 16th May 2014.

Liberec, in the Czech Republic, hosted the 13th edition of the World MTB Orienteering Championships WMTBOC 2015. In the aftermath of a week full of emotions, with a couple of nice surprises, we can now look to the International Orienteering Federation World Rankings duly updated and realize the consequences of the results achieved by the athletes in the most important competition of the international MTB Orienteering calendar.

Starting with the male sector, the Russian Anton Foliforov strengthened his leading position on the ranking, after the gold medals achieved in Middle Distance and Long Distance. Immediately behind him, is the Italian Luca Dallavalle, World Champion of Sprint and Vice World Champion of Middle Distance, which achieved a fantastic rise of seven positions. Rising one place, the Finnish Jussi Laurila, vice-world champion of Long Distance, now ranks fourth. Other significant increases were enthralled by the Czech Marek Pospisek, rising nine places and being the current fifth placed, by the Austrian Kevin Haselsberger, coming from the 16th position to the 9th place and by the Czech Frantisek Bogar which rose sixteen (!) positions and is now the 19th ranked. Also in the top 20, the Finnish Samuli Saarela went up six positions, being now ranked 13th, while the Czech Vojtech Stransky is currently the 14th placed, after rising three positions.

On the side of the falls, is significant the position lost by the Czech Jiri Hradil that is now the 3rd placed. The Russian Ruslan Gritsan colapsed from 4th to the 8th place while the French Baptiste Fuchs fell to the 6th place, when prior to the Championships occupied a brilliant 3rd place. Another important fall was starred by the Norwegian Hans Jorgen Kvale, loosing three positions and being now the 10th placed. The French Yoann Garde also fell significantly in the table, occupying currently the 17th place while he was 11th before, as the Lithuanian Jonas Maiselis, losing six places to settle in the 18th position. From the Portuguese side, Davide Machado lost one place and is now the 30th ranked, while Daniel Marques kept the 50th position. João Ferreira is in the 56th position, and came down four steps, while Carlos Simões ascended three places and is now ranked 63rd. Portugal has another two athletes in the top 100, both suffering losses in the table. Mário Guterres is the 71st ranked when previously occupied the 64th position and Luis Barreiro, ranked 87th, lost five positions.

Tichovska jump to the leadership

In the women's sector, a major achievement was led by the Czech Martina Tichovska by leaving the 4th position in the ranking to take the lead. For this climb have decisively contributed the world titles of Sprint and Long Distance and also the silver medal in the Middle Distance. The Swedish Cecilia Thomasson and the French Gaëlle Barlet rose one place each and are now in the 4th and 5th positions, respectively, while the Danish Camilla Soegaard moved up three positions, occupying now the 6th place of the ranking. The Finnish Susanna Laurila, Long Distance’s vice-world champion, starred the most dazzling ascent, by climbing ten positions to settle in the 9th place. Other important increase was those of the Swiss Maja Rothweiler, from 17th to the 12th position.

Looking to the falls, the former leader of the ranking, the British Emily Benham, is now ranked 2nd as the Russian Svetlana Poverina also down one place in the table and is now ranked 3rd. The Finnish Marika Hara went down sharply four places, occupying now the 7th position. Another of the big losers was the Russian Tatiana Repina, sinking three positions and being now the 13th in the ranking. The French Hana Garde lost two places and now occupies the 10th position, the Danish Nina Hoffmann came from the 15th to the 18th position and the Finnish Antonia Haga is now ranked 15th after losing four places in the table. The Czech Marie Brezinova now occupies the 15th place after falling one position, as many as the Austrian Michaela Gigon, which is the current 17th ranked. The three Portuguese athletes present in Liberec had gains on the table, except for Susana Pontes who kept her 45th position. Ana Filipa Silva won one place, occupying now the 64th position in the ranking, while Tânia Covas Costa recovered nine places, being now the 73rd ranked.

See the full rankings at http://ranking.orienteering.org/.

Joaquim Margarido

WMTBOC 2015: The day after

1. The World MTB Orienteering Championships came to an end and nine countries shared the 24 medals distributed in the Elite classes. With two gold and three silver medals, Russia led the medalist of the Championships. The Czech Republic ranked second, reaching two gold, two silver and two bronze medals and thus ensuring the most robust portion of distinctions. Finland, Italy, France and Austria achieved one gold medal each, with the Finnish medalist to take extra advantage of two silver and one bronze medal. With also a silver medal and one bronze, Italy occupied the fourth position, leaving the fifth place, ex-aequo, to France and Austria. Sweden came in the seventh position with two bronze medals. Estonia and Great Britain completed this list, with a bronze medal each.

2. If we want to extend to the top six the list of athletes awarded with diplomas in the World Championships, we'll start by saying that were in number of 41 the athletes in these conditions, representing 11 nations. With four medals achieved, the Czech Martina Tichovska was the most valuable athlete of the Championships. The Finnish Jussi Laurila and the French Gaëlle Barlet also returned home with four diplomas, but in the case of Laurila two of them corresponded to two fifth places while Barlet had a diploma because of a fifth place and two diplomas corresponding to the fourth place. The Russian Anton Foliforov, the Italian Luca Dallavalle, the Czech Marek Pospisek, the British Emily Benham, the Finnish Susanna Laurila and Marika Hara and the Danish Camilla Soegaard reached three diplomas each, but it's important to say that the diplomas of Foliforov and Dallavalle represent as many medals.

3. Individually, it must be recognized in the Czech Martina Tichovska the “queen” of the Championships. The two gold medals (Sprint and Long Distance), one silver (Middle Distance) and one bronze (Courier) achieved for her speak too high compared with the medals achieved by the concurrence. The victory of Gaëlle Barlet in the Middle Distance and the Finnish Ingrid Stengard, Susanna Laurila and Marika Hara in the Relay, are also great achievements. To the gold in Relay, Laurila joins the silver in the sprint, which makes of her the second female athlete of the Championships.

4. On the other hand, if Tichovska is the “queen”, Anton Foliforov must be elected as “king” of the Championships. Two gold medals (Middle Distance and Long Distance) and one silver (Relay) are strong arguments in favour of the Russian. Achieving the historic Sprint title for Italy, which adds a silver medal (Middle Distance) and a bronze medal (Long Distance), Luca Dallavalle is another of the key figures of the World Championships, alongside the Austrian Kevin Haselsberger, Bernard Schachinger and Andreas Waldmann, surprising winners of the Relay.

5. In the second line of the personalities that marked these Championships, particular reference to the two podiums of the Swedish Cecilia Thomasson, bronze medallist in the Sprint and Long Distance. The silver medals of the Czech Vojtech Stransky (Sprint), the Finnish Jussi Laurila (Long Distance) and the Russian Svetlana Poverina (Long Distance and Relay) are strong arguments for their inclusion in this “second line” of the Championships' stars.

6. On the side of disappointments - not so much for what they did, but above all for what they didn't, given the expectations - are the Norwegian Hans Jorgen Kvale, “only” fourth in the Sprint and missing the other individual podiums, and especially the French Baptiste Fuchs, Yoann Garde and Cédric Beill, out of the top six in the individual races. From the Russian Valeriy Glohov, the Lithuanian Jonas Maiselis, the Finnish Pekka Niemi, the Estonian Tõnis Erm and the Austrian Tobias Breitschadel we would expect something more. As for the women, the British Emily Benham is, in spite of her bronze medal and two fourth places, one of the losers of the Championships, together with the Finnish Marika Hara, whose gold medal in the Relay can not delete her discoloured performances in the individual races. The French Hana Garde, the Finnish Antonia Haga and the Danish Caecilie Christoffersen stayed below the expectations.

7. In the Junior World Championships, France led the medalist, earning six of the 24 medals distributed, including two gold, three silver and one bronze. Also with six medals (two gold, two silver and two bronze), Russia ranked second in the table, while Sweden, with two gold medals and three bronze, ranked third. Followed, the Czech Republic (one gold medal, one silver and one bronze) and Australia (one gold medal). The remaining medals fit to Slovakia and Switzerland, with a silver medal each, and Finland, with a bronze medal.

8. Individually, the Swede Oskar Sandberg was the “prince” of the Championships, with two gold medals (Middle Distance and Long Distance) and one bronze medal (Sprint). Angus Robinson, by winning for Australia the first medal ever in the Junior World Championships - and a gold one, in Sprint (!) - it's also worthy of a very special mention. In turn, the French Lou Denaix deserves the title of “princess”, with a gold medal (Relay) and three silver medals on her luggage. A special note to Darya Mikryukova, not only for her extraordinary youth, but especially for the achievements of gold (Long Distance), silver (Courier) and bronze (Middle Distance and Sprint) that she took to Russia.

9. Finally we talk about the Portuguese participation in these Championships, which had a really positive note in the seventh place of the men's Relay, in what is the best result ever from our team in the World Championships. Even far from the podiums of 2011 and 2012, the 16th place of Davide Machado in the Long Distance is also noteworthy. The results of the “veterans” Daniel Marques and Carlos Simões also worth a flattering reference. Far from what was expected, stayed the female Elite team and the male Junior team, with results in the back of the respective standings.

Joaquim Margarido

WMTBOC 2015: Golden Relay to Austria and Finland

The big surprise was saved for the last day of the World MTB Orienteering Championships 2015. With a performance absolutely brilliant, Austria won the world title in men's Relay, in what was the most contested final ever. In the women's sector the victory went to Finland, while in the Junior World Championships,  France was the winner in both categories.

Giving to the World MTB Orienteering Championships 2015 the great note of sensation, Austria was the winner of the men's Relay, which took place this morning. The Czech Republic started stronger, through Frantisek Bogar, facing the hard opposition of Russian, Finnish, Austrian and... Portuguese. Indeed, Davide Machado had a brilliant performance in the first leg, throughout the testimony to Daniel Marques in the second position, just a few 36 seconds to the leadership. In the group of five, only Marques sank in the second leg, so the decisive leg offered the prospect of an intense battle for the gold medal between Finns, Czechs and Russians, with Austria being the great outsider in this exciting Relay. Portugal occupied the sixth position then, with a lead of 3:59 over Estonia, current World Champion and now ranked seventh.

But it was precisely Austria to give the note of sensation and quoting itself as the great surprise of the Championships. Andreas Waldmann - now in his first season within the elite, after being consecrated World Champion Junior of Long Distance in 2014 - knew endure the pressure of having behind him names such as the Czech Vojtech Stransky, the Finnish Jussi Laurila and the Russian Anton Foliforov, performing the last leg always on the edge and concluding with a more than welcomed victory in 2:32:15, against 2:32:23 and 2:32:26 over Russia and Finland, respectively. Only eleven seconds separated the top three, in which becomes the most disputed Relay ever in thirteen editions of the World Championships, gave to Austria a tasty and particularly deserved title. Portugal finished in the 7th place, with more 15:38 than Austria, thus achieving its best result ever in the Relay in the World Championships.

Finland recovers female world title

In the women's sector, Sweden played its biggest trump card in the first leg, with Cecilia Thomasson to be the fastest among the 19 athletes who lined up at the start. However, Sanna Wallenborg was quickly overcome by her more direct opponents, with Russia and the Czech Republic to erase the disadvantage of nearly one minute they had. To the Russian Anastasiya Bolshova and the Czech Marie Brezinova joined the Finnish Marika Hara, winning almost three minutes over her opponents and giving to Susanna Laurila the leadershio at the start for the decisive let. Big names of the Long Distance course, when they raised the top two positions, the Czech Martina Tichovska and the Russian Svetlana Poverina were not able, in the leat leg, to neutralize the difference to the Finnish, sharing than the discussion of the silver medal, with Poverina to bringing the best after a vigorous sprint. In the end, victory for Finland in 2:08:19, which thus recovers the title that escaped in 2014, precisely to Russia.

The Junior World MTB Orienteering Championship JWMTBOC 2015 had in the French teams a common denominator regarding to the winner in male and female categories. France won by comfortable margins in both cases on Russia, with Finland in male and female in Sweden to occupy the third place of the respective tables. Hard fought earlier, the men's race had in the French Samson Deriaz the big name, to move away significantly from the concurrence in the second leg, opening the victory to Florian Pinsard, also with a great performance. In the women class, the second leg of Constance Devillers was also decisive, but Lou Denaix, with a blazing start, also was important in the victory of the French, that Lou Garcin could confirm.

Results

M21

1. Austria (Kevin Haselsberger, Bernhard Schachinger, Andreas Waldmann) 2:32:15 (+ 00:00)

2. Russia (Ruslan Gritsan, Valerii Glukhov, Anton Foliforov) 2:32:23 (+ 00:08)

3. Finland (Pekka Niemi, Samuli Saarela, Jussi Laurila) 2:32:26 (+ 00:11)

4. Czech Republic (Frantisek Bogar, Marek Pospisek, Vojtech Stransky) 2:35:06 (+ 02:51)

5. France (Yoann Garde, Clement Souvray, Baptiste Fuchs) 2:35:58 (+ 03:43)

6. Estonia (Tõnis Erm, Margus Hallik, Lauri Malsroos) 2:42:00 (+ 09:45)

7. Portugal (Davide Machado, Daniel Marques, Carlos Simões) 1:47:53 (+ 15:38)

W21

1. Finland (Ingrid Stengard, Marika Hara, Susanna Laurila) 2:08:19 (+ 00:00)

2. Russia (Tatiana Repina, Anastasiya Bolshova, Svetlana Poverina) 2:09:45 (+ 01:26)

3. Czech Republic (Renata Paulickova, Marie Brezinova, Martina Tichovska) 2:09:51 (+ 01:32)

4. France (Nicole Hueber, Hana Garde, Gaëlle Barlet) 2:15:17 (+ 06:58)

5. Denmark (Nina Hoffman, Caecilie Christoffersen, Camilla Soegaard) 2:20:48 (+ 12:29)

6. Lithuania (Asta Simkoniene, Ramune Arlauskiene, Algirda Zaliauskaite) 2:24:23 (+ 16:04)

(...)

14. Portugal (Susana Pontes, Ana Filipa Silva, Tânia Costa Covas) 2:58:20 (+ 50:01)

M20

1. France (Antoine Vercauteren, Samson Deriaz, Florian Pinsard) 2:33:38 (+ 00:00)

2. Russia (Leonid Tsvetkov, Alexander Kulgaviy, Vyacheslav Chernykh) 2:36:16 (+ 02:38)

3. Finland (Sakari Puolakanaho, Miska Tervala, Sauli Pietikainen) 2:36:50 (+ 03:12)

4. Czech Republic (Vaclav Snuparek, Matyas Ludvik, Michael Nemet) 2:41:48 (+ 08:10)

5. Slovakia (Matej Muller, Teodor Takac, Andrej Cully) 2:48:10 (+ 14:32)

6. Sweden (Filip Bergstrom, Oskar Sandberg, Pontus Kullin) 2:50:26 (+ 16:48)

(...)

Portugal (Paul Roothans, Duarte Lourenço, Diogo Barradas) mp

W20

1. France (Lou Denaix, Constance Devillers, Lou Garcin) 2:31:46 (+ 00:00)

2. Russia (Olga Mikhaylova, Alena Fedoseeva, Darya Mikryukova) 2:32:38 (+ 00:52)

3. Sweden (Rebecka Hylander, Elvira Larsson, Kajsa Engstrom) 2:39:29 (+ 07:04)

4. Finland (Jutta Nurminen, Helena Hakala, Essi Hakala) 2:41:09 (+ 09:23)

5. Czech Republic (Andrea Kamenikova, Barbora Kohoutova, Veronika Kubinova) 2:48:21 (+ 16:35)

6. Austria (Lea Hnilica, Julia Ritter, Antonella Fantoni) 2:53:38 (+ 21:52)

Complete results and further information at www.wmtboc2015.cz/.

Joaquim Margarido