Ski Orienteering World Cup 2015-2016's opening round: Sprint victories for Ulrik Nordberg and Tatyana Oborina

The Ski Orienteering World Cup season 2015-2016 started in Ylläs, Northern Finland, in the best way. A perfect weather, demanding courses and, in the end, Ulrik Nordberg and Tatyana Oborina tightly winning the Sprint races.

Ylläs, in Lapland, Northern Finland, is hosting by this days the Ski Orienteering World Cup 2015-2016's opening round. 88 athletes from 14 nations joined the competition which hold, this morning, its first stage. The Women were the first in action, facing at the start a really steep course to the upper part. The Russian Tatiana Oboryna started earlier and, from the very first moment, she showed very confident, very fast, taking really good route choices and reaching here a good advantage that she managed to keep all the way till the end. She finished the 3.9 km of her course in the time of 13:22, seven seconds ahead of other Russian, Mariya Kechkina. Great specialist in the downhill sections and pointed for many as the favorite to the victory “on home ground”, the Finnish Milka Reponen did a great race, but she could never recover the time lost in the first part of the course, finishing with eight seconds more than Oborina.

As for the Men, when we see the three top athletes separated by two single seconds, what can we say? The Portuguese Orienteering Blog asked to the Swedish Ulrik Nordberg, today's winner, and we believe that his words say everything: “The race started with two controls in a steep section, so it was hard to stay up on my skies, in the hard 90 degrees small track turns. I can't complain, I took some decent route choices but it was after - in some short hard controls - that I made some really good route choices, kept the flow going and didn't make any mistakes till the finish line. I was lucky to have the seconds on my side this time”, Ulrik said. At the age of 22, Ulrik Nordberg took his first triumph in a World Cup stage, finishing with the time of 15:02 for a course of 5,1 km. The Bulgarian Stanimir Belomazhev, current IOF World Ranking leader, spend one more second, while the Russian Eduard Khrennikove was third, two seconds after Nordberg.

Results

Men

1. Ulrik Nordberg (Sweden) 15:02 (+ 00:00)

2. Stanimir Belomazhev (Bulgaria) 15:03 (+ 00:01)

3. Eduard Khrennikov (Russia) 15:04 (+ 00:02)

4. Erik Rost (Sweden) 15:17 (+ 00:15)

5. Lars Moholdt (Norway) 15:20 (+ 00:18)

6. Vladimir Barchukov (Russia) 15:26 (+ 00:24)

Women

1. Tatyana Oborina (Russia) 13:22 (+ 00:00)

2. Mariya Kechkina (Russia) 13:29 (+ 00:07)

3. Milka Reponen (Finlândia) 13:30 (+ 00:08)

4. Iuliia Tarasenko (Russia) 13:32 (+ 00:10)

5. Polina Frolova (Russia) 13:33 (+ 00:11)

6. Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) 13:40 (+ 00:18)

Further information and complete results at http://ensilumenrastit.fi/2015/. You can also see some nice reports through the IOF Live Center Broadcast, at http://livecenter.orienteering.org/.

[Photo: Ski Orienteering World Cup 2015-2016's opening round Ylläs . Finland / ensilumenrastit.fi/]

Joaquim Margarido

Ski Orienteering: World Cup's season 2015-2016 is about to start

Ylläs, in Finland, is ready to host the IOF Ski Orienteering World Cup's first round. In the next four days, 88 athletes from 14 nations will compete for the gold in Sprint, Sprint Relay, Middle and Long Distance, both in Men and Women classes.

“As one season ends and we say thanks to organisers and congratulations to medal winners, we can look forward to our ski orienteering season starting”. These words are from Brian Porteous, the IOF President, and can be read in the Inside Orienteering's last issue, published today [HERE]. And so it is. The Ski Orienteering World Cup's season 2015-2016 is about to start in Lapland, in Northern Finland, and all the attentions are focused in Ylläs, a city that has, for more than 20 years, hosted the traditional opening of the Ski Orienteering season in Finland. Last time Ylläs hosted the World Cup opening round was in 2013 and this year the organization will offer an even more compact and visible event, fully centred in the Ylläsjärvi Ski Resort.

The Program will start tomorrow with the Sprint, while Saturday and Sunday we'll have the Sprint Relay and the Middle Distance. On 1st December, the Long Distance course will put an ending in the competition, which has 88 competitors – 49 male and 39 female – entered so far. Leaders of the IOF World Ranking, the Bulgarian Stanimir Belomazhev and the Russian Iuliia Tarasenko are the brightest stars in Ylläs, but we can also see here (almost) all the big names of the current Ski Orienteering scene, such as the Russian Andrey Lamov and the Swedish Tove Alexandersson, both current Sprint World Champions, the Norwegian Lars Moholdt, Long Distance gold medalist last World Championships, and the Finnish Milka Reponen, World Champion in Middle Distance. Big starts in the last European Championships, such as the Swedish Erik Rost, the Russian Tatyana Oborina and the Finnish Mervi Pesu, are also names to take in account when talking of medals. From the side of the absences, the remarks goes to the Swedish Josefine Engstrom, Long Distance World Champion and second placed in the IOF World Ranking and the Finnish Staffan Tunis, number four in the World Ranking and gold medalist in the Middle Distance of the last World Championships.

The IOF has produced a useful guide to the upcoming Ski Orienteering World Cup season, with interesting information about the sport, the events, the arenas and the athletes. The Ski Orienteering Season Guide 2015-2016 - an important document for anyone interested in Ski Orienteering in general, and the 2015-2016 Ski Orienteering World Cup season in particular – can be read HERE. As for the Ski Orienteering World Cup 2015-2016's opening round, you'll find all the information at http://ensilumenrastit.fi/2015/. You may also follow the races through the IOF Live Center from 9:00 a.m. tomorrow (GMT) at http://livecenter.orienteering.org/.

Joaquim Margarido

Course of the Year 2015: World of O is asking for your suggestions!

Like every November since 2010, Jan Kocbach and his incomparable World of O promotes a popular contest, trying to know the readers' opinion about the best “Course of the Year”. Still in a stage were the suggestions are being submitted, it's time for you to act!

“What was the best orienteering course of 2015?”, such is Jan Kocbach's question for this year's poll. The World Championships Middle Distance in Italy won in 2014, and the two years before we had Portuguese winners: a spectacular Sprint between boulders and old buildings in Monsanto, during the Portugal O' Meeting 2013 and some great technical orienteering in the Portugal O' Meeting's 3rd stage in 2012, in Satão. In 2011 the WOC Middle Distance in France took the first place and the year before a very special Jukola Relay was the big winner.

Now it's time to decide who will take the prestigious top spot this year, first by submitting suggestions and then by voting. As part of the “Course of the Year 2015”, the World of O will offer along the next days some great interviews from top runners, talking about their favorite courses and maps in 2015. Lucas Basset, the new French star, already had the chance to share his opinions and his choice goes to Glen Affric. Why? “Because of the terrain, which was wilder than almost every other forest I've been running in”, he says. Explaining that he made his choice “because of the terrain”, in spite of being also “convinced that the course was good, coherent to a Long Distance spirit”, Lucas Basset has no doubts that Glen Affric “was a perfect ending of a wonderful WOC week” [read HERE Lucas Basset's whole Interview].

Answering to Jan Kocbach's challenge, the suggestions are arriving every minute. From Finland to France, from Poland to Spain, there's almost 50 suggestions until now (none of them from Portugal, I'm afraid). To submit your suggestions, it's as simple as that: The course must have been run in competition or training in 2015 (there's an exception for courses in December 2014, as they were not covered in last year’s contest); the suggestions are submitted as a comment to World of O's post – http://news.worldofo.com/2015/11/24/course-of-the-year-2015-submit-your-suggestions/ - including link to the map with course in a quality which is good enough for the readers to understand the course and the challenges involved; the participants must give a reason why they think the course deserves to be named “The course of the Year 2015″; and the course may be any discipline – e.g. a long distance, a middle distance, a sprint distance. It may also be a technical training course – like e.g. a corridor orienteering exercise. After this first step, there will be a voting process among the readers of “World of O” in order to elect “The course of the year 2015″.

Just one more thing: Prizes from the Sponsors always makes it more fun! There will be a prize for the first one suggesting the course which ends up becoming “The course of the Year 2015″, and prizes drawn among the ones suggesting and voting. All prizes are transferable to other persons (you don’t have to travel yourself). Everything to follow in your World of O.

Joaquim Margarido

Maja Alm: "All of my three gold medals mean the world to me"

By achieving three gold medals, Maja Alm takes the most prominent place in the history of the recent World Orienteering Championships, WOC 2015. This great Danish athlete rises today on the Portuguese Orienteering Blog's tribune, sharing the unforgettable memories from these moments and designing, already, the upcoming season.

Two weeks ago, you've been in Göteborg, representing Denmark on NM Cross in Athletics (which is your second sport, I believe). Don't you ever stop?

Maja Alm (M. A.) - I ran that Cross competition just for fun. I like to compete and it's nice to travel with other national teams, which I always do, to see how they work and how they think about their sport and training.

We often see orienteers performing highly in Athletics but not the contrary, you being a good example of that. Have you tried, some time, to get some of your friends from Athletics into Orienteering? Is Orienteering a “difficult” sport?

M. A. - No, I haven't tried to get them into orienteering. I think it's too difficult for them to read the map and they're only able to run the easy courses. On the other hand I've heard that some sprinters and triathletes run a variation of orienteering in their off-season to straighten their running style.

You're ending the Orienteering season as no. 1 in the IOF Sprint World Ranking. Would you label this season as your best ever?

M. A. - This is, definitely, my best season. It was really incredible to win at the World Championships and now be the number one on the IOF Sprint World Ranking. I had a speed at this WOC that I haven't had before, and succeeded really well in the competitions mentally. I'm really proud of that. Another season of special meaning is of course last year, where the whole Danish team did so well and won six medals for Denmark. Last year we saw, for the first time, that we could win and I think that's why we really believed in ourselves this year.

Would you like to tell me about your three World titles and the meaning of each of them?

M. A. - All of my three gold medals mean the world to me, but in quite different ways, actually. The individual Sprint medal is, of course, really important to me. It is nice to show that I have the level to win an individual medal. In the individual distances you need to perform close to perfection to win a medal. In the Relay I see it more like three stable performances. I don't think the medals in the Sprint this year were a surprise. Nadiya was 4th last year, one second after me, so I knew that she was really strong. It was more a surprise that I could win with such a big margin.

The women’s Relay medal is also very important to me. Ida, Emma and I have been training and competing against and with each other for so many years now, and I really think we have improved each others’ levels. At the World Championships we really competed for each other as a team and I really think we deserved to win the gold together. The Sprint Relay is important to me of course because it was the first gold I have ever won. We have had high positions in almost every Sprint Relay we have been running, and finally the margins were on our side. It is very nice to compete together on a team with the boys. The way girls and boys think before a competition is quite different and it is really inspiring to see how the boys do it.

And what about the Danish “Dynamite” Team? Are you, Danish girls, unbeatable?

M. A. - Ha, ha... No, of course we aren't. At WOC 2013, in Finland, we didn't succeed as a team in the women’s Relay and I think that has inspired and motivated us. We know that we have to run the relays with a certain amount of respect, but we are not afraid of making mistakes. We have been running together on relay teams so many times now and I think this is a big advantage, that we know each other so well now. I really admire Emma and Ida, and I think the inner respect from each other is what makes us so strong.

If I asked you about a moment – the great achievement of the Championships – what would it be? And the Orienteering achievement of the season?

M. A. - I think the big achievement has been after the World Championships. We have received a lot of attention on our success in Scotland. When you are at the World Championships, there isn't much time to enjoy your success. I had five competitions in six days, so I didn't have much time for celebrating. It was much more about being ready for the next competition.

What is your winter training going to be like? Is Portugal - and the Portugal O' Meeting 2016 - in your plans?

M. A. - I have been training on a low level since the World Championships. Our tough winter training will start in January 2016 in an attempt not to make the season too long. We will go on a two weeks training camp in February and it will be to either Portugal or Spain. Our coaches will decide where.

Next season, you have three world titles to defend, as well as your leadership in the Sprint World Ranking, but we can see that you're still far from the World podium in the Middle and Long Distance. Is a medal in a forest distance your main goal for WOC 2016, in Sweden?

M. A. - I have a Silver medal in the Middle Distance to defend at the European Championships, so I have some results in the forest as well. I will try to improve in the individual forest distances, but I still want to be in a position where I have the chance to win the individual Sprint. The terrains in Sweden are quite different from those in Denmark, so my individual goals in the forest are more for WOC 2017. To have the chance to win the Relay gold next year, I have to improve my running in Nordic terrain, so my forest goal for the next season is pointed at the Relay.

For those who see Maja Møller Alm as an example, an inspiration, especially for the young athletes, what is your advice?

M. A. - Find your own way of doing things and remember to enjoy your running. I really like what I do, but here, in the off-season, I like to do other things than orienteering; I like to see my friends from outside orienteering. It is important that you are balanced as a person and I think that can be quite individual.

Now that a new season is about to start, I ask you a wish for those who love and are committed to Orienteering.

M. A. - I wish that they can achieve their goals and keep having fun with orienteering as much as I do.

[Photo: Kell Sønnichsen / do-f.dk]

Joaquim Margarido

City Race Euro Tour 2015: Jack Kosky and Merill Mägi, winners of Elite Final Rankings

Eduardo Gil Marcos and Violeta Feliciano Sanjuan were the big winners of the City Race Euro Tour 2015's last stage, held last Sunday in Seville. The good performances of Jack Kosky and Merill Mägi on this stage allowed them to secure the victory in the Final Rankings of the CRET's second edition.

With the completion of Seville stage, came to an end the second edition of City Race Euro Tour. The event had its first stage in Antwerp, last 6th September, extending later to London, Porto, Barcelona and Krakow, to finish in the Andalusian capital, last Sunday. The notes of success of this last stage are given by the great participation of 1200 athletes from 18 countries, but also for the presentation of this sport to three hundred local participants, the remarkable mobilization of a large number of media, including television, and by judicious choice of courses, combining perfectly the technical challenge with an amazing “guided tour” to a really charming city.

The City Race Euro Tour Seville 2015 was just one of three stages - curiously the last one – of a major event that was the Seville O'Meeting 2015. Held in the historic centre of Seville, under Long Distance courses, the race saw the Spanish Eduardo Gil Marcos (Tjalve) and Violeta Feliciano Sanjuan (Colivenc) winning in the Men and Women Elite classes, respectively. The victory of Eduardo Gil Marcos was achieved after a tremendous fight with Antonio Martínez Pérez (Colivenc), by the narrow margin of 8 seconds. The third position fell to another great master of Spanish Foot Orienteering, Andreu Blanes Reig (Colivenc), while the fourth and fifth positions were achieved by the Portuguese Tiago Gingão Leal (GD4C) and Tiago Martins Aires (GafanhOri). As for the Women, the triumph of Violeta Feliciano Sanjuan is undeniable, leaving their teammates, Alicia Gil Sanchez and Natalia Gurchenkova, respectively second and third ranked, at distant two minutes. The Portuguese Raquel Costa (GafanhOri) finished fourth.

It should be noted that Andreu Blanes Reig and Antonio Martinez Perez won, respectively, the Middle Distance and Sprint stages of the Seville O' Meeting 2015, in Men Elite, while Raquel Costa was the winner in both stages, in the Women Elite. In the sum of points of three stages, Andreu Blanes Reig and Raquel Costa were the big winners of Seville O'Meeting 2015. Although the City Race Euro Tour 2015's Final Rankings weren't been officially published yet, it is clear that the British Jack Kosky (UDOC) secured the triumph in Men Elite class, after the 8th place achieved in the stage of Seville. Also the British Mark Burley (Bristol Orienteering) and the Belgian Dieter Coen (TROL) granted the second and third positions, respectively. As for the Women Elite, the victory smiled to the Estonian Merill Mägi, from OK Kape (5th ranked in Seville), followed by her compatriot Maiki Jaadmaa (OK Võru) and the Norwegian Lone Karin Brochmann (Bækkelagets SK).

Results

City Race Euro Tour Seville 2015

Men Elite

1. Eduardo Gil Marcos (Tjalve) 50:08 (+ 00:00)

2. Antonio Martínez Pérez (Colivenc) 50:16 (+ 00:08)

3. Andreu Blanes Reig (Colivenc) 51:06 (+ 00:58)

4. Tiago Gingão Leal (GD4C) 51:45 (+ 01:37)

5. Tiago Martins Aires (GafanhOri) 53:50 (+ 03:42)

6. Clement Demeuse (C.O. Liège) 56:27 (+ 06:19)

Women Elite

1. Violeta Feliciano Sanjuan (Colivenc) 50:23 (+ 00:00)

2. Alicia Gil Sánchez (Colivenc) 52:09 (+ 01:46)

3. Natalia Gurchenkova (Colivenc) 52:15 (+ 1:52)

4. Raquel Costa (GafanhOri) 53:29 (+ 03:06)

5. Merill Mägi (OK Kape) 54:08 (+ 03:45)

6. Carolina Delgado (GD4C) 55:11 (+ 4:48)

Winners other classes

Young M/F - Miguel Garrido Corral (Vane) and Nerea González Peña (Toledo-O)

Junior M/F - Elmar Montero Cárceles (GODIH) and Maria Prieto Del Campo (Malarruta)

Veterans M/F - Santiago Jiménez Molina (GOCAN) and Marion Büchli (Swiss O-Tours)

Superveterans M/F - James Crawford (GO) and Delia Kingsbury (WRE)

Ultraveterans M/F - Mike Godfree (DVO) and Liz Godfree (DVO)

Further information and complete results at http://sevillaomeeting.es/en/.

[Photo: Juan David Perez-Caballero / picasaweb.google.com]

Joaquim Margarido