Jana Kosťová: "Any position in top 6 would be a great success"

On the day ETOC 2016 kicks-off, the Portuguese Orienteering Blog is pleased to present the event through the eyes of one of the TrailO's greatest personalities. Sometimes vibrant, sometimes contained, Jana Kosťová speaks of herself and looks ahead to one of the biggest events of the year in this challenging discipline.

For TrailO’s lovers, each competition is a party. However, I believe that an event of this magnitude, especially being played home, is anticipated with some really special vibes. How did you deal with your emotions the days and months before the event?

Jana Kosťová (J. K.) - Oh, don't talk about vibes! Thanks to my workload, I have had a really good time in the spring but not exactly 'trail oriented'. I didn't have a moment to think about ETOC, to get nervous too early. But all of that is past and I must admit that, right now, I feel just a little bit apprehensive.

I really believe that our people (at least Tomáš and Pavel together with the Event Advisers) will do their best to prepare good competitions. And that all European trail orienteers will really enjoy it. Last year Tomáš tested his idea of electronic punching for pre-o and it worked very well. The speed of the results was beyond trail-o belief (!!). So I hope it will all work well as it did last year and not only that we will experience interesting courses of which he is capable, but we will be really enjoying immediate results. At least in pre-o. We are testing Ant here as well, so far successfully, but this will not be involved in ETOC.

How did you prepare yourself for the European Championships?

J. K. - Well, this is probably the big reason for being so nervous. We haven’t had many competitions here during this season, and I've been doing online TempO tasks to get ready and studying old maps and courses set by Tomáš. Let's hope it will be enough.

According to your goals, at what level is your self-confidence right now? Are we going to see you climbing again to the top of the podium, like you did in Vuokatti, in 2013, when you’ve been crowned World Champion?

J. K. - Since Vuokatti, my goal has been to get an ETOC medal. Especially when it's organised 'at home' - one feels the duty to win something, right? But I know there are many other competitors who wish to win a medal from ETOC too, and the medals are only three (laughs). I'll certainly do my best, but the question is if my best is going to be good enough to reach the podium.

What kind of European Championships can we expect?

J. K. - It will be a joint Championships and I’m looking forward to that. I personally really enjoy being part of a bigger party and a fan of our foot orienteers. But when I checked the programme I quickly realised that we'll not have many opportunities to watch the FootO finals in the arenas. But let's see how it works during the Championships.

We can expect nice and challenging terrains in really beautiful part of the country. I'm sure Tomáš will use the best of it. We’ve been there a couple of times in the past, having competitions in surrounding areas. But the limestone and the other areas used for ETOC are unknown territory for me. I expect a lot of contour lines reading and counting trees (laughs).

Otherwise I am worried that we will be in FootO's shadow. Let's see how deep the shadow will be. Judging from the website as it is now, I would say that ETOC this year doesn't exist! It's a bit complicated to get the information that there are two Championships organized. Hard to get relevant information about terrains for example, older maps, updated information. You need to go to Bulletin to learn a bit more. ETOC is not being promoted anywhere - have you seen any info on facebook, for example? Last year it was a totally different story. My only - and I must say good - experience so far was with people involved with accommodation - they tried hard to meet our needs (wheelchair needs especially). I would like the EOC organisers to understand that the conditions for ETOC's success are not just about hotel room accessibility or the quality of the courses.

Once, you've been asked about TrailO's hardest part and your answer was something related to “getting into the course planner's mind, to assess from the very beginning his zero tolerance”. How is the ETOC's course setter Tomáš Leštínský's mind? Would you like to share your guesses about the kind of problems that we'll face?

J. K. - During recent years we have had several chances to experience his style. So we all know that he's generally using good maps that we can rely on. Also, he likes clever tricks. And - last but not least - he likes orienteering, so his competitions are mostly about orienteering. My (now already public) wish is that I'll be able to understand his course planning as I did last year in the final round of the European Cup in Trail Orienteering (laughs).

The official debut of the TrailO Relay will take place in Jesenik. What do you think about this new format and the chances of a gold medal for the Czech Republic Paralympic team?

J. K. - Well, Paralympic team of the Czech Republic will be divided into relay teams on spot only. Let's see how we manage in the tough competition with Sweden, Russia, Finland,..  we are missing some good names in the team and it won't be easy.

The format of the Relay is very fresh, there were only couple of opportunities to test it and I think it's still too early to make it official part of the Championships. But it's here so let's fight.

Personally, I like the Relay format - a combination of TempO and PreO tasks; and I like that it is separate competition. What I don't like and for what I preferred team competition is that it again divides Para and Open competitors. I would prefer a discipline combining both classes, both disciplines (TempO and PreO) and, on top of that, will contribute to the reasoning for developing TrailO - the integration. Such format would also allow including Para competitors to countries which have problems to bring enough Para competitors for one Relay team.

In what way may the ETOC 2016 be really important for the Trail Orienteering in the Czech Republic?

J. K. - That is a good question and you’re addressing the wrong person (laughs). In the Czech Republic we are getting a bit of support from the Federation. It could be better but it could also be worse. At certain point I thought this relationship between Federation and TrailO is improving. Since 2016 we are officially part of our Federation, having our own section in there - definitely a move! However, now seeing the situation with E(T)OC - it makes me a bit sad...

The season doesn't end here and, within three months, will take place in Stromstad the World Trail Orienteering Championships. If I gave you to choose between being European Champion in your own country or World Champion in the far Sweden, what would you choose?

J. K. - European Champion would be good - but getting European Champion title is more demanding with higher number of quality competitors involved. So it's more demanding to get this one, but also more valued to me. Any position in top 6 would be a great success.

Would you like to share your greatest wish?

J. K. - I uncovered one already, a few lines above (laughs). I would also like to wish all competitors a really enjoyable and fair competition! And then I would like to wish the organisers good luck. You can get ready - 200% - but, as an organiser in my business life, I know that almost every time something goes wrong and you simply cannot prevent it. Some luck is necessary too!

Joaquim Margarido

EOC 2016: No surprises at LongQ

Daniel Hubmann, Magne Daehli and Miloš Nykodým, in the Men class, and Svetlana Mironova, Heidi Bagstevold and Natalia Vinogradova, in the Women class, were the fastest in the Long Distance Qualification. They won their respective heats and will be the last to start tomorrow, in the first forest Final of the European Orienteering Championships 2016.

After two intense “city races”, the EOC 2016 attention turned out to the forest. Bilá Voda hosted the third day of competition, with a program fully dedicated to the Long Distance Qualification, in which 114 male and 73 female competitors, spared for three heats each, fought for a place in the Final A (i.e. tried to get one of the 17 best times in every heat).

The final results in the Women class were the first to be known, after Nicole Scalet finishing her race in the 17th position in the heat A and getting the desired stamp in her passport to the big final. In the same heat, Svetlana Mironova, Russia, reached a 3:25 win on the Finnish Merja Rantanen, with another athlete from Finland, Anni-Maija Fincke, being third. The two first places in the heat B were occupied by Norwegian athletes. Heidi Bagstevold achieved the best time, 27 seconds faster than Anne-Margrethe Hausken Nordberg. The British Hollie Orr got the third place. The heat C was hardly contested, with the first four within less than one minute. The winner was another Russian, Natalia Vinogradova, with Tove Alexandersson, Sweden being second, and the Swiss Sabine Hauswirth finishing third.

Switzerland is the most represented team in Final A

As for the Men class, the Swiss Daniel Hubmann won the heat A, being the only able to break the 70 minutes barrier. European Champion in 2014, Hubmann reached a 1:14 win on his team mate Andreas Kyburz, second placed. Johan Runesson, Sweden, was third. Magne Daehli, Norway, won the heat B, with a 20 seconds advantage on Baptiste Rollier, Switzerland, second ranked. The Swedish Martin Regborn was the third placed, finishing 2:11 after Daehli. Running home, Miloš Nykodým was the heat C’s winner, after a tight fight with four other competitors. Fredrik Bakkman, Sweden, and Karl Godager Kaas, Norway, were second and third, respectively. Portugal won't be present in the Final A. Today, Pedro Nogueira was the best Portuguese representative, in the 27th position. Tiago Romão was 30th in his heat and Manuel Horta was disqualified.

There will be 52 athletes in tomorrow’s Women Final A, representing 14 countries. Russia, Switzerland, Finland, Norway and Sweden qualified all their six athletes. Great Britain and the Czech Republic will also be strongly represented by five athletes each. Gold medalist in Palmela, two years ago, Judith Wyder, Switzerland, didn’t take part in the Qualifying heats and Svetlana Mironova, silver in EOC 2014, seems to be ready to a well desired upgrade. In the Men Final A, the 51 qualified athletes will be representing 16 countries. Switzerland, with seven athletes, is the most represented team, followed by Sweden, Norway and Finland. The Czech Republic will have five athletes in the decisive long race.

Results

Men

Heat A

1. Daniel Hubmann (Switzerlan) 1:09:43 (+ 00:00

2. Andreas Kyburz (Switzerland) 1:10:57 (+ 01:14)

3. Johan Runesson (Sweden) 1:11:30 (+ 01:47)

(…)

30. Tiago Romão (Portugal) 1:33:17 (+ 22:20)

Heat B

1. Magne Daehli (Norway) 1:10:25 (+ 00:00)

2. Baptiste Rollier (Switzerland) 1:10:45 (+ 00:20)

3. Martin Regborn (Sweden) 1:12:36 (+ 02:11)

(…)

mp Manuel Horta (Portugal)

Heat C

1. Miloš Nykodým (Czech Republic) 1:11:07 (+ 00:00)

2. Fredrik Bakkman (Sweden) 1:11:34 (+ 00:27

3. Karl Godager Kaas (Norway) 1:11:45 (+ 00:38)

(…)

27. Pedro Nogueira (Portugal) 1:34:20 (+ 23:13)

Women

Heat A

1. Svetlana Mironova (Russia) 55:41 (+ 00:00)

2. Merja Rantanen (Finland) 59:06 (+ 03:25)

3. Anni-Maija Fincke (Finland) 59:27 (+ 03:46)

Heat B

1. Heidi Bagstevold (Norway) 52:43 (+ 00:00)

2. Anne-Margrethe Hausken Nordberg (Norway) 53:10 (+ 00:27)

3. Hollie Orr (Great Britain) 53:55 (+ 01:12)

Heat C

1. Natalia Vinogradova (Russia) 52:25 (+ 00:00)

2. Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) 52:44 (+ 00:19)

3. Sabine Hauswirth (Switzerland) 53:15 (+ 00:50)

Complete results, maps, photos and further information at http://www.eoc2016.cz/en/.

Joaquim Margarido

ECTO 2016 Slovakia: Lennart Wahlgren was the overall winner

Lennart Wahlgren won the ECTO 2016 Slovakia. After two demanding stages, the Swedish was stronger than the Czech Pavel Kurfürst and his compatriot Erik Stålnacke, taking the European Cup in Trail Orienteering's leadership.

Častá and Borský Mikuláš hosted this weekend the second round of the Unofficial European Cup in Trail Orienteering 2016. Organized by TJ Slavia Farmaceut Bratislava with course setting of the brothers Ján Furucz and Dušan Furucz, the competition was attended by 128 competitors - including almost all the TrailO world's big names - on the eve of the start of the European Trail Orienteering Championships, in the neighbor Czech Republic.

The competition started on Saturday with the PreO race, in which Lennart Wahlgren was the most accurate and the faster in the timed controls. The Swedish got 23 out of 23 points – the same as Stålnacke and the Croatian Zdenko Horjan – but with the incredible time of 7 seconds in the timed controls. After them, with 22 points, stayed 21 athletes, including the current PreO's World Champion Michele Cera, Italy. On the second day, the TempO stage had in the Swedish Marit Wiksell the big winner. Marit spent 153 seconds answering to the 28 tasks (7 timed stations, 4 tasks each), adding a 60 seconds penalty for two wrong answers. She was faster than 110 other competitors and the second more accurate, after the Slovenian Keresteš Krešo, with just one wrong answer.

After four stages, Lennart Wahlgren is in the lead of the Unofficial European Cup in Trail Orienteering 2016, with 130 points. The precedent leader, Erik Stålnacke, is now second, with less two points, while the Italian Remo Madella is in the third place with 93 points.

Overall Results (PreO + TempO)

1. Lennart Wahlgren (Swedish TrailO Team) 257,32 seconds

2. Pavel Kurfürst (VSTJ FS Praha) 317,97 seconds

3. Erik Stålnacke (Swedish TrailO Team) 331,54 seconds

4. Vitaliy Kyrychenko (Driada) 394,53 seconds

5. Zdenko Horjan (OK Vihor) 425,20 seconds

6. Alessio Tenani (Gruppo Sportivo Forestale) 441,29 seconds

7. Martin Jullum (Halden SK) 451,87 seconds

8. Ari Tertsunen (Tuusulan Volma-Veykot) 453,98 seconds

9. Remo Madella (VIVAIO) 457,31 seconds

10. Zoltán Miháczi (Tipo Orienteering Club) 461,09 seconds

(…)

18. (1. Paralympic) Ola Jansson (Swedish TrailO Team) 499,64 seconds

25. (2. Paralympic) Jana Kosťová (Sportovní klub vozíčkařů Praha) 542,20 seconds

40. (3. Paralympic) Pavel Shmatov (Russia National Team) 604,20 seconds

To watch the full results, maps and solutions, please visit the event's webpage at http://trail.orienteering.sk/?page_id=1370.

[Photo: Marco Giovannini / facebook.com/trailo.it]

Joaquim Margarido

EOC 2016: Gold in the Sprint to Kyburz and Wyder

Matthias Kyburz and Judith Wyder offered to Switzerland a really tasteful double win. After a tricky Sprint in the hilly city of Jesenik, they got close victories on Gustav Bergman and Nadiya Volynska, respectively.

In the Men class, Matthias Kyburz decided the race in the last controls. Since the beginning, it was possible to watch a really close fight between Kyburz, his team mate Florian Howald and the Swedish Gustav Bergman. After a mistake on his way to the 6th control, Kyburz lost precious seconds and wasn't able to reduce the disadvantage, thanks to consistent performances from Howald and Bergman. Stronger than his opponents in the two last controls, the Swiss saw his efforts rewarded with the gold, two seconds ahead of Bergman, with Howald finishing with more three seconds than the winner. The IOF Sprint Orienteering World Ranking leader, the Swiss Daniel Hubmann, finished 5th, 26 seconds after Kyburz. Before him stayed the Swedish Martin Regborn, with the time of 13:59, reaching with the fourth position his best result ever in a World Cup stage. Also the Norwegian Hakon Jarvis Westergaard got his best result ever in a World Cup stage, finishing sixth. The Portuguese Tiago Romão reached an honourable place in the Final A, finishing in the 41st position, 2:10 after the winner.

Defending the European title achieved in Portugal two years ago, the Swiss Judith Wyder showed all her potential after a long period of injuries. Against strong adversaries like the Danish Maja Alm, reigning World Champion, the Ukrainian Nadiya Volynska or the Russian Galina Vinogradova, she could perform in the limit and win, even doing a couple of small mistakes, like everybody else. With a strong start, Wyder could keep the lead through the race, benefiting from Maja Alm's mistake in the longest leg, on her way to the 11th control. In the end, Wyder got a 5 seconds win on Volynska, with Vinogradova and Alm finishing third with the same time,11 seconds after the Swiss, and the Finnish Merja Rantanen being 5th, 13 seconds after Wyder. Elena Roos, Switzerland, got the 6th place, her best ever in a stage scoring for the World Cup.

Results

Men

1. Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) 13:42 (+ 00:00)

2. Gustav Bergman (Sweden) 13:44 (+ 00:02)

3. Florian Howald (Switzerland) 13:45 (+ 00:03)

4. Martin Regborn (Sweden) 13:59 (+ 00:17)

5. Daniel Hubmann (Switzerland) 14:08 (+ 00:26)

6. Hakon Jarvis Westergaard (Norway) 14:16 (+ 00:34)

Women

1. Judith Wyder (Switzerland) 14:23 (+ 00:00)

2. Nadiya Volynska (Ukraine) 14:28 (+ 00:05)

3. Galina Vinogradova (14:34 (+ 00:11)

3. Maja Alm (Denmark) 14:34 (+ 00:11)

5. Merja Rantanen (Finland) 14:36 (+ 00:13)

6. Elena Roos (Switzerland) 14:52 (+ 00:29)

Complete results, maps, photos and further information at http://www.eoc2016.cz/en/.

[Photo: FEDO / fedo.org]

Joaquim Margarido

Øystein Kvaal Østerbø: "I can fight for a medal"

At the age of 34, Øystein Kvall Østerbø almost can be considered a “veteran” in the exclusive group of Elite athletes. But his performances continue to make him one of the great values in the World of Orienteering and the end of his career is far away from being in sight. At the start of the European Orienteering Championships, the Portuguese Orienteering Blog invited him to its pages, making known the man and the athlete.

We are talking in a moment with a very special meaning for Norway, after being nominated, a couple of weeks ago, to organize the WOC 2019. Did you feel any special emotion when you saw the news?

Øystein Kvall Østerbø (Ø. K. Ø.) - WOC 2010 in Trondheim was very special to me, since it was in my hometown, and was a big goal for me for many years. WOC 2019 in Østfold will not have any sprint races, and I’m note sure if I still run on international level then, so I don’t really have too strong feeling about it. But it will for sure give an extra focus on orienteering in Norway.

It will be the first WOC in this “splitting” new life, a “forest WOC”. Do you agree with the new WOC format? Why?

Ø. K. Ø. - I don’t have any strong opinion, but personally I think I would prefer the current format, with all distances every year. From 2019 every second year will only have forest races, and therefore be less interesting for sprint runners like me. (And the same for forest runners the other years when its only sprint.) But I understand the argument that it has been difficult to find organizers every year with todays format.

Some of your biggest achievements seem to be connected with the “sprint” more than the “forest”. What kind of orienteer are you?

Ø. K. Ø. - The first years as senior I focused quite equal on all distances, and would consider me as an all-rounder, even if my best results were in sprint. I have a 3rd place overall in the World Cup, and have been running all 5 different distances in WOC. But I have always liked urban orienteering most, and the last years I have had my main focus on sprint races, but also relays (both for club and National team).

Is there an orienteer that you admire, that has "that thing" you don't have (but you would like to)?

Ø. K. Ø. - Daniel Hubmann has, in my opinion, been the best male orienteer the last ten years, since he is always performing well, in all type of races and distances.

You left Inverness, last summer, with two silver medals in your luggage, the first WOC medals ever in your (long) career. Would you like to tell me something about those medals? Did you expect it?

Ø. K. Ø. - When I was 6th and 4th in my two first WOCs in 2004 and 2005 I thought my WOC medals would come soon, but it took more then ten years. I knew that we had a strong team in the sprint relay last year, but when I sent Hausken out on the last leg it felt a bit too long up to the leading teams. So when she passed runner after runner in the end and finished second it felt really great. That I also won my first WOC medal together with runners I have knows for a long time made it even better.

Did they have a more special meaning than your fourth place in Trondheim, in WOC 2010?

Ø. K. Ø. - WOC in Trondheim was special to me since it was on home ground and had been a big goal for a along time. Finishing 4th there, 3 seconds from the gold, and less than 1 sec from a medal, was a bittersweet feeling. The medals in Scotland were in a way a bit unexpected, even I knew we had good teams in both relays. In previous Sprit Relays we had struggled, and in the Forest Relay I came in as a reserve the day before.

I would maybe say that my biggest achievement is when I came 3rd in the Middle distance in World Games 2005. I was only beaten with some seconds by Thierry Gueorgiou and Daniel Hubmann, that have been dominating International orienteering since then. World Games has always been very important for me, and on least at the same level as WOC, since it’s only organized every 4th year, and has a race format I enjoy.

From those times in Scotland, is there some special performance you keep in your memory and that you see as the achievement of last World Orienteering Championships?

Ø. K. Ø. - Maja Alm was the runner that impressed me most, winning in total 3 gold medals, including the individual sprint with a really big margin.

You've been to Portugal last February preparing the season. How was the experience?

Ø. K. Ø. - I have been in Portugal most winters since I was there first time as junior in 2000, and it’s probably the best place for an orienteering winter training camp. I remember well NAOM 2010, that was in a great terrain (detailed, but with good runability), and where I got the winning overall. After that I have tried to go back to the area when I have been in Portugal. This year I did a lot of good training both in forest and for sprint together with my club IFK Lidingö.

How do you feel right now? What are the next challenges you're facing before the season's big competitions?

Ø. K. Ø. - The season have started quite well for me, and especially the individual 4th place in the World Cup in Poland two weeks ago was great, and showed me that I can fight for a medal in the upcoming European Championships in Czech.

Would you like to tell me what are your goals, both for the European Championships and the World Championships?

Ø. K. Ø. - I have as goal fighting for medals both in the Individual Sprint and Sprint Relay in EOC and WOC, but as long as I perform my best I try to be happy.

How do you see Orienteering in Norway and, particularly, the young generation - Heidi Mårtensson, Jonas Madslien Bakken, Audun Heimdal, Anine Ahlsand? What makes you optimistic about the future?

Ø. K. Ø. - I think the future looks good for Norwegian orienteering, and we have many young runners that do well, also in sprint races, where we have struggled having a competitive team the last years.
I finished with a question related to the beginning of our talk: Will we see you in Østfold for the WOC 2019?

Ø. K. Ø. - I doubt, but never say never.

Joaquim Margarido