EOC 2016: Switzerland and Finland win the Relay

Switzerland and Finland won the Relay gold, ending the best way its presence in the European Orienteering Championships EOC 2016. Both teams scored amazing recoveries, achieving really close wins.


The European Orienteering Championships EOC 2016 came to an end. For the last day of the competition program was reserved the Relay race, a moment always awaited with special emotion and seen by all athletes as a real party in which the gold has a truly special flavor. The men's race saw the first note of sensation given by the teams of the Czech Republic and Switzerland, finishing the first leg ex-æquo with just 2 and 11 seconds ahead of Poland and Estonia, respectively. In the second leg, the Swedish Johan Runesson managed to erase the one minute disadvantage brought from the first leg, giving the testimony to his team mate, Martin Regborn, in the first position, one second before the Czech Republic and six seconds ahead of Poland. In the third leg, however, it would be the turn of Martin Hubmann being faster, offering to Switzerland a fantastic victory in 1:46:07, the third gold in the last four EOC's editions. With more 8 seconds than Switzwerland, in the second place, finished Norway, while the Czech Republic was ranked third, 13 seconds after the winners. European Champion in 2014, Sweden concluded in the 4th position with 1:02 more than the Swiss team. The Portuguese Relay didn't start in the last day of competitions.

The Women Relay also had a rather lively outcome, with Finland getting the win ten years after the golden journey of Otepää, Estonia. Julia Gross, Switzerland, started better than the concurrency, giving to the defending title, Switzerland, the primacy in the first leg with a lead of one second on the first team of Russia and 12 seconds on the second Russian team. In the second leg Russia kept fighting hard and Natalia Vinogradova recorded the best time, while Sweden followed for the decisive leg in the second place, with a delay of 1:07 in relation to Russia. In the third leg, Svetlana Mironova made a big mistake in the first part of the map, losing the lead for Switzerland. But Judith Wyder "had a bad fall in the stony area", which would eventually launch Finland and Sweden for a titanic struggle till the end. Merja Rantanen and Tove Alexandersson ran almost the entire race side by side, but Alexandersson would give up in the last meters, ending the Finnish to celebrate the victory in 1:42:57 and a four seconds lead on Sweden. Russia finished its race fifteen seconds later than the Finnish team, while Switzerland would be fourth, 21 seconds after the winners.

Results

Men

1. Switzerland (Florian Howald, Baptiste Rollier, Martin Hubmann) 1:46:07 (+ 00:00)

2. Norway (Carl Godager Kaas, Eskil Kinneberg, Magne Dæhli) 1:46:15 (+ 00:08)

3. Czech Republic (Jan Petržela, Jan Šedivý, Vojtěch Král) 1:46:20 (+ 00:13)

4. Sweden (Jonas Leandersson, Johan Runesson, Martin Regborn) 1:47:09 (+ 01:02)

5. Russia (Andrey Khramov, Dmitrii Tsvetkov, Valentin Novikov) 1:48:01 (+ 01:54)

6. Austria (Helmut Gremmel, Gernot Kerschbaumer, Robert Merl) 1:51:02 (+ 04:55)

Women

1. Finland (Sari Anttonen, Marika Teini, Merja Rantanen) 1:42:57 (+ 00:00)

2. Sweden (Lina Strand, Emma Johansson, Tove Alexandersson) 1:43:01 (+ 00:04)

3. Russia (Anastasia Rudnaia, Natalia Vinogradova, Svetlana Mironova) 1:43:12 (+ 00:15)

4. Switzerland (Julia Gross, Sabine Hauswirth, Judith Wyder) 1:43:18 (+ 00:21)

5. Czech Republic (Denisa Kosová, Dana Šafka Brožková, Jana Knapová) 1:47:44 (+ 04:47)
6. Denmark (Signe Klinting, Ida Bobach, Maja Alm) 1:49:31 (+ 06:34)

Full results and further information at http://www.eoc2016.cz/en/.

Joaquim Margarido

ETOC 2016: Jansson and Gerdtman got the PreO gold

Sweden was the great winner of PreO competition that ended the European Trail Orienteering Championships ETOC 2016. In the final stage, Stig Gerdtman and Ola Jansson confirmed the first day's excellent performances, getting the gold.

With victories of the Swedish Stig Gerdtman and Ola Jansson, in the Open Class and Paralympic Class, respectively, came to the end the European Trail Orienteering Championships ETOC 2016. Today, the 127 competitors assembled in Vápenná for a course divided into two parts, with a total of 24 tasks and a timed station with two extra challenges. Achieving a clean race on the first day of competition, Stig Gerdtman and the Finnish Jari Turto faced an intense fight. But, as the controls were being overcome, the doubts were gone fading thanks to Jari Turto's performance much lower than expected, while Gerdtman was able to maintain a consistent presence and saving the first place with two wrong answers - 45 points out of 47 in the two days. Along with the Croatian Zdenko Horjan, the Hungarian Ferenc Fehér, the Slovak Dušan Furucz and the Italian Alessio Tenani, Martin Jullum was the most accurate, with only one wrong answer, which would worth the Norwegian getting the silver medal, after being second place, already, in the TempO Final.

The Swedish Jens Andersson saved the third position with a total of 44 points, the same as Zdenko Horjan, 4th placed. With 43 points, the Italian Remo Madella got the 5th position, and the 6th place belonged to the Lithuanian Robertas Stankevič, whose presence on the podium does not cease to be a pleasant surprise. Penalizing one point for exceeding the time limit for 6 seconds, the Slovenian Krešo Keresteš thus lost the 5th place, falling to 7th place with the same points of Stankevič. Also in the range of 42 points, one can find the Italian Michele Cera, World Champion currently, that finished 8th, the British Charles Bromley Gardner, 9th ranked and Jari Turto, which closed the top10. João Pedro Valente, Portugal, eventually missed a "unthinkable" point (of the 39 ranked in the standings' top part, just him was able to miss the control No. 20), thus losing the opportunity to keep a position in the top 10 and finishing in the 13th place.

In the Paralympic Class, the Swedish Ola Jansson and the Ukrainian Vladyslav Vovk also started in the lead, wielded arguments together with the main objective of the European gold. But Vovk - as Turto. in the Open Class - wasn't exactly in a “good day” and seven wrong answers ended any golden illusion. Likewise, Ola Jansson didn't have an easy day, but twenty points scored (adding to 22 points from yesterday) were enough to ensure the victory. Defending here the European title reached in Palmela, two years ago, the Swedish Michael Johansson also noted four wrong answers, yet sufficient to annul the disadvantage of two points for Vovk and guarantee him the silver medal. Vovk would be ranked third with 39 points. In the immediate positions were classified Jana Kosťová, Czech Republic, with 37 points, Søren Saxtorph, Denmark with 36 points and the Russian Pavel Shmatov with 35 points. The seventh ranked was the Finnish Pekka Seppä, with 33 points, the same as the Russian Eduard Oginskii, ranked eighth. The Lithuanian Laima Lažinskiene finished in the 9th place with 32 points and the Russian Dmitry Dokuchaev closed the top10 with 31 points. Overall winner of today’s stage was the Slovakian Dušan Furucz, who scored 23 out of 24 and answered to the two timed controls in 13 seconds.

To see the complete results and for further information, please consult the (unofficial) event's webpage at http://www.etoc2016.cz/.

[Archive photo]

Joaquim Margarido

EOC 2016: Middle gold for Kyburz and Alexandersson

Matthias Kyburz finally managed to get the gold in a forest distance. After his Sprint winning, five days ago, he was today faster than anyone else, achieving a mostly desired victory. In the Women Class, Tove Alexandersson was unstoppable, getting a two minutes win and reached the gold for the second time in this Championships.

The European Orienteering Championships EOC 2016 is come to an ending. Today, in Černa Voda, took place the last individual Final of the competition program, which was attended by 51 male and 52 female competitors for a tough and hard fought Middle Distance. Tenth placed in his qualifying heat, the Czech Jan Šedivý was the first to break the 34 minutes' barrier, taking the lead with 33:43. But the sweet taste of being first lasted less than ten minutes, when Gustav Bergman, Sweden, got a new best time, 1:13 faster than the Czech. From that moment on, it was a long wait of more than 43 minutes (!) to see if the Swedish would be able to keep the gold.

Matthias Kyburz was the last one to start. Since his European and World gold in Sprint, he's aiming for a victory in a forest distance and the opportunity is now. And he took it! Very stable throughout Černa Voda's curly terrain, with its slopes with many stones, stone grounds and watercourses, he managed to be the fastest, winning with the time of 31:56. Bergman was second while the third place went to the French Lucas Basset, with more 51 seconds than the winner. Oskar Sjöberg, Sweden, and Florian Howald, Switzerland, got the fourth and fifth places, respectively, while Šedivý would be the sixth placed, with the same time as the 41 y.o. Russian Valentin Novikov.

In the Women Class, the Danish Maja Alm was the first to register a result which could come to worth a place on the podium, with a time of 35:27. But when Tove Alexandersson ran under the 33 minutes – 32:37 (!), to be more precise -, the winner was found. Like Matthias Kyburz, Alexandersson joined to the gold, in the last sunday's Sprint, another tasty victory in this European Championships. Very irregular in the first half of her course, the Swiss Judith Wyder did an extraordinary recovery, finishing second, 2:20 after Alexandersson. Marika Teini, Finland, confirmed her excellent season, being third, 2:25 slower than the winner, but still reaching her first international medal ever. Maja Alm, fourth, the Finnish Saila Kinni, fifth, and the Swedish Helena Jansson, sixth, completed the podium. Out of the European Championships' accounts, the little Canadian Emily Kemp got the fourth best time, 6 seconds faster than Alm.

Results

Men

1. Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) 31:56 (+ 00:00)

2. Gustav Bergman (Sweden) 32:30 (+ 00:34)

3. Lucas Basset (France) 32:47 (+ 00:51)

4. Oskar Sjöberg (Sweden) 32:58 (+ 01:02)

5. Florian Howald (Switzerland) 33:01 (+ 01:05)

6. Valentin Novikov (Russia) 33:43 (+ 01:47)

6. Jan Šedivý (Czech Republic) 33:43 (+ 01:47)

Women

1. Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) 32:37 (+ 00:00)

2. Judith Wyder (Switzerland) 34:50 (+ 02:25)

3. Marika Teini (Finland) 35:02 (02:25)

4. Maja Alm (Denmark) 35:27 (+ 02:50)

5. Saila Kinni (Finland) 35:35 (+ 02:58)

6. Helena Jansson (Sweden) 36:08 (+ 03:31)

Full results and further information at http://www.eoc2016.cz/en/.

[Archive photo]

Joaquim Margarido

ETOC 2016: Gerdtman, Turto, Jansson and Vovk leading after PreO's first day

With the PreO competition, the European Trail Orienteering Championships 2016 enters its last days. This morning, Stig Gerdtman and Jari Turto, in the Open class, and Ola Jansson and Vladislav Vovk, in the Paralympic class, were the most accurate, leading the respective standings. Still, there's a second half to play!

The European Trail Orienteering Championships ETOC 2016 it's heading for its end and the PreO competition was today's subject of all attention. This morning, in the ancient mining area of Zlaté Hory, with large amount of pits and depressions, 127 competitors tested their technical abilities, facing a very detailed terrain along which were placed 23 control points, with the “bonus” of two timed stations (with two tasks each), as an “amuse bouche”.

In the Paralympic class, the Ukranian Vladislav Vovk showed why he's currently the PreO World Champion, finishing his race with 22 points out of 23 and 106 seconds in the timed controls. Better than him, just the Swedish Ola Jansson, with the same points but with a better performance against the watch, recording 83 seconds overall. The defending European Champion, Michael Johansson, got the third best result, two points away from the leaders. The fourth and fifth placed were Inga Gunnarsson, Sweden, and Jana Kosťová, Czech Republic, with 18 points. Also fighting for a place in the podium, we can see the Lithuanian Laima Lažinskiene, the Russian Eduard Oginskii and the Danish Søren Saxtorph, with 17 points. It seems like the medals won't escape to Jansson, Vovk and Johansson, but we have to wait for tomorrow's decisive course.

In the Open Class, Stig Gerdtman, Sweden, and Jari Turto, Finland, did a clean race, finishing with 23 points each. Jari Turto, however, achieved a very unusual result in the timed controls, failing to correctly answer all the four tasks (in a set of 88 competitors in the Open Class, only four were able to perform this way). Stig Gerdtman benefited from his adversary's bad performance to take the lead. Jari Turto is the defending European Champion but he has to count on Gerdtman's revenge, fourth placed in the last European Championships and away from Palmela's podium by narrow 29 seconds. One point under the leaders, there was another pair, with the Swedish Jens Andersson ahead of the Norwegian Martin Jullum, silver medalist in the TempO competition but too little accurate today in the timed controls, missing three tasks. Waiting for a bad day of some of the leaders, there's a twelve competitors group, with 21 points. In this large group it's possible to notice the presence of the former World Champion Krešo Keresteš, Slovenia, the Swedish Marit Wiksell, the Croatian Zdenko Horjan, the Finnish Pinjä Makinen, the Portuguese João Pedro Valente or the current TempO European Champion, Pavel Kurfürst, Czech Republic. Out of the podium seems to be the current PreO World Champion, Michele Cera, Italy, with 20 points, the same as the World Champion in 2014, the Latvian Guntars Mankus, or the Portuguese Inês Domingues.

To see the complete results and for further information, please consult the (unofficial) event's webpage at http://www.etoc2016.cz/.

[Archive photo]

Joaquim Margarido

ETOC 2016: Analyzing the TrailO Relay

On the European Trail Orienteering Championships ETOC 2016's rest day, we seek to thoroughly understand the TrailO Relay competition's progress, which ended with the victories of Italy and Sweden, in the Open Class and Paralympic Class, respectively.

Italy and Sweden were the great names of the ETOC 2016's first day, by winning the TrailO Relay competition in the Open Class and Paralympic Class respectively. Looking on the moments that led to the final outcome, the Portuguese Orienteering Blog analyzes the course step by step, sharing some interesting facts. But before proceeding with the analysis itself, let's see the “game rules”. In the competition, every Federation was allowed to enter two teams in each class, each consisting of three competitors. Only the better-placed team would count in the prize list. The result was a combination of a PreO-part and a TempO-part where each wrong answers (or points deductions for exceeding the maximum time) in the PreO-part resulted in a 60 second penalty time. The end result consisted of the PreO penalty time, TempO answering time and TempO penalty time. The three legs of the competition were forked and there was a Mass Start. Every fork consisted in a 9 controls course (in fact, 8 controls, because one of it was voided), having in the end two TempO stations with four tasks each. Every team's last competitor had additionally an extra (spectator) TempO station, with four more tasks.

The TrailO Relay joined 34 teams from 16 countries, 26 in the Open class and 8 in the Paralympic class. This was the first-ever official relay competition at international level, following a trial competition at last year’s World Championships in Croatia. The 34 competitors in the first leg were distributed by the three forks, the same happening in the two remaining legs. Looking on the PreO-part overall, one can notice that V1 Fork was quite easier than the others. Fourteen competitors (one of each in the Paralympic class) hit the eight tasks in the V1 Fork, but this number falls to one competitor in the V3 Fork and none of the competitors did a clean race in the V2 Fork. It's worth looking on the overall results after the PreO-part, with Latvia leading with a 60 second penalty time in the Open Class and the Czech Republic being first with 240 seconds of penalty time. In the Open class Italy had a 60 second disadvantage and was the second placed, but the other teams were facing now the challenge of recover from a huge disadvantage of 180 seconds (Sweden, Norway, Great-Britain and the Czech Republic) or even more. In the Paralympic class, the advantage of the Czech Republic on Russia and Sweden, second placed, was of 180 seconds.

The TempO-part

The TempO-part brought some important changes to the standings. The Finnish Jari Turto, Pinjä Makinen and Lauri Kontkanen were the most accurate in the two clusters with four tasks each, getting 23 right answers out of 24 and the correspondent 30 second penalty time. With this performance, they jumped up nine places in the standings, taking the 9th position. The second team of Finland performed also quite well, with 90 second penalty time. With 120 second penalty time there was Italy, now in the lead, Portugal and Ukraine, in the Open class, and Sweden, in the Paralympic class. Latvia got 360 second penalty time, losing by far the leadership and falling to the 8th place.

Looking on the board after the TempO-part it's easy to realize that only a disaster would move Italy away from the highest place of the podium. Sweden and Slovakia were in the fight for the silver. Separated by 33 points, Norway, Portugal, Latvia and Finland still had a little hope on the medals. In the Paralympic Class, Sweden took the lead, 18 seconds before Czech Republic. Fighting for the bronze, Russia and Latvia were separated by 22,5 seconds. There's still the final TempO cluster to play just once, by the last competitor of each team. Who is going to lose? Who is going to win?

The final act

The last Cluster will be decisive. Four tasks and lots of precious seconds to play should made the difference for some. In the Paralympic class, both Ola Jansson, Sweden, and Jana Kosťová, Czech Republic, performed similarly and could keep the relative positions. Inga Gunnarsson, Michael Johansson and Ola Jansson were the first-ever TrailO Relay winners in this Class, while Hanka Doležalová, Bohuslav Hůlka and Jana Kosťová got the silver. Dmitry Dokuchaev, Dmitry Kucherenko and Pavel Shmatov could manage to keep the bronze to Russia.

In the Open Class, the three third placed had a 60 second penalty for two wrong answers and the short answering time between them didn't change anything in the final standings. With Remo Madella, Michele Cera and Alessio Tenani in the last leg, Italy saved the gold. Sweden, with Stig Gerdtman, Martin Fredholm and Marit Wiksell got the silver and the bronze went to Slovakia, with Marián Mikluš and the brothers Ján and Dušan Furucz. After Inês Domingues and Grigas Piteira, Edgar Domingues had just 30 seconds penalty and Portugal would rise up three places, overtaking Norway and getting the fourth place. Norway and Finland finished fifth and sixth, separated for close four seconds. Hungary got the seventh place, with Zoltán Miháczi winning two positions on Latvia and Croatia in the decisive cluster. Luis Gonçalves, from the Portuguese second team, was brilliant in the “final act”, winning seven places and finishing tenth overall. One last note to the Czech Pavel Kurfürst: He was the only competitor clearing the final TempO cluster. Twenty four hours later he would be on top again, getting the European gold in the TempO competition!

To see the complete results and for further information, please consult the (unofficial) event's webpage at http://www.etoc2016.cz/.

[Photo: Skogssport / facebook.com/Skogssport]

Joaquim Margarido