World Cup 2016: Victories of Leandersson and Wyder in the Sprint, Kyburz and Alexandersson got the winning overall

With victories in the Sprint of Jonas Leandersson and Judith Wyder, came to the end the 2016 World Cup in Orienteering. Matthias Kyburz and Tove Alexandersson ensured the overall victory.

The heart of Aarau hosted, in early afternoon, the last stage of 2016 World Cup in Orienteering. The Sprint race had the participation of 37 male athletes and 38 female in the main Final, being marked, among other reasons, by the farewell to the high competition of the Swiss Baptiste Rollier. The men's race had in the Swiss Florian Howald's leadership its first great moments. Keen to take the risk to the last consequences, the Swiss ended up doing some route choices that proved to be less profitable and when, in the 9th control, the Swedish Jonas Leandersson took over the leadership, the situation wouldn't change till the end. Leandersson reached an excellent 20-second victory, finishing the season in the best way, “avenging” the 5th place in the Sprint Final of the World Championships, which took place in his home country. The second place went to the Swiss Matthias Kyburz, who had, the day before, secured his third triumph in the World Cup overall (after having previously won in 2012 and 2013). The third place fell to another Swiss, Martin Hubmann, 24 seconds after the winner.

Judith Wyder, Switzerland, was the great figure of this final round of the World Cup 2016. After the victories in the two first stages, Wyder returned to shine at the highest level, beating convincingly her most direct opponents in today's Sprint. It was an undisputed victory, started to build immediately after the start and founded on the best options along the course. Preceding Wyder at the start, the bi-champion of the World in Sprint, Maja Alm, Denmark, would spend 15:08, setting the fastest time so far. But the lead didn't last 30 seconds, as Wyder would record a final time of 14:37, before the applause and incitement of her public. At a time when the first place was no longer in question, the doubt was if the Swedish Tove Alexandersson would be able to reach the second place. But a small hesitation in the very last control determined her final third place, one second behind Maja Alm. After all, this result didn't constrain Alexandersson's leadership in the 2016 World Cup in Orienteering, whose conquest she gets for the third year in a row.

Results

Men Elite

1. Jonas Leandersson (Sweden) 14:12 (+ 00:00)

2. Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) 14:32 (+ 00:20)

3. Martin Hubmann (Switzerland) 14:36 (+ 00:24)

4. Tim Robertson (New Zealand) 14:39 (+ 00:27)

5. Florian Howald (Switzerland) 14:42 (+ 00:30)

6. Emil Svensk (Sweden) 14:46 (+ 00:34)

Women Elite

1. Judith Wyder (Switzerland) 14:37 (+ 00:00)

2. Maja Alm (Denmark) 15:08 (+ 00:31)

3. Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) 15:09 (+ 00:32)

4. Rahel Friederich (Switzerland) 15:11 (+ 00:34)

5. Helena Jansson (Sweden) 15:12 (+ 00:35)

6. Elena Roos (Switzerland) 15:23 (+ 00:46)

Complete results and further information at http://www.o-worldcup.ch/en/.

[Photos: © International Orienteering Federation / facebook/IOFarena]

Joaquim Margarido

WTOC 2016: Sweden

We don't need too many words to highlight the brilliant performance of Sweden in the 13th World Trail Orienteering Championships. Three gold medals (out of five), one silver and one bronze give the perfect image of the Swedish power in Strömstad, in its home country. And if we remember that Martin Fredholm missed the last task of the TrailO Relay, thus losing the silver medal, and Stig Gerdtman stayed 3.5 seconds away from the bronze medal in the PreO, Open Class, then the size of the Swedish domination could have been even greater.

+ Michael Johansson, no doubt. He managed to keep cool head in the decisive stage of PreO competition, recovering the two-point disadvantage for the Russian Pavel Shmatov and reaching the gold for the second time in his career. Gold multiplied by two in the TrailO Relay, although here with a wrong answer in the PreO segment, but without impact on the final result.

- It's hard not to elect Lennart Wahlgren as the weakest link of the the Swedish team. His 14t place in the TempO competition is quite far from what he's able to do.

Results

TempO

Qual Blue

5. Marit Wiksell 209 seconds

15. Erik Stålnacke 308,5 seconds

Qual Red

3. Martin Fredholm 169 seconds

4. Lennart Wahlgren 210 seconds

Final

2. Marit Wiksell 256,5 seconds

10. Martin Fredholm 321 seconds

11. Erik Stålnacke 340,5 seconds

14. Lennart Wahlgren 353 seconds

PreO

Open

1. Martin Fredholm 48 points / 40,5 seconds

4. Stig Gerdtman 47 points / 47,5 seconds

5. Marit Wiksell 47 points / 91 seconds

7. Jens Andersson 47 points / 118,5 seconds

Para

1. Michael Johansson 46 points / 74,5 seconds

3. Ola Jansson 45 points / 44,5 seconds

7. Inga Gunnarsson 41 points / 136,5 seconds

17. Rolf Karlsson 37 points / 196 seconds

TrailO Relay

Open

4. Sweden 221,5 seconds

Marit Wiksell (6 points / 35,5 seconds)

Jens Andersson (7 points / 47,5 seconds)

Martin Fredholm (7 points / 78,5 seconds)

Para

1. Sweden 334,5 seconds

Inga Gunnarsson (7 points / 149 seconds)

Ola Jansson (7 points / 63 seconds)

Michael Johansson (6 points / 62,5 seconds)

Joaquim Margarido

World Cup 2016: Long Distance gold for Kyburz and Wyder

“Playing home”, the Swiss athletes continue to demonstrate an enviable power, getting triumphs behind triumphs. After yesterday victory in the Sprint Relay, today it was the turn of Matthias Kyburz and Judith Wyder winning the Long Distance. With these triumphs, Kyburz recovers a title achieved in 2012 and 2013, while Wyder puts some pressure on Tove Alexandersson, postponing the final decision for the last day.

The Roggenhausen map, in Neue Kantonsschule Aaurau, Switzerland, hold the World Cup Final in Orienteering 2016's second stage. Quite demanding from a physical point of view, the first part of the Long Distance course turned out to be decisive for the final standings. Revealing a better condition than his opponents, the Swiss Matthias Kyburz reached, from the beginning, an advantage that would prove to be valuable, considering a less good performance in the final controls. During the first part, it worth highlighting the Austrian Gernot Kerschbaumer, who stayed practically glued to Kyburz for several controls. In the final part of the competition, particularly in the technical loop that preceded the last four controls, it was possible to see Kyburz and Kerschbaumer loosing seconds after the seconds, with Lundanes approaching to the front and to threaten the Swiss' leadership. In the end, Kyburz would record the time of 1:24:47, reaching his fifth victory of the season in scoring stages for the World Cup, whose overall winning just to ensured today. The three immediate places were occupied by Norwegian athletes, with Lundanes finishing 21 seconds after Kyburz, Carl Godager Kaas at 02:02 and Magne Dæhli at 03:19 from the winner. The second best Swiss athlete, Florian Howald, would occupy the 11th place, while Daniel Hubmann, current leader of the IOF World Ranking, had a mishap in the middle of his race, being forced to abandon.

The women's race was well balanced in the initial phase, with the Swiss Judith Wyder and the Swedish Tove Alexandersson confirming their favoritism and leading alternately the course, with only a few seconds of difference between them. It was on the way to the 6th control that Wyder made a big mistake, allowing the Swedish to take a clear leadership. Further ahead, however, in the very technical 10th control, Alexandersson would waste the precious advantage, giving the lead to the Swiss. From that moment, Wyder didn't lose anymore the command of the operations, while some less fortunate options of Alexandersson in the immediate controls ended by making another Swiss athlete, Sabine Hauswirth, to reach the second position. In the second half of the race the places didn't change and Judith Wyder eventually got her third victory of the season in a stage scoring for the World Cup 2016. A triumph of Wyder in the last race, tomorrow, can still means an overall victory in the World Cup, but, even though, she'll have to wait Tove Alexandersson finishing 15th or even worse, which is quite improbable.

Results

Men Elite

1. Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) 1:24:47 (+ 00:00)

2. Olav Lundanes (Norway) 1:25:08 (+ 00:21)

3. Carl Godager Kaas (Norway) 1:26:49 (+ 02:02)

4. Magne Dæhli (Norway) 1:28:06 (+ 03:19)

5. Jonas Leandersson (Sweden) 1:28:15 (+ 03:28)

6. Gernot Kerschbaumer (Austria) 1:28:16 (+ 03:29)

Women Elite

1. Judith Wyder (Switzerland) 1:13:14 (+ 00:00)

2. Sabine Hauswirth (Switzerland) 1:15:16 (+ 02:02)

3. Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) 1:15:57 (+ 02:43)

4. Svetlana Mironova (Russia) 1:19:13 (+ 05:59)

5. Julia Gross (Switzerland) 1:20:54 (+ 07:40)

6. Maja Alm (Denmark) 1:22:02 (+ 08:48)

Complete results and further information at http://www.o-worldcup.ch/en/.

[Photo: © Orienteering Wold Cup Final. Rémy Steinegger / www.steineggerpix.com]

Joaquim Margarido

World Cup 2016: Switzerland wins the Sprint Relay

The Sprint Relay opened the final round of the World Cup in Orienteering of the current season. In Aarau's rainy afternoon, the Swiss team confirmed the favoritism, reaching a hard win before its public. With this result, Switzerland turned out to be the winner of the 2016 Sprint Relay World Cup in Orienteering.

The Orienteering season is coming to an end and the city of Aarau, in northern Switzerland, receives over the weekend the final round of the World Cup 2016. With 155 competitors from 20 different nations entered (83 Men and 72 Women), the event's program opened with a Sprint Relay, providing also a Long Distance stage, tomorrow, and even a Sprint stage, the last big race of the season, next Sunday. The present day was, then, dedicated to the collective race, with the presence of 24 teams.

The command along the race belonged mostly to Sweden, with Lina Strand to be the fastest in the first leg and, later, with Jonas Leandersson reaching also the best time in the third leg. A sensational second leg of the Swiss Matthias Kyburz made that the gap between Swiss and Swedes wasn't too wide at the the entrance for the last leg, where the advantage of Helena Jansson over Judith Wyder was of eight seconds. The truth is that Wyder proved unshakeable before her most direct opponents, beating all the concurrence by a wide margin and giving to Switzerland a particularly tasty victory with the final time of 56:08. Spending 39 seconds more than the winner, Helena Jansson was able to hold the second position to Sweden, while the world bi-champion of Sprint, Maja Alm, achieved the second best time in the decisive leg, making Denmark to recover four places in the standings and reach the bronze medal.

With this race, the Sprint Relay World Cup in Orienteering met the season's winner. With a win, a second and a third place recorded in the previous rounds, Switzerland and Denmark reached the final stage tied, whereby the Swiss victory also meant the triumph in the overall competition with a total of 280 points. Denmark finished second with 240 points, while Sweden ended in the third place with 220 points.

Results

1. Switzerland (Rahel Friederich, Matthias Kyburz, Daniel Hubmann, Judith Wyder) 56:08 (+ 00:00)

2. Sweden (Lina Strand, Emil Svensk, Jonas Leandersson, Helena Jansson) 56:39 (+ 00:31)

3. Denmark (Cecilie Friberg Klysner, Tue Lassen, Sören Bobach, Maja Alm) 58:03 (+ 01:55)

4. Russia (Anastasia Rudnaya, Dmitrii Nakonechnyi, Artem Popov, Galina Vinogradova) 58:13 (+ 02:05)

5. Norway (Silje Ekroll Jahren, Hakon Jarvis Westergard, Øystein Kvaal Østerbø, Ingjerd Myhre) 58:22 (+ 02:14)

6. Finland (Sari Anttonen, Topi Raitanen, Marten Bostrom, Merja Rantanen) 58:23 (+ 02:15)

Complete results and further information at http://www.o-worldcup.ch/en/.

[Photo: © Orienteering Wold Cup Final. Rémy Steinegger / www.steineggerpix.com]

Joaquim Margarido

Dão Lafões Orienteering Meeting: Vesanto and Moreira won in Satão

Taking advantage of perfect courses in some of the most beautiful terrains in Portugal, more than three hundred athletes headed Satão for the 2nd Dão Lafões Orienteering Meeting. In the Elite classes, Anssi Vesanto and Mariana Moreira were the winners of an unforgettable weekend of the best Orienteering.

With the season close to the end, the Portuguese Orienteering Cup Vitalis 2016 knew its penultimate round during the past weekend. Organized by the Clube de Orientação de Viseu - Natura, the 2nd Dão Lafões Orienteering Meeting was held in two stages - Middle Distance and Long Distance -, offering also a Night Mass Start as a bonus to the 336 competitors that attended the event.

In the Men Elite, the Finn Anssi Vesanto (EsSu) was the strongest in the two stages overall, ahead of the Miguel brothers, Diogo and Rafael (both from Ori-Estareja), respectively second and third placed. Diogo Miguel won the Middle Distance stage in the first day, but was unrecognizable on the last day, loosing more than thirteen minutes to the winner, Vesanto. In the Women Elite, Mariana Moreira (CPOC) performed well enough in the first stage, ensuring immediately a comfortable advantage over Patricia Casalinho (COC). Despite two big mistakes, Moreira also won the last stage, again for a large margin, reaching a 385-point victory overall. Casalinho and Carolina Delgado (GD4C) finished second and third, respectively. João Bernardino (COC) and Filipa Rodrigues (ADFA) were the winners in the M20/W20 classes.

Results

Men Elite

1. Anssi Vesanto (EsSu FIN) 1942.62 points

2. Diogo Miguel (Ori-Estarreja) 1887.74 points

3. Rafael Miguel (Ori-Estarreja) 1881.98 points

4. Pedro Duarte (ADFA) 1645.77 points

5. Marco Póvoa (ADFA) 1568.56 points

Women Elite

1. Mariana Moreira (CPOC) 2000.00 points

2. Patricia Casalinho (COC) 1614.55 points

3. Carolina Delgado (GD4C) 1445.96 points

4. Adelindina Lopes (COC) 1411.62 points

5. Albertina Sá (ADFA) 1301.19 points

Complete results and further information at http://www.modal.coviseu-natura.pt/satao2016/.

[Archive photo]

Joaquim Margarido