Three “new” nations can boast of having won a World Games medal in orienteering after Friday’s middle distance race kicked off the Games in Chengdu, China.
Slovakia, Italy and Canada joined the exclusive club on a day when the gold medals went to Swiss Riccardo Rancan and Simona Aebersold, who received the very first golds among the 256 medal events at the Games in China.
In addition, intense heat and high humidity characterized the middle distance in and around the village of Gaota south of Chengdu.
The courses were laid in terrain that primarily consists of fields and a dense, asynchronous network of narrow, muddy paths with dense vegetation.
Riccardo Rancan gets a well deserved cooling after the warm race.
Riccardo Rancan solved that task the fastest, even though he also had small time losses at the beginning of the course. Especially in the last half of the course, where several athletes dropped out due to the heat, the Swiss kept his cool and ran to the finish with a winning margin of just over two minutes.
Francesco Mariani took silver, Italy’s first ever World Games medal in Orienteering, while Vegard Jarvis Westergård achieved the same feat for Canada – by claiming the bronze five seconds later.
Francesco Mariani, Riccardo Rancan and Vegard Jarvis Westergård on the podium.
The margin was even greater for the women, with Simona Aebersold defending her World Games title by almost four minutes. Tereza Šmelíková (SVK) did a strong performance in the heat and claimed the silver medal, while Sweden’s Alva Sonesson was a few minutes further behind and took bronze.
Tereza Šmelíková took Slovakia’s first ever World Games medal in orienteering.
Ice cubes and cold water were in high demand at the finish line, as several of the athletes needed to cool down after their exertions in the heat.
Tereza Šmelíková, Simona Aebersold and Alva Sonesson on the women’s podium.
Results, GPS-tracking and photos in IOF LIVE
Saturday is a rest day before the orienteering at the World Games continue with the individual sprint on Sunday morning.
The TV broadcast can be followed on the World Games Live platform from 9:30 (UTC +8) with English commentary.