The athletes competing in the World Games in USA were challenged with a lot of route choices and had to cope with the warm weather in Alabama Friday morning, when the Sprint kicked off the orienteering competitions.
Simona Aebersold (SUI) and Tim Robertson (NZL) seemed to handle the warm weather well, as they took clear victories in the sun.
The men’s class began at 9.00 – but even then, the temperature was climbing towards 30 degrees Celsius and posed yet another challenge to the sprint terrain around the Southern Birmingham College with the finish line placed in the middle of the soccer field.
World Cup-leader Tim Robertson started as the fourth last and had the fastest times all the way through the 3,9 kilometer course on the fairly hilly campus ground.
The two newly crowned World Champions from WOC in Denmark, Matthias Kyburz (SUI) and Kasper Fosser (NOR) pushed hard to beat Robertson’s time but ended up just outside the medals and tied for the fourth place.
Instead, Martin Regborn (SWE) and Tomas Krivda (CZE) ran without notable mistakes and got the silver and bronze medal respectively – finishing 9 and 12 seconds behind Robertson.
Simona Aebersold (SUI) was the last starter in the women’s class and gave nothing away, as she won by 26 seconds.
Tereza Janosikova (CZE) grabbed the silver medal and Elena Roos (SUI) the bronze – despite some minor time losses during the course.
Saturday’s Middle distance will be a completely different challenge, as the athletes move to the forest southeast of Birmingham with continental forest terrain and lots of hills to climb.
Follow the action at IOF LIVE from 9.30 local time (UTC -5) – 16.30 Central European Summer Time.
Top results:
Women
1. Simona Aebersold, SUI 14:52
2. Tereza Janosikova, CZE 15:18
3. Elena Roos, SUI 15:21
4. Aleksandra Hornik, POL 15:36
5. Karolin Ohlsson, SWE 15:37
6. Ingrid Lundanes, NOR 15:39
Men
1. Tim Robertson, NZL 14:17
2. Martin Regborn, SWE 14:26
3. Tomas Krivda, CZE 14:29
4. Matthias Kyburz, SUI 14:32
4. Kasper Harlem Fosser, NOR 14:32
6. Joey Hadorn, SUI 14:33