The more than 400 athletes at European Youth Orienteering Championships found the fast shoes from the bag on Sunday afternoon, when the EYOC Sprint race took place in central Szczecin.
And compared to yesterday’s long distance forest race, there were three new faces on top of the four EYOC podiums after today’s race, which took place in exclusively urban terrain.
Mira Werder (SUI) was the only athlete to repeat the triumph from yesterday, when she won today’s sprint by 15 seconds. Two Finns accompanied her on the podium: Lotta Laakso and Anni Jantunen in that order.
Simon Calandry secured the first gold for France at EYOC by taking an eight second-win in M16. He avoided time loss on the decisive leg to control 16, where other strong athletes were losing precious time. Tomasz Rzenca (POL) took silver and won his second medal on home ground this weekend ahead of Ondrej Stepanek (CZE).
Janka Mikes (HUN) took revenge from yesterday’s silver medal by winning W18 by a huge margin. Jana Rifa Bernardino (ESP) was 33 seconds behind in silver position with Rahel Good (SUI) on her heels in third. Milla Key (AUS) ran the second fastest time, but cannot win a European medal due to her nationality.
Slovakia’s Filip Jancik’s win in M18 was also quite superior as Switzerland’s Lukas Gasser was beaten by 23 seconds. The two fought a fierce duel for the gold, but Jancik was 15 seconds faster to control 16 and never let go of the lead from there. Sweden Max Österberg was three seconds further behind and claimed the bronze.
Find results and see the broadcast on IOF LIVE.
European Youth Orienteering Championships in Szczechin, Poland end tomorrow with the relays.
Follow the action on IOF LIVE from 10.00 local time (UTC +2).
Photo: Jakub Kijak / Moonline Media