The final round of the IOF Ski Orienteering World Cup starts on Tuesday 6 March. The 3rd World Cup round takes place at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Vermont, United States. 24 women and 41 men from 15 nations are entered for the World Cup final, which consist of four competitions – Sprint, Middle and Long individual races, and a Mixed Sprint Relay. The overall winners will be crowned after the 9th individual race of the season on Friday, and the sum of the best 7 scores will define the best ski orienteers of the 2017-2018 season!
The current World Cup leaders
In the World Cup individual standings, Tove Alexandersson, Sweden and Andrey Lamov, Russia have comfortable leads at the top. In the women’s class Mariya Kechkina, Russia seems assured of the second place, but the fight for the third place on the podium will be keen as only 1 point separates Magdalena Olsson, Sweden and Anastasia Kravchenko, Russia. In the men’s class Erik Rost, Sweden currently is in the second place with a 26-point lead over the Bulgarian Stanimir Belomazhev. Gion Schnyder, Switzerland is only 5 points behind Belomazhev and certainly will fight for his place on the podium.
World Cup standings prior to the final 3 individual races
Women
1. Tove Alexandersson SWE 321 points
2. Mariya Kechkina RUS 300
3. Magdalena Olsson SWE 220
4. Anastasia Kravchenko RUS 219
5. Alena Trapeznikova RUS195
6. Linda Lindkvist SWE 190
7. Salla Koskela FIN 174
8. Marjut Turunen FIN 172
Men
1. Andrey Lamov RUS 276
2. Erik Rost SWE 237
3. Stanimir Belomazhev BUL 211
4. Gion Schnyder SUI 206
5. Vladislav Kiselev RUS 192
6. Sergey Gorlanov RUS 183
7. Lars Moholdt NOR 176
8. Misa Tuomala FIN 155
World Championships for Masters
More than 120 masters from 14 countries have entered the World Masters Championships, and the oldest participants are over 80 years.
The programme for the World Cup final
Tuesday 6 March – 10:00 Sprint
Wednesday 7 March – 10:00 Middle Distance
Friday 9 March – 9:30 Long Distance (mass-start)
Saturday 10 March – 10:00 Mixed Sprint Relay (teams of 1 man + 1 woman, each athlete skies 3 loops)
NOTE: All times UTC -5.
You can follow live results on LIVEorienteering and read race reports right here on the IOF webpage. More information can be fount on the event website.