Linda Lindkvist (SWE) continued her impressive winning streak as the world’s best ski orienteers raced for pursuit glory in the last World Cup race out of three in Tauplitzalm, Austria Wednesday afternoon.
After winning both Monday’s sprint and Tuesday shortened middle distance, Lindkvist had a head start of 53 seconds in today’s pursuit race based on the big gap from the sprint win.
Despite losing time on the first, forked loop Lindkvist managed to hold on to the lead and finished 39 seconds ahead of Lisa Larsen (SWE) with Daisy Kudre Schnyder 16 seconds further behind in third position after the 10,9 kilometers of racing.
In the men’s race, Jørgen Baklid (NOR) was nine seconds behind first starter Bjørnar Kvåle, but the reigning pursuit world champion quickly caught up with his countryman and overtook the lead, which he didn’t let go of ever since.
Behind him, Niklas Ekström (FIN) and Henrik Fredriksen Aas (NOR) raced their way up the ranks to finish second and third respectively – 1.01 and 2.13 slower than Baklid.
Find results and GPS-tracking from today’s race at IOF LIVE.
After this round 1 in the Ski Orienteering World Cup, Linda Lindkvist has a comfortable lead with her maximum 300 points after three races. She is followed by fellow Swede Lisa Larsen (165 points) and Anna Ulvensøen (NOR, 158 points).
The men’s World Cup standings on the other hand looks to be a pure Norwegian showdown: Bjørnar Kvåle leads (182 points) ahead of Jørgen Baklid and Henrik Fredriksen Aas (both 180 points) and with Isak Jonsson in fourth position (170 points).
Dive into the full World Cup standings here.
The World Cup season continues on January 31, when the European Ski Orienteering Championships 2023 kick off in Madona, Latvia.
The Austrian organisers of the World Cup Round 1 has collected valuable experience on eg. heavy snowfall and can now take a well deserved rest, before the SkiO world elite return to Austria next year for the World Ski Orienteering Championships 2024.
Photos: Rainer Burmann