Arno Grønhovd, Norway and Ola Jansson, Sweden lead the field in the O (Open) and P (Physically Challenged) classes respectively after a day interpreting very rocky hillside terrain in northern Bohemia, Czechia.
In the P class, five times world champion Jansson has a 2-point lead over last year’s champion Michael Johansson, also Sweden.The Spaniard Alejandro Aguilar Lara, who impressed on his debut in international competition last year, is third. Vladislav Vovk, Ukraine, gold medalist in 2015 and silver medalist last year, is fourth, with the same number of points as Lara but a longer timed-control time.
Grønhovd has yet to win a world championship medal. Today there were just two competitors with a full score, Grønhovd and Michele Cera, Italy. However there are 11 competitors who made just one error today, so the O class is still wide open. Teemu Niskanen, Finland is in third place after Day 1.
Tomorrow there will be quite different terrain, with deep valleys lined by extremely high crags in places. The leaders will start out last, and it will be fascinating to see the climax as they come to the last controls.
Leaders after PreO Day 1
O class
- Arno Grønhovd NOR 36 points + 97 seconds
- Michele cera ITA 36 + 221
- Teemu Niskanen FIN 35 + 41
- Laura Eliza Lapina LAT 35 + 58
- Antti Rusanen FIN 35 + 66
- Robertas Stankevič LTU 35 + 75
P class
- Ola Jansson SWE 34 + 245.5
- Michael Johansson SWE 32 + 256
- Alejandro Aguilar Lara ESP 31 + 117
- Vladyslav Vovk UKR 31 + 174
- Valerii Lytvynov UKR 30 + 134
- Nicola Galvan ITA 30 + 208