BIG MISTAKES AT WOC

It happens to all of us – that big-180, the 90, or the complete mind explosion. We wonder: “What a simple error - how could we possibly have done that?” Well, rest easy, we are not alone. Here are examples of the simple errors made by some of the world’s elite orienteers at the World Orienteering Championships in Denmark.

David Andersson (SWE)

David Andersson will remember the Men’s Middle-distance Final day for as long as he lives - for all the wrong reasons. He was going well until he reached the spectator control #11. Then something went terribly wrong for him. After punching #11 he turned right when he should have turned left and ran off towards #22. All this in front of thousands of spectators, TV cameras, the Big Screen – the lot. All credit goes to the Swedish commentator who had to bite his tongue so as not to alert Andersson to his mistake. Andersson certainly wasn’t alerted – he kept going to #21, #20 (a control surrounded by photo journalists), #19, #18, #17, #16 and #15. Only at #15 did Andersson realise his mistake so he headed off to #12 then retraced his route back to the Finish. What was going through his mind? Only David Andersson knows.

Minna Kauppi (FIN)

In the Women’s Middle-distance Final the effervescent Finn, Minna Kauppi, finished a very creditable 4th, but she could have had a Bronze medal had she not made a 90 degree error at #4. She lost close to one minute on the leg from #4 to #5 but only missed the Bronze by 11sec. As she punched #4 she must have looked up and mistaken the small hill to the west for the much larger hill to the south. Uh Oh, what a costly mistake.

Women’s Middle Distance Final

#5 FINISH 1 S. Niggli-Luder SUI 6:02 33:58.1 2 M. Andersen NOR 5:51 34:20.5 3 T. Riabkina RUS 36:13.9 4 M. Kauppi FIN 6:58 36:24.9

Valentin Novikov (RUS)

In the Men’s Middledistance Final, Novikov was leading by a good margin when he punched control #16. The Gold medal was his for the taking – all he needed was a clear run through the last few controls. Unfortunately, he thought he was at #17 and so headed left towards #18 – a long way left. He realised his mistake but lost over two minutes. He finished in 5th place, some 54sec behind the winner Holger Hott Johansen (NOR).

Middle Distance Final – Men

#15 #16 #17 #18 #19 FINISH H. Hott Johansen NOR 1:15 0:39 0:25 1:41 1:16 35:49.4 V. Novikov RUS 1:11 0.39 2:44 1:42 1:17 36:43.5

Michela Guizzardi (ITA) & Hilary Saeger (USA)

Hilary Saeger had a nightmare start to the Women’s Sprint Final when she couldn’t find #1, found #2 then almost returned to the Start before she found the correct route to #1. Thoroughly demoralised she ran up to the spectator control #10 behind Italy’s Michela Guizzardi who had passed her earlier. Guizzardi then made an (almost) 90 degree error in front of the grandstand crowd of thousands, heading off into nowhere, and Saeger trotted off behind her. Clearly Saeger was following Guizzardi but she wasn’t disqualified – very interesting.