WORLD GAMES
Gold and Silver to Hanny Allston at World Games in Taiwan
In the Sprint event the previous day, Hanny took the silver medal. An early starter, she led the field for much of the day but her time was eventually beaten by Minna Kauppi of Finland, who took the title by 23 seconds, most of which was set up in the first part of the course. Norway’s Elise Egseth was third. Kathryn Ewels placed 15th, 1min 34sec further back.
Hanny Allston went to the World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, with high hopes of doing well. But she had some formidable opponents in the field – Finland’s Minna Kauppi is reigning Middle Distance World Champion and also took silver in the Sprint last year. Dana Brozkova from Czech Republic is reigning World Champion at Long Distance, and the Swedes Kajsa Nilsson and Linnea Gustafsson both have fine reputations.
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N a pre-Games interview with the IOFs Erik Borg, Hanny said, “I am certainly excited to be part of The World Games that I understand is the second largest sporting event in the world”. Hanny Allston won The World Games Middle Distance title by the impressive margin of 76.4 seconds. Erik Borg wrote: “The Australian showed remarkable strength at Chengcing Lake. She has taken new steps forward since she became a World Champion in 2006”. Hanny had a smooth run and stuck to her race plan, which involved taking safe routes, staying out of the forested green areas and sticking to the tracks as much as possible. It payed off with a dominating run, 1min 16.4sec clear of second placed Minna Kauppi of Finland. Hanny’s gold medal is the second for an Australian at a World Games following Grant Bluett’s win in Japan in 2001. The second half of the women’s team, Kathryn Ewels, was 19th after losing small amounts of time at the #3 and #13 controls. Julian Dent achieved his best international result to date in the men’s race, taking 13th place with a solid run. Simon Uppill, the first finisher for the day, was 23rd. After the race Hanny told Erik Borg, “I had a good race. I followed my plan exactly. I planned to run carefully and not at full speed, and look for the fastest route choices and take the safest of them. I ran for example to the corners of buildings or the tops of hills instead of taking short cuts”. She told Erik, “I orienteer more safely now. I have become more a navigator than a competitor. I have more control in my way of orienteering. I have also improved my running and I am stronger”. Hanny told Erik Borg it’s impossible to compare the 2006 World Championships gold and the gold at this year’s World Games. Both are big successes, but they are very different events. While Hanny was the first Australian to win at the World Championships, she is the second to win at The World Games; Grant Bluett won the individual distance in Akita in 2001. It’s a bit special to follow in his footsteps. “He has been an idol for me when I started orienteering”, said Hanny.
Photo: Erik Borg
In the Men’s event, both the Australians finished in midfield positions. Simon Uppill was 17th, his best international result to date, while Julian Dent was 22nd after losing time on the second half of the course. Andrey Khramov (Russia) edged out Daniel Hubmann (Switzerland) by 1.6 seconds for the gold medal, with Tero Föhr (Finland) taking bronze. Another noteworthy result was a tenth place for New Zealand’s Ross Morrison.
In the final event, the Relay, the Australian team equalled its best Relay placing (4th) in major international events. In The World Games Relay teams consist of four runners – two women and two men. Russia led the men into the changeover after the first leg, ahead of Sweden and Norway. Simon Uppill was with the leaders at the first spectator control, dropping a few places in the second half of the course. Kathryn Ewels took over and ran a great second leg, losing very little time to the leaders, where Sweden overtook Russia at the end of the second leg. Andrey Khramov, the Sprint gold medallist, chased down Peter Oeberg of Sweden to give the lead back to Russia. Chasing were Julian Dent and the Middle Distance gold medallist Daniel Hubmann. Julian was with the Swiss runner for much of the course, and kept Australia in the medal hunt being in 5th place at the changeover, just behind Tero Föhr of Finland and ahead of Norway’s Østerbø. The leading runners from Sweden and Switzerland made errors on the early part of the final leg, allowing Minna Kauppi of Finland, the Sprint gold medallist to move into second place. Australia and Norway were battling for third and fourth, with Elise Egseth holding off Hanny Allston for the bronze medal. The Australian Boomerangs team for the Relay was 1. Simon Uppill AUS
7th place, 1 min 20 secs behind the leader;
2. Kathryn Ewels AUS 4th place, 1 min 53secs behind the leader; 3. Julian Dent AUS
5th place, 2 mins 18 secs behind the leader;
4. Hanny Allston AUS
4th place, 2 mins 3 secs behind the winner.
The Team said they were stoked with the result, and happy to show the Europeans that Australia can match it with them! This year’s World Games was the eighth. Thirty one sports were on the program. In total, 4700 athletes from 105 nations took part, a record in terms of the number of sports, athletes and nations. Orienteering made its début on the program of The World Games in Akita, Japan, in 2001. This year was the third time for Orienteering to be part of this huge, highly successful multi-sport competition. And, for the first time, a Sprint was added to the program, making three Orienteering events. At previous World Games it had been just two – Middle Distance and Relay. SEPTEMBER 2009 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 7