WORLD ORIENTEERING CHAMPIONSHIPS

from The Australian Orienteer, September 2022

by Orienteering Australia

AUS SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Aston takes fifth place at Sprint World Championships!

PHOTOS: WILLIAM HOLLOWELL, KELL SONNICHSEN, DMYTRO LEVIN

Orienteering Australia High Performance Manager, Fredrik Johansson, reported:

• A great week for the Australian team overall with a 5th and best place ever by an Australian male for Aston Key; • There were some promising results by our very young and inexperienced athletes. Unfortunately we only had Aston qualify in the

Individual Sprint but both Nea and Ewan were close; • The average age of our Sprint Relay team was 19! • Great Relay runs from Aston Key (3sec from best time) and Ewan

Shingler; • There is some work to be done by our team to get to a point where we can have more qualifying for the Finals, and building a Relay team with the goal of being able to stay with the leading pack. But considering they are such a young and inexperienced team, they are on their way towards that. • First time WOC experience for all but Aston. All did really well. Victoria’s Aston Key capped off an incredible week at the inaugural Sprint World Orienteering Championships in Denmark, with a stunning 5th place in the Individual Sprint Final; an intense race which saw some favourites come unstuck. Aston finished just 38 seconds behind the winner, Norwegian Kasper Harlem Fosser. After a conservative run in the qualifying round, Aston pulled out all the stops in an impressive performance under pressure. Former coach‑in‑ residence and Honorary Aussie Ralph Street was 6th, just 2 seconds behind Aston. Earlier in the week, Aston ran the second fastest leg in the Sprint Relay, and qualified fastest in the first round of the Knockout Sprint, making it through to the semi‑finals. The first ever ‘Sprint only’ WOC started with a mixed Relay in Kolding, Denmark. Teams of two men and two women competed over the fast and furious course, with winning times on each leg averaging around 14 minutes. The Relay was won by Sweden, closely followed by a jubilant Great Britain ‑ featuring former Aussie Coach‑ in‑Residence Ralph Street ‑ with Norway in 3rd place. Unfortunately, one of the Australian runners was disqualified, however Aston Key, running second, finished with 2nd fastest on his leg. (New Zealand suffered a similar fate with their first runner mispunching and their third runner, Tim Robertson, recording the fastest 3rd leg.) The Sprint Relay race was followed by a Knock‑ Out Sprint and then the Individual Sprint.

INDIVIDUAL SPRINT RESULTS: Women:

1. Megan Carter Davies GBR 14:22 2. Simona Aebersold SUI 14:28 3. Alice Leake GBR 14:40 4. Andrine Benjaminsen NOR 14:41 5. Elena Roos SUI 14:46 6. Tove Alexandersson SWE 14:51

Men:

1. Kasper Harlem Fosser NOR 13:56 2. Gustav Bergman SWE 14:12 3. Yannick Michiels BEL 14:20 4. Håvard Sandstad Eidsmo NOR 14:25 5. Aston Key AUS 14:34 6. Ralph Street GBR 14:36

Nea Shingler (AUS)

Aston Key (AUS) SprintFinal Tim Robertson (NZ) Aston Key

SprintFinal Tommy Hayes (NZ)

Route choice analysis

courtesy of World of O:

The split time illustration (right) shows the split times for the Top‑6 men throughout the course. Fosser was in the lead from the third control to the Finish, with the gap really opening in the last half of the course. Notable legs deciding among the top runners was Leg 2 where Fosser takes time on most of the other Top‑6 runners, Leg 13 and 14 where several lose time, Leg 19 which is a very decisive long leg and Leg 21 where Eidsmo loses a medal.

Shown here are the legs where there are either interesting route choices or where one of the top runners loses significant time are shown. The split times shown for each leg are the official split times, so even if the GPS‑data is of really poor quality it is still possible to get some understanding of what the different runners have done.