THE TREWIN REPORT

The traditional orienteering countries dominated the 2023 World Orienteering Championships in Switzerland, a resumption of the forest version of the World Championships after 2021 also included sprint events. 17 of the 18 medals on offer went to Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Finland, with a lone Austrian bronze being the only interruption.

For Australia, it was an event with a series of solid performances, without quite the breakthrough results which might have been hoped for in a few events. The withdrawal of Aston Key, troubled by injury for most of the year, was a significant loss to the team. New Zealand, without any individual top-20 results, had a week they would have been well pleased with and outperformed Australia in both relays.

The middle distance events were held in highly technical terrain, the remnants of a prehistoric landslide with highly irregular and complex contour features and rocks which did not always follow the internal logic that outwardly similar terrain in, say, the Nordic countries does, making simplification hard. In contrast, much of the long was held on the mountain slope (starting near 2000 m and descending to 1050), with many tricky downhill legs into areas without many prominent features. The higher slopes were relatively straight and there were fewer major route choice legs than is sometimes the case in an international long distance, but those that there were, particularly late in the course, were decisive. This later section, with some areas of detail, was also used by the relay. The same finish arena was used for all three events.

MIDDLE DISTANCE, 12 AND 15 JULY

The first step of the middle distance journey is qualifying, with the first 15 from each of three heats to go through, plus the best performer from each country not otherwise represented. For the best this is about avoiding disaster – for the men, even in terrain as technical as this, the cut is rarely much more than 5 min behind the winner, so a significant mistake can put even the stars on the edge. For midfield teams, a major objective is to qualify as many people as you can.

Disaster was successfully avoided for the big guns with no serious top-ten candidates missing out, and only a couple being seriously threatened. Australia’s best performances of the day came from Vanessa Round and Henry McNulty, both of whom qualified relatively easily. It was also apparent fairly early in the race that Ewan Shingler and Caitlin Young, both making their forest WOC debuts after running in the sprints last year, were not going to get through, and that Grace Crane was also off the pace she needed to be. That left Patrick Jaffe, who posted a time which looked like it was going to be marginal, and was. In the end it came down to whether the Canadian-Norwegian Vegard Jarvis Westergard could get ahead of him, which he did by 17 s, leaving Jaffe to miss out by 2 s. (Somewhat ironically, Westergard didn’t need to beat Jaffe to qualify himself as he still would have made it as lead Canadian; he went on to run an excellent 20th in the final, the best nonEuropean performance of the week and the best by a Canadian man since Ted de St. Croix at Kooyoora in 1985).

On finals day, the widespread consensus was that those who had not run the long, with its muscle-draining downhills, would be at a significant advantage (with Gustav Bergman widely considered a favourite for that reason, among others), but that was not the way it turned out, with both races being won by significant margins by silver medallists from two days earlier.

The most technical part of the course was early, and many small mistakes (and a few larger ones) were made on the first few controls. Tove Alexandersson lost some time on the first two, but got that time back by taking more than 30 s out of the field on the longer #4 and was in front by #6. By then she had caught Natalia Gemperle who had missed most of last year but was now eligible to represent Switzerland, and the two were together for most of the rest of the way. As the course went on, the Swede’s lead became bigger and bigger, and as the rest of the field dropped away it became apparent that 2 min down (or even 2:18, which is where it ended up after Alexandersson broke away right at the end) would be enough to give Gemperle a silver medal, ahead of the young Swede Hanna Lundberg. Simona Aebersold lost time early, got herself back into a position where she might have been able to challenge for a medal, and then made one of the day’s biggest mistakes, dropping 6 min at the fourth-last. Vanessa Round made a couple of small mistakes but was otherwise consistent, improving slightly on her long result with a 41st. The front end of the men’s race was relatively straightforward –Matthias Kyburz was in front by #4 and stayed there. It was clear by halfway that only significant mistakes could stop him from winning comfortably, and none came. Although he never looked like winning, for much of the race Gustav Bergman looked the most likely challenger for silver, but a small time loss at the trickier-than-it-looked second-last put paid to his medal chances (as it did for Albin Ridefelt, who had been with Kyburz for much of the way). A strong finish by Joey Hadorn made it a Swiss quinella, and an equally strong finish by Jannis Bonek gave Austria its first men’s medal. Henry McNulty started very well in the technical areas and was as high as 23rd at #7, but small time losses in the second half of the course saw him drop to eventually match his long result of 35th.

LONG DISTANCE, 13 JULY

The WOC long distance is always something of an epic. This year it took place on the coolest day of the week; there was some concern that low cloud might affect runners on the higher part of the course, but that was largely unrealised. It is always a day which unfolds gradually; with the lowest-ranked competitors starting early, there is scope for less familiar names to get their time in the sun before the favourites start to appear later in the day. Vanessa Round, who has competed little in recent years and therefore had an early start, looked the best on paper of the first hour’s worth of starters which was a good incentive for the numerous Australian supporters to get out there early. At the front end, the women’s event looked to be a two-way race between the dominant performer of the last few years, Tove Alexandersson, and the rising Swiss star Simona Aebersold, chasing her first gold. That is exactly how it turned out – they were in first and second by #8 (after the Swede lost some time on #4) and went further and further away from the field, ending up more than six minutes clear of the rest of the field. Aebersold had her nose in front almost all of the way and looked to have the race won when she had extended her lead to 1:43 at the last TV control. It wasn’t quite all over as Alexandersson ran the last long leg exceptionally well – her time for it would have placed well inside the top ten for the men, who had the same leg – but that late surge still left her 31 s short. Andrine Benjaminsen of Norway was the best of the rest. Round was indeed the best of the early competitors and took a substantial lead when she came in (although she had to be satisfied with a virtual leader’s couch because the real thing wasn’t ready yet), but 5 min lost on a poor route choice execution later in the course, at #17, was costly in the final results and dropped her to 47th. Grace Crane was ten places behind that, finishing solidly after a patchy start, while Lizzie Ingham had New Zealand’s best individual result of the week, with 25th.

The men’s race, not quite as predictably as the women, also developed into a two-way duel. Emil Svensk was on the pace early, but a mistake at #12 dropped him out of the lead group. By then Matthias Kyburz had joined Kasper Fosser as the leading pair, and they stayed in that position for the rest of the way. It was a close duel all the way, and it looked like it might be a double for the hosts when Kyburz had got 21 s in front at the last TV control. The final route choice decided it; Fosser had taken the straight route, which turned out to be fastest but had a significant initial climb, and Kyburz, starting to cramp, chose a longer option around and lost close to a minute which settled the issue. (Daniel Hubmann missed bronze on the same leg). The rest of the field was 4 min back. It looked like Svensk and the Czech Tomas Krivda might share the bronze, but a fast finish from Olli Ojanaho meant they shared fourth instead (and gave Finland its only individual medal). The two Australians finished 19 s apart after contrasting races. Henry McNulty was in the 20th-25th range for most of the first half before falling away, gradually at first and then more significantly at the end, while Brodie Nankervis recovered from a 3-min mistake at #8 to finish off strongly. They were 35th and 34th respectively.

RELAY, 16 JULY

With no option of starting above the finish, the relay was tough and physical (with some very steep sections – it is not every year you see TV footage of the lead pack on the first leg of the men’s relay, all walking). For those for whom it was the fourth race in five days it was particularly so. Vanessa Round withdrew from the relay with a combination of knee soreness and what proved to be developing illness, leaving Aislinn Prendergast to come in for her first run of the week.

What turned out to be the decisive moment in the women’s relay came early. A wider route choice from first runner Hanna Lundberg on a long leg halfway through the course gave Sweden a minute’s break on the field, and they then remained clear for the rest of the day, extending their lead at each change to finish up 4 min ahead. The Swiss remained vaguely within striking distance for two and a half legs, but even the second-fastest time of the day on the last leg was not enough to stop Simona Aebersold from losing another 2 min to Tove Alexandersson. In a relatively spread-out top five, Norway were a little off the pack early on but had come through Finland by the end of the second leg; Estonia were fourth after two legs but were unable to sustain that and dropped to tenth. Australia were never in the hunt for the top placings, and at one stage looked like they might have been at risk of dropping a division for 2025 (and losing a second long place) had Japan and the Netherlands – who got a flying start through 2022 knockout sprint bronze medallist Eef van Dongen – stayed ahead of them, but three steady runs and some gained ground by Prendergast on the last leg were enough to see off that threat, with an eventual position of 19th.

It took a bit longer for the men to sort themselves out. The first leg had the usual substantial bunch, with no particularly unexpected absentees but an unexpected first leg leader (Latvia’s Rudolfs Zernis). It was the second leg where the big moves happened. Joey Hadorn, not originally selected for the relay, more than justified his late inclusion as he broke clear, while behind him Finland, Sweden and Norway got away from the rest of the field. The Norwegians dropped away on the last leg but there was a late twist, on the short final loop with only one remotely challenging control – Matthias Kyburz had a 2-min lead at the arena passage, but made a mistake on that control. He picked himself up in time to avoid being sucked back into the bunch, while Miika Kurmula edged away from Emil Svensk later on to give Finland a somewhat unexpected silver. Given Henry McNulty’s first-leg performances at club level Australia might have hoped to stay with the lead for one leg at least, but Jukola and Tiomila do not come three days after a WOC long distance, and this time he was unable to back up after his efforts earlier in the week. McNulty, Patrick Jaffe and Brodie Nankervis all had times very close to each other, and the team was hovering close to 20th most of the way before an eventual finish in 21st; they would have hoped for more.

Next year the World Championships returns to the urban format, in Edinburgh. The forest events return to Nordic terrain next time, with Finland due to host in 2025.

World Cup 2023 Round 1 Norway

Courtesy of World of O

After nearly 90 min of orienteering in tough terrain only seconds separated the top runners in both the men’s and women’s class in the long distance opening this year’s World Cup. Last year’s winners of the overall World Cup, Tove Alexandersson (SWE) and Kasper Fosser (NOR), had the margins on their side, and started the World Cup season with victories. For Fosser the margin was as small as 3 s down to Emil Svensk (SWE) and another 6 s down to Martin Regborn (SWE).

In the women’s class Alexandersson finally got a real battle for the victory in a long distance where she had a good technical race. Sara Hagström (SWE) was only 55 s behind after 82 min of running, beingeven closer for most of the race.

In a very tight middle distance, with less than 20 s separating the best runners both in the men’s and women’s classes, Sara

World Cup 2023 Round 2 Czechia

Hagström (SWE) took her first World Cup victory, while Kasper Fosser (NOR) took his second victory in two races.

Only two Australians competed in round 1. In the long distance Henry McNulty was 51st, and Michele Dawson mispunched. In the middle distance McNulty placed 71st, Michele Dawson was 97th.

World Cup 2023 Round 2, men’s sprint distance, leg 14. There were at least 35s time losses for those who misunderstood the multilevel structure and ran left.

Eleven Australians competed in this round: Alastair George, Angus Haines, Anna Sheldon, Duncan Currie, Emily Sorensen, Justine Hobson, Nea Shingler, Sam Woolford, Serena Doyle, Toby Lang and Toby Cazzolato.

Orienteering Australia facebook page

Sprint race in Česká Lípa, Czechia, as part of the World Cup round was a full throttle affair. Our best results in the starting fields of 124 were by Nea in 76th place and Angus in 55th place [1:29 behind the winner]. We congratulate Ralph Street from the UK, and a former coach-in-residence in Victoria, on his victory, and NZ's Laura and Tim Robertson on their 17th place and sixth place respectively. [In the men’s race, Gustav Bergman (SWE) was second, Yannick Michiels of Belgium came third; Tove Alexandersson (SWE) won the women’s, ahead of Natalia Gemperle (SUI) and Sara Hagström (SWE).] [In the mixed sprint relay, Switzerland won ahead of Czechia and Sweden. The Australian team of Nea, Angus, Alastair and Emily were the 21st nation, 43rd out of 59 teams]. Congratulations to our Oceania friends New Zealand on their seventh place [as a nation].

In the forest races among Czech sandstone formations, three Australians gained below-100 placings, Justine was 97th in the middle distance, and Angus 77th and Nea 94th in the long distance.

Tove Alexandersson won both forest races ahead of Simona Aebersold. Jannis Bonek of Austria won middle-distance, Kasper Fosser (NOR) won the long distance.