Discussion: WOC Sprint

Tuesday 1 August will be a busy day here at WOC. In the morning the Sprint Qualification starts at 9.00 and later in the day the official opening ceremony and the Sprint Finals will take place 16.00 and 16.50 respectively.

Start lists are now available at the WOC Online page.

Following are the starters from 'the AP countries':

Men Sprint Qualification
------------------------
12 Rob Jessop NZL 09:03
20 Kerrin Rattray AUS 09:06
22 Eddie Bergeron USA 09:07
28 Ivan Millar IRL 09:09
31 Patrick Goeres CAN 09:10
32 Matthew Speake GBR 09:10
38 Mike Waddington CAN 09:12
44 Ross Morrison NZL 09:14
55 Graham Gristwood GBR 09:18
60 David Shepherd AUS 09:19
67 Stewart Caithness IRL 09:22
74 Boris Granovskiy USA 09:24
80 David Brickhill-Jones GBR 09:26
82 Troy de Haas AUS 09:27
85 Ovidiu "Nick" Duca ROM 09:28
100 Andrew Quin IRL 09:33
102 Karl Dravitski NZL 09:33
110 Eric Bone USA 09:36
112 Mike Smith CAN 09:37

Women Sprint Qualification
--------------------------
202 Pippa Whitehouse GBR 09:50
203 Charlotte MacNaughton CAN 09:50
210 Jenni Adams NZL 09:53
211 Hillary Saeger USA 09:53
227 Grace Elson AUS 09:58
237 Helen Bridle GBR 10:02
246 Lara Prince NZL 10:05
252 Sandra Zurcher USA 10:07
256 Jo Allison AUS 10:08
258 Louise Oram CAN 10:09
260 Ailbhe Creedon IRL 10:09
262 Sarah Rollins GBR 10:10
263 Samantha Saeger USA 10:10
265 Hanny Allston AUS 10:11
276 Niamh O'Boyle IRL 10:15
278 Tania Robinson NZL 10:15
284 Sandy Hott-Johansen CAN 10:17

Some information for the sprint qualification races tomorrow:

Sprint Qualification Races will be on the Mindeparken map (1:4000, 2m contour interval). The area is generally not hilly, but contains some embankments and a few steep slopes. There will be large building complexes connected with sports arenas, as well as open grassy and coniferous forest areas. There will be lots of trails and paved roads.

The weather forcast is for 58-69dF, overcast, possibly with showers in afternoon.

Qualification course statistics:

Men: 3.1km, 46-48m, 18-19 controls, 13 min winning time.
Women: 2.6km, 42-44 m climb, 14-15 controls, 14 min winning time.

It is 9:00 am here in sunny Denmark, at the start of the Spring Qualification Races. Team USA is hoping to send several of its runners to the Sprint Finals. Eddie starts first, in 7 minutes.

Go Go Eddie!!!

ohlala, it will need the hand of god to qualify Mike and Eddie for the final :-(.

GOOOOO MATTHIAS!!!!

Boris has 1min left for making the final. GOOOOO BORIS!!!!!

Ah, Boris came in as 15th. He will probably miss only by very little the final. Good race, though!

:-) Good Job Dani!

Opla, a lot of white crosses at the beginning of the result lists...

Eric has 1 min left to come in... his heat is extremely fierce...1:15 behind the 1st and you are out!!! Incredible

Fortunately Emil broke the homogeneity of the final results... organisers might have had troubles making a starting list for the afternoon...

Boris missed the final by only 37sec... next year he is clearly in!!!

Good race for Boris!

Brrrr, how is one supposed to learn for exams at the hotel with such exciting races to follow on the web???

And the women have started now...

The women have now all the weight on their chest to make a final for NA at the WOC 2006. They have good chances!!!

Uuuhuuuu, Sandra is out there since 3minutes.... I think I am more nervous for her than she is... GOOOO!!!!!

Nice result for Hillary.

Hillary had an amazing end of race... loosing only 3 seconds on the now leading Fincke in the last 8minutes!!!

Sandra is 11th at the radio control, 1:57 behind the best time... good race... but it will get really tight to qualify... if she ends like Hillary than no problem!

Mike S. and Eric B have collided with each other on the course, each arriving with a gash on the forhead, covered in blood... They seem to be ok. Eric will be taken to the hospital to check for concussion...

North American Results so far:
Eddie 21:17
Patrick 18:05
Mike W 18:57
Boris 17:17
Eric 21:13
Mike S. 9:37

Hillary 16:56

Oh, Hillary got caught by Fincke who started 2 minutes behind in the same heat...
Hillary must be the reason why Fincke had such a good race...

It's exciting just listening to the audio here! I can only imagine what it's like there live!

It's not the way to look at it, but Sam has Hanny Allston starting 1min behind her in the same heat... if manages to end with her she has good chances to make the final...

Ah, Sandra won't be able to make the final. She lost 3:19 on the lead... actually a really good race... she had no big names after her in the same heat.
Bravo Sandra!!!

Louise in with a good result.

Good Race from Sam!
Jolly job Hillary, Sandra and Sam!!!

How in the world did Eric and Mike run into each other? How wierd is that!

It is certain, Hillary and Sam are in the final!!! Saegers are writing american history.
By the way... Säger, I believe this is originally a Swiss name ;-)...

Way to go!!!!!

go saegers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
go loise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sandra missed the final by 37seconds. Like Boris, next year she is definitely in. Cool, next year there will be a lot of americans in the final!

Both Samantha and Hillary made it through to the final! Congratulations! It's very cool to hear the loud cheers in the background from the audio broadcast!

phd is definitely suffering too. dunno how swisscheese does it. 30 minutes before heading out to qualify with ease for the long final he was very focussed... on his medical studies!!

Andrew Quin missed out by 6.8 seconds... we're waiting for next yea

news just in - andrew qualifies

car got in his way

HIP HIP HOORAY

Good job Hillary, Sam and Louise!
They solidly qualilfied with:

Women's A:
12. Hillary 16:58
13. Louise 17:07

Women's C:
15. Sam 17:25

poor pavel from israel
three 16ths in a row :(

As most of you may have noticed from the Online results by now there were several qualifiers from the AP crowd. Not quite final results yet (due to some complaints regarding controls being to close together causing several mp's):

Men A
7.Graham Gristwood GBR 14.56,1
16.Andrew Quin IRL 16.47,5
19.Boris Granovskiy USA 17.17,7
23.Ross Morrison NZL 17.40,4
24.Patrick Goeres CAN 18.05,0
Troy de Haas AUS mp
Ovidiu (Nick) Duca ROM mp

Men B
14.David Brickhill-Jones GBR 15.35,9
15.Dave Shepherd AUS 15.37,1
22.Stewart Caithness IRL 16.49,1
25.Mike Smith CAN 17.42,9
33.Eddie Bergeron USA 21.17,8
Karl Dravitski NZL mp

Men C
7.Matt Speake GBR 15.57,9
19.Kerrin Rattray AUS 17.13,3
27.Rob Jessop NZL 17.58,0
30.Mike Waddington CAN 18.57,4
35.Eric Bone USA 21.13,3
Ivan Millar IRL mp

As far as I know Andrew Quin has been allowed into the final from his 16th place. The reason being a parked car blocking his control that the driver refused to move on the organizer's request...

I suppose some of the mp's above may be affected after the complaints about controls being too close are treated.

And here are the Women. A very positive input by the North Americans with three women qualifyng for the final! Both Hillary and Samantha Saeger plus Canadas Louise Oram...

Women A
4.Tania Robinson NZL 15.18,2
7.Sarah Rollins GBR 16.06,6
12.Hillary Saeger USA 16.58,4
13.Louise Oram CAN 17.07,1
20.Jo Allison AUS 18.12,8

Women B
2.Helen Bridle GBR 15.07,7
11.Grace Elson AUS 16.54,5
20.Sandra Zurcher USA 18.04,5
23.Lara Prince NZL 18.38,5
24.Niamh O'Boyle IRL 18.59,1
29.Charlotte MacNaughton CAN 21.46,6

Women C
2.Hanny Allston AUS 14.49,6
10.Pippa Whitehouse GBR 16.50,8
15.Samantha Saeger USA 17.25,4
23.Jenni Adams NZL 18.48,8
28.Ailbhe Creedon IRL 22.24,8
29.Sandy Hott-Johansen CAN 22.52,4

According to rumours - not final yet - Troy de Haas has been allowed into the final after the Australian complaint about too close controls. IOF rules state that two controls may not be closer to each others than 30 metres - as this was not the case in one particular area there were several mp's. We will see more as soon as the final results are published.

The sprint was 0% in the forest - well you did run on a trail through the forest once. It started with a run through an arena then into an amusement park and then into area with lots of hedges. Not what I was expecting at least. Lots of traps and very easy to get turned around in the amusement park. Apparently Mike S. and Eric B. collided going through a gap in the hedges. Looked like Eric got the worst of it after they dropped the gloves.

So 3 North American women through in the sprint discipline which matches the 3 that got through in the sprint in Sweden (Sandy, Brian, the Duke) in 2004. Excellent.

So, it has already been reported, a good day for the North American women, and some collisions for the North American men.

Eric is at the hospital as we speak getting some stitches, but nothing more serious than that. He was able to finish the course. Both he and Mike had cuts above their eyes.

The course officials during the team leaders meeting said that there would be controls closer together than the 30 meters specified in the IOF rules, but that the closest distance would be 26 meters, and on dis-similar features. Of course, there are unconfirmed reports of controls being closer together than this in certain areas, which is the reason for some of the complaints.

Andrew was allowed into the final because one of the IOF controllers for the event was at the parked car (trying to get the car owner to move the car) that was blocking the view of the control when Andrew came through and was delayed because of the obstruction.

Hil and Sam are safely back at the WOC accommodations, resting up for the races this evening. Everything starts off again just around 5pm (16:50 is the mens race, followed by the women). Sam will have one of the first starts (if not the first - we will know after the team leaders' meeting at 14:00), with Hil chasing down Louise shortly thereafter.

I can now officially confirm what I mentioned above. Troy de Haas is in the final as is Andrew Quin from his now 17th place - since they both ran in the same heat - meaning that the startlist consists of 47 instead of 45 runners for the men. The reasons stated above are also correct.

Ivan Millar also mispunched and was reinstated (without having complained). His time wasn't good enough qualify.

At the team leaders meeting last night all coaches were informed about controls beign as little as 26m apart. I wondr what they would have responded if asked whether competitors mispunching would be reinstated...

today is national holyday in switzerland... and i think our orienteerers will that suppor.... ;-)

A big thunder and lightening and rain storm is brewing. Could be nasty viewing conditions for the afternoon sprint finals...

Everyone that mispunched under the same conditions today were reinstated without having complained personally - a fair decision by the jury. The 26m that were mentioned last night were actually more like 22 which may be a little bit on the close side...

Go Hillary and Samantha!

Hillary, Samantha, Louise--great job!!! Good luck this afternoon!

Eric, call me when you get out of the hospital :-) xo

Nothing like breaking your own rules to cause some controversy at the finish. Why was it so important to have two controls so close? And why was a venue chosen where there would be live traffic, and thus a parked car (ISSOM specifically forbids the course crossing an area with live traffic)? I know from designing the Team Trial sprint in an urban setting how difficult it is to work around traffic, but I mananged. World Championships seems like a bad place for an exception.

As the remedy merely lets 2 more people into the final, it's not such a big deal, but imagine if someone had run in front of that car when the pissed off driver finally decided to move. I've seen this happen in bike races and it's not pretty.

It is about 20 min until the start of the Men's Sprint Final. The Women's final will begin in 1.5 hours, with the North American women among the first starters:
4. Samantha Saeger USA 18:03
7. Louise Oram CAN 18:06
10. Hillary Saeger USA 18:09
14. Grace Elson AUS 18:13
42. Hanny Allston AUS 18:41

The Danish seem to have a bad history with intentional traps and such... wasn't a quarter of the field disqualified at the EuOC 2004 Sprint?

Are the close controls left over from the Micro-O that was going to take place?

wow, an exciting finish for the men's final - merely 1.7 seconds seperating first and third place!

How old is the other Big Train from the Ukraine? (not to be confused with NBAer Vitaly Potepenko)

Samantha is about to start.

Men's Sprint Final Results:

Pl. Name Time +/-
1. Emil Wingstedt SWE 13:35,2 +00:00,0
2. Daniel Hubmann SUI 13:36,2 +00:01,0
3. Claus Bloch DEN 13:37,0 +00:01,7
4. Jonne Lakanen FIN 13:47,8 +00:12,5
5. Matthias Müller SUI 13:50,9 +00:15,6
6. Martins Sirmais LAT 13:55,5 +00:20,2
7. Yuri Omelchenko UKR 13:59,7 +00:24,4
8. Martin Johansson SWE 14:08,9 +00:33,6
9. Pasi Ikonen FIN 14:09,8 +00:34,5
10. Graham Gristwood GBR 14:12,0 +00:36,7

Looks like Sam had a good run:

Pl. Name Time +/-
1. Antoniya Grigorova BUL 15:50,4 +00:00,0
2. Samantha Saeger USA 15:53,5 +00:03,1

(current live results to date)

This made me actually cry.

(I realize she started 4th.) (Still.)

And a nice result for Louise as well:

5. Louise Oram CAN 16:32,2 +00:41,8

Great run Sam, and an interview too!

This could be the best ever women's WOC result for USA coming. Could be the best ever of any gender (Sharon Crawford, 29th, 1985; Eric Weyman, 28th, 1985).

Troy has had a rough day to say the least.

Nice interview. I'm riveted to my screen.

Nice, very nice run Sam!!!

Great race from Samantha! 15:53!
Results so far are:
1. Esther Gil Brotons ESP 15:21,0 +00:00,0
2. Inga Dambe LAT 15:32,0 +00:11,0
3. Antoniya Grigorova BUL 15:50,4 +00:29,4
4. Samantha Saeger USA 15:53,5 +00:32,5

9. Louise Oram CAN 16:32,2 +01:1,2
15. Hillary Saeger USA 18:55,3 +03:34,3

Celine Dion in the lead!

Well, she's at least top 30, if I'm calculating right.

Unfortunately looks like that's it... 29th, a tie for best ever. Still a great race from Samantha!

The live video and tracking are pretty cool.

First WOC medal for Australia!

And a pretty color at that.

Well if Australia can do it...

An amazing finish from Australian junior--Hanny Allston in Gold, with the defending champion Simone Niggli-Luder with silver!
The complete results (not yet official):
1. Hanny Allston AUS 13:13,3 +00:00,0
2. Simone Niggli-Luder SUI 13:19,1 +00:05,8
3. Kajsa Nilsson SWE 13:24,3 +00:11,0
4. Lena Eliasson SWE 13:29,4 +00:16,1
5. Minna Kauppi FIN 13:48,7 +00:35,4
6. Helen Bridle GBR 14:13,6 +01:00,3
7. Karolina A. Höjsgaard SWE 14:18,3 +01:05,0
8. Paula Haapakoski FIN 14:26,9 +01:13,6
9. Anne Konring Olesen DEN 14:30,0 +01:16,7
10. Sara Gemperle SUI 14:33,5 +01:20,2
11. Céline Dodin FRA 14:38,5 +01:25,2
12. Pippa Whitehouse GBR 14:41,2 +01:27,9
13. Anni-Maija Fincke FIN 14:51,5 +01:38,2
14. Karin Schmalfeld GER 14:59,3 +01:46,0
15. Dana Brozková CZE 15:01,1 +01:47,8
16. Sarah Rollins GBR 15:02,2 +01:48,9
17. Éva Makrai HUN 15:07,5 +01:54,2
18. Zuzana Macúchová CZE 15:12,3 +01:59,0
19. Brigitte Grüniger SUI 15:12,6 +01:59,3
20. Esther Gil Brotons ESP 15:16,0 +02:02,7
21. Lea Müller SUI 15:17,6 +02:04,3
22. Marianne Riddervold NOR 15:24,9 +02:11,6
23. Zdenka Stará CZE 15:25,9 +02:12,6
24. Inga Dambe LAT 15:32,0 +02:18,7
25. Ane Linde DEN 15:44,4 +02:31,1
26. Anne Margrethe Hausken NOR 15:44,6 +02:31,3
27. Antoniya Grigorova BUL 15:50,4 +02:37,1
28. Iliana Shandurkova BUL 15:53,1 +02:39,8
29. Samantha Saeger USA 15:53,5 +02:40,2
30. Wei Dai CHN 15:58,0 +02:44,7
31. Vilma Rudzenskaite LTU 16:03,2 +02:49,9
32. Monika Depta POL 16:07,1 +02:53,8
33. Zsuzsa Fey ROM 16:10,5 +02:57,2
34. Michela Guizzardi ITA 16:14,0 +03:00,7
35. Veronica Minoiu ROM 16:21,2 +03:07,9
36. Aleksandra Kondrateva BLR 16:31,0 +03:17,7
37. Louise Oram CAN 16:32,2 +03:18,9
38. Annabel Fernandez Valledor ESP 16:35,2 +03:21,9
39. Fei Li CHN 16:53,8 +03:40,5
40. Grace Elson AUS 17:10,6 +03:57,3
41. Ildikó Szerencsi HUN 17:16,2 +04:02,9
42. Mikiko Minagawa JPN 17:17,5 +04:04,2
43. Hillary Saeger USA 18:55,3 +05:42,0
Tania Robinson NZL mp
Annika Rihma EST mp

29th (0.4 seconds out of 28th) in tough competition, 20% behind the leader. An excellent benchmark for the future.

FIRST FOOT-O WOC GOLD MEDAL FOR AUSTRALIA!

I probably haven't said anything original but here is my blog on the spectator experience.
http://meghanineurope.blogspot.com/

According to an article I found, there are 20 accredited representatives from the Norwegian press this year, which is a new record.

They got to observe what the Norwegian coach characterized 'total fiasco', so hopefully the publicity will get better on the Long/Middle.

And I wasn't aware that Hanny Allston is a junior - great job!

Hanny was 2nd in the JWOC sprint this year.

Notice that since Hanny is only a junior, the old buzz "if you are not Scandinavian, you have to train for years in Scandinavia if you want to be as good as them" can't be proven more wrong. Maybe for the "first good generation" (Grant B, Tom Q) that was true, but it appears that enough has been learned from its experience and fed back that a junior program in a non-European country can produce world-class results without the benefit of years of extended stays.

No excuses!

In case anyone is wondering, here's my experience of Mike's and my collision. I was having an okay run (for me for that type of course setting), and was moving at a moderate run from my control 14 to my control 15. Mike's course had the same leg in reverse. I was turning onto a path that went through an opening in a tall (forbidden to cross) hedge, and I think I may have been glancing at my map, when I felt a tremendous impact, as if I had run straight into a wall. I was thrown back but remained on my feet, looked and saw Mike, and then understood what had happened.

There was immediately blood and a tingling feeling all over my face, and from the great force of the blow, I guessed that I was seriously hurt and might pass out from the blow or from blood loss. Mike seemed okay and ran on promptly, I think, although I wasn't focused on him. I reached up to my forehead and felt a hole, turned and started calling for help, then went back to another hedge courtyard and found a course monitor.

I approached the official (who seemed flustered by all the blood) and said I needed help, and she asked what she should do. I thought about it, then said something like, "can you call someone?" She seemed to ignore this as she pulled out a pocket package of tissues and handed me one, which I pressed to the wound. Then she said somewhat emphatically, "do you want me to help you?", which I realized meant, "do you want to accept assistance and be disqualified?" This turned my attention to the fact that I had just been revelling in trying my best to run a challenging and interesting course at an event that I had looked forward to all year, and this mission had been tragically aborted. I felt sad and frustrated, and it suddenly felt important to finish. Since it seemed clear by now that I wasn't in any jeopardy, I told the official that I would continue on and jogged off toward control 15 and the remaining few controls.

I shed a couple tears on the way across the field toward the last control, and it was consoling to hear the cheers of my team as I jogged in with my hand still pressed over my left eyebrow. I was led to the medical tent where the staff asked me questions to ascertain that I wasn't suffering significant brain trauma. I had not lost consciousness, felt nauseous, vomited, or had any vision loss. They cleaned up my wound, called for a taxi to take me to the hospital, and chatted with me while I waited. James and Cristina kept me company, and they and Eddie came to the hospital with me.

My racing time at control 14 was 16:46, and I think I would have finished in 18.5 to 19 minutes if not for the misfortune--certainly not a qualifying time, but at least a real running time.

And you had to go all the way to Denmark to collide with Mike! I hope you will be good to go for relays for some more head to head competition with Canada.

Ba-dum-pum (ching!).

good strategy to eliminate competitors (if used against the right one)

Judy called me from work as I was trying to stay cool and still get some work done (did neither very well).
WOW, I really can hardly say I proud I am of you two. Totally wonderful that you both made the final.

Wow what a tremendous achievement for the Saegers! SOmething to be proud of, that's for sure. FInally Sam broke the 16th position bad spell of Japan and made it. And Hillary, to make the final on your 1st WOC appearence, impressive.
My only complaint: I'll have to race against both of them in Colorado ;-)

It was all so much fun! In the sprint quali we ran through a cyclying track and an amusement park. I only cut through the woods to make up on lost time. Then the final was around hedges and through a horse track. Unique running around hedges, over walls and, most importantly, around fences! Someone mentioned that we have to go home and build maze like fences to train for races like this :) Exciting everyone was watching and listening back home.. maybe you heard my interview :) (That might have been the scariest part!)

Well, I think most of the rowdy American fans are now hoarse from cheering on the Saegers (and others) but it's certainly worth it.

In related news, Samantha's new world ranking position is 137!

she (Hanny) also won gold in the JWOC long course this year. seems that she can do any distance!

Same leg in reverse? Eric seems to be getting the worst of the organizers' incompetence. Don't they have Event Advisors in Denmark?

I know what it's like, last Fall someone set a course that had friggin' trees between two of the controls.

Mikkel, practice with CF to get better at dodging trees.

Don't need to worry much about trees in Laramie, though.

yes Tundra/Desert, first WOC medal for Australia!!

although we have won some JWOC, WMTBOC and World Rogaining Championships medals. no Ski Orienteering World Championships or WRWOC (World Race Walk Orienteering Championships) medals yet...

Shep, send your SKi-o team to Silver Star BC for some future ski-o WOC medals! Training at high altitude on great ski-o maps... about 120km of trails.

well, my enjoyment of th sprint came mostly only from the qualification round where i just ran it like any other sprint at home and I think the first thing i said when i got across the finish line was how much fun that first sprint really was. And then in the afternoon my race was not what i had wanted as i got completely turned around on the first control which is extremely frustrating. But i gave it my all and I hope to continue to be more consistent with my orienteering and enjoy all my orienteering races as much as i enjoyed that mornings sprint.

You have a great attitude, Hillary. The fact that you made the final in your first WOC should fill you with joy and pride. Just imagine what you will accomplish at the next WOC.