Middle distance qualification
Bright sunshine and perfect blue skies greeted the runners as they headed off for middle distance qualification on Änggårdsbergen, a map right in the city of Göteborg. The terrain was deceptively hard, both technically and physically. The runners had to deal with intricate hillsides, where the contours were partially obscured by deep blueberry bushes, and the going was slow most of the way. To give the readers an idea of the toughness, speeds of over 10 min/km were good enough to qualify for the A final on the women's side.
The best US performance was by Holly Kuestner from Cascade Orienteering Club, who was about 4 minutes away from making her second straight JWOC middle final. An interview with Holly follows further down. On the men's side the competition between the American runners was very tight, with John Goodwin, Hunter Cornish, and Andy Strat finishing with times within a minute of each other. As a result, all six U.S. male runners start in just a 12-minute window in the C final tomorrow, which can lead to some exciting head-to-head racing!
The class of the North American runners was once again Emily Kemp, who went through to the A final from Women's heat B in an impressive 10th place.
Some results:
Women's A
1 Siri Ulvestad Norway 23.57
20 Carla Guillen Escribá Spain 30.31
33 Tori Borish USA 42.42
Women's B
1 Signe Klinting Denmark 26.53
20 Ona Rafols Perramon Spain 34.20
39 Anna Shafer-Skelton USA 52.00
Women's C
1 Jenny Lönnkvist Sweden 23.27
20 Julia Blomquist Great Britain 30.19
31 Holly Kuestner USA 34.10
Men's A
1 Sören Bobach Denmark 27.04
20 Denis Danchenkov Russia 32.17
56 Jordan Laughlin USA 57.28
57 Malcolm Wyatt-Mair USA 1.01.31
57 Malcolm Wyatt-Mair USA 1.01.31
Men's B
1 Timo Sild Estonia 25.55
20 Paul Lützkendorf Germany 31.29
53 John Goodwin USA 50.05
54 Andrew Strat USA 51.19
54 Andrew Strat USA 51.19
Men's C
1 Tore Bjørseth Berdal Norway 27.50
20 Rafal Podzinski Poland 32.06
53 Hunter Cornish USA 50.22
54 Gabriel Svobodny USA 1.01.18
54 Gabriel Svobodny USA 1.01.18
Hunter
Gabe
Jordan
Gabe
Jordan
Malcolm and John after the race
Here is a quick post-race interview with Holly Kuestner:
B: Your A final qualification from JWOC in Australia was a surprise for some people. Having accomplished that last year, what were your expectations coming into this year’s JWOC?
H: I knew it was going to be harder because of more competitors, plus the terrain is more challenging, but I was of course hopeful. I’ve had some trouble in the trainings because some of the contours are a bit subtle, so I planned to take it slow. In general, this worked. I did not take it as slow as I had intended, but slower than I would have otherwise. I got a bit flustered towards the end.
B: What caused your mistake towards the end?
H: I was not as meticulous as I had been before. I left the trail into a complicated hill complex without knowing exactly where along the hill I was. I went into the wrong re-entrant.
B: How did you relocate?
H: I saw an enormous cliff.
B: What is your general feeling about your race today?
H: It was a lot of fun. The mistake was frustrating, but it did not ruin the race for me. The whole race was pretty solid, and I got into a good rhythm. I spiked the first two controls and then had some bobbles, but nothing major. You cannot influence your place, but you can influence how clean your run is.
B: Do you feel like the training you did here the week before JWOC helped?
H: I knew it was going to be harder because of more competitors, plus the terrain is more challenging, but I was of course hopeful. I’ve had some trouble in the trainings because some of the contours are a bit subtle, so I planned to take it slow. In general, this worked. I did not take it as slow as I had intended, but slower than I would have otherwise. I got a bit flustered towards the end.
B: What caused your mistake towards the end?
H: I was not as meticulous as I had been before. I left the trail into a complicated hill complex without knowing exactly where along the hill I was. I went into the wrong re-entrant.
B: How did you relocate?
H: I saw an enormous cliff.
B: What is your general feeling about your race today?
H: It was a lot of fun. The mistake was frustrating, but it did not ruin the race for me. The whole race was pretty solid, and I got into a good rhythm. I spiked the first two controls and then had some bobbles, but nothing major. You cannot influence your place, but you can influence how clean your run is.
B: Do you feel like the training you did here the week before JWOC helped?
H:Yes. It is very different from terrain back home, so it was good to get out. The terrain varied a lot, with a mix of big and small hills and many and few marshes, so doing a lot of trainings in different terrain prepares you for whatever they could throw at you.
B: Did you do any specific preparation for JWOC, knowing it was in Sweden?
H: Not specifically.
B: Do you have any changes you plan to make to your race plan tomorrow based on today?
H: I will try to keep my focus for the entire race, not think about the time or results, and will try to execute each leg without mistakes.
B: What has the JWOC experience been like for you so far compared to the expectations you had?
H: It has been really fun and challenging so far. It is both inspiring and intimidating to see how fast the best times are, and inspiring to see how far I can go.
B: Thank you very much and good luck tomorrow.
H: Thanks!
B: Did you do any specific preparation for JWOC, knowing it was in Sweden?
H: Not specifically.
B: Do you have any changes you plan to make to your race plan tomorrow based on today?
H: I will try to keep my focus for the entire race, not think about the time or results, and will try to execute each leg without mistakes.
B: What has the JWOC experience been like for you so far compared to the expectations you had?
H: It has been really fun and challenging so far. It is both inspiring and intimidating to see how fast the best times are, and inspiring to see how far I can go.
B: Thank you very much and good luck tomorrow.
H: Thanks!
Here are Holly's routes from today's middle qualification race: 
1 kommentar:
This is turning out to be the most competitive JWOC.
Everyone must be relieved to be leaving Änggårdsbergeno behind for the smoother terrain of the long.
Good luck and Go Team USA!
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