#woc2013

Simone Niggli from Switzerland won the women’s sprint final, only eight seconds ahead of Annika Billstam from Sweden. Niggli as well as Billstam are technical skilled experienced runners, and that payed off on a map which contained several obstacles and route choices. Finland’s Venla Niemi took the bronze, 38 seconds after Niggli.

Note: This is an extended version of the analysis printed in the Official World Orienteering Championships publication no 6.

För fler detaljer om detta inlägg - klicka här.

下拉另可見中文翻譯。For Chinese please scroll down.

It was a busy day at WOC, with sprint qualifications in the morning and final in the evening. But Simone Niggli impressed everyone already from the beginning - she was the only one who ran faster than the expected winner time of 13 minutes on the qualification race. Together with Galina Vinogradova (Russia) and Maja Alm (Denmark), they were the winners of the three qualification classes, from which the 3x15 best runners qualified for the final.

– I think it was a tricky course, and difficult with the artificial fences, since it is not so common to use them, said Mattias Niggli, Simone Niggli’s husband and coach for the Swiss team.

The 35-year old Simone Niggli was a favourite who fulfilled the expectations also in the evening. She started with full power and was already having a 20 second lead margin in the middle of the course, at the radio control placed at the fire station of Sotkamo.

– I pushed in the beginning and was really fast. Then I took some time to think about the route choices. Because of the fences, it was important to plan the whole leg and to find the passages all the way to the control. But I did not manage to do it all the time. Sometimes I even had to stop on the control to make the plan, says Simone Niggli.

The longest leg was between control 16 and 17, a 450 meter long leg (see illustration). The fastest choice on this leg was to run around on the right - avoiding the 20 meters of climb. Niggli took the wrong choice on this leg - running over the hill and losing 17 seconds to Billstam who took the ideal route choice around to the right. With this route choice Billstam got closer to Niggli - but in the end it was not enough for the Swedish Long distance World Champion from 2011 in France.

Venla Niemi and Maja Alm were fighting for bronze at control 16, but Niemi won the bronze medal by choosing a similar route to Billstam - while Alm took the same route as Niggli. Merja Rantanen from Finland took a route choice between Niggli’s and Billstam’s - getting both the hill and a longer route - losing the podium place due to this route choice.

– I may have made some wrong route choices but at least I did not need to stop for very many times. I tried to to be calm right from the start, and it was good that I was not among the favourites before the race so I got to concentrate in peace, says Venla Niemi.

About five runners, among them Lizzie Ingham from New Zealand and star rocket Alva Olsson from Sweden, did a mistake on the way to the last control. They all continued west, without noticing the unpassable fence.

While the sprint qualification was arranged west of Vuokatti, the final was east - at the Sotkamo arena, close to the sandy beach of Hiukka. A massive audience crowd filled the sunny arena already one hour before the women start.

08.07.2013, Vuokatti, Finland (FIN): Yuta Tanikawa (JPN) - World Orienteering championships 2013, Sprint qualification. http://www.woc2013.fi. © Laiho/WOC2013

Powered Boström ran to the top in men’s sprint final

Mårten Boström from Finland won the sprint final with 17 seconds before Scott Fraser from United Kingdom, who was another second before Jonas Leandersson from Sweden. The top favourite Matthias Kyburz from Switzerland was in a clear lead after two thirds of the race - racing toward victory, but there his golden dream disappeared and Mårten Boström took over the lead.

Mårten Boström (picture above - © and taken by WOC2013) is a quick asfalt runner, who has focused much on marathon. The last year he has refocused on orienteering - and the combination of dedicated orienteering training and Marathon training over several years really paid off.

– After the race I was happy about my route choices. I don't know if I could have done anything better. Sometimes I had my handbreak on because it was so tricky. Jari Ikäheimonen (coach) has meant a lot in my puzzle for a long time; mainly physical coaching but also trust in me and our choices, says Mårten Boström, who achieved international medals in sprint orienteering in 2004-2005, and now participates in his fifth WOC.

Sprint is a often considered the most open discipline, as the margins are so small. A very small mistake can easily lose you not only the gold medal - but all medals. This happened to Kyburz, who was the absolute favourite before the sprint final, since he won all three sprint competitions in World Cup this year.

Kyburz’s golden dream disappeared on the way to control 17 .First Kyburz choose the longer and slower southern route choice - and then made a big mistake - in total loosing more than 20 seconds and the gold medal chances on his way to this control.

The men had their longest leg between control 19 and 20, the same leg as the women. About half of the runners ran over the hill, the other half ran around. Leandersson and Boström made a similar route choice, but Boström simply used his running power to win the leg. It can be noted that they both chose the same route as Billstam did in the women’s race.

Text & illustrations: Anders Frick and Jan Kocbach

  Niggli，第21面世錦賽金牌入袋

今天對世錦賽來說是個忙碌的一天，早上是短距離資格賽，決賽則於傍晚舉行。Niggli從一開始就令大家刮目相看，她是資格賽裡唯一一個跑出比預計勝出時間（十三分鐘）還要快的選手。另外兩組排名第一的是俄羅斯的Galina Vinogradova及丹麥的Maja Alm。每組中的前十五名，共計四十五名選手將參加稍晚進行的決賽。

「我認為這是場難度頗高的比賽，特別是那些臨時搭設的柵欄，畢竟它們並不是那麼常被使用。」Simone Niggli的丈夫與身兼瑞士隊教練的Mattias Niggli表示。

 卅五歲的Simone Niggli在決賽中也不負眾望地跑進預計勝出時間之內。她一開始就全力以赴，在通過比賽中段，Sotkamo消防局旁設有無線電的控制點時，就已經跑出領先廿秒的成績出來。

「我一開始就跑得很快，但因為那些柵欄的關係，我必須花點時間思考路線選擇。通常來說，在跑向控制點前就應已計畫好所有的路線，但我這次並無法完全做到，我甚至得在控制點停下來看地圖。」Simone Niggli說。

最長的賽段是在控制點第十六點與第十七點之間，長度有四百五十公尺（見圖）。最快的跑法是往右繞過小丘，這樣可以避免掉廿公尺的爬升。Niggli在本賽段中選擇跑過小丘，這使她損失了十七秒，也讓她和選擇繞路而跑、2011年於法國世錦賽中奪得長距離賽冠軍的Billstam差距大幅減少，但最後Niggli仍以充沛的體力保持住其后冠。

Venla Niemi與Maja Alm在控制點第十六點爭奪獲得銅牌的機會。Niemi因選擇了和Billstam相似的路線而勝出，Alm則是選擇了類似Niggli的路徑而落敗。而來自芬蘭的Merja Rantanen選了介於Niggli及Billstam的路線：跑山丘也繞路，反而使她無緣爭奪獎牌。

「我犯了不少失誤，但至少我沒有停下來太多次。我一開始就試著保持平靜的心情來跑，也好在我沒有被列在奪牌熱門人選裡，我因此更能平和地專注在比賽上。」Venla Niemi說。

有五位選手，包括來自紐西蘭的Lizzie Ingham及瑞典的超級新星Alva Olsson皆在最後一點前犯下嚴重失誤，他們都沒有留意到不可通行的柵欄而一直往西邊跑去。

本次短距離賽場地位於靠近Hiukka沙灘的Sotkamo地區，資格賽在Vuokatti的西邊；決賽在其東邊。女子組開跑前一小時，成群的觀眾早已聚集完成。

  男子短距離決賽──Boström奔向冠軍

原本跑馬拉松的Mårten Boström對於跑在柏油路上就很在行，去年起他重新轉往定向發展，多年來定向與馬拉松的訓練總算在今天值回票價。

「我對我這次的路線選擇相當滿意，我甚至不知道有沒有更好的選擇。因為場地蠻難的，有時候我還得跑慢點。很感激Jari Ikäheimonen（教練）長期以來的指導，主要是體能訓練，但他也很信任我以及我們所做的決定。」他說。Mårten Boström曾於2004到2005年之間的國際定向賽中奪得短距離賽獎牌，這次是他第五次參加世界錦標賽。

在短距離賽中，由於差距總是很小，因此跑時要非常的小心仔細，否則小小的失誤不僅讓你失掉金牌，甚至連面牌都摸不著！最好的例子就是Kyburz，他本有希望在決賽中勝出的，畢竟他贏得今年世界盃中三項短距離賽。

Kyburz的金牌夢碎在控制點第十七點。起先，他往南跑向較長且較慢的路線，接著的大失誤浪費掉他超過廿秒的時間也使他與金牌擦身而過。

跟女子組一樣，男子組最長的賽段也是落在控制點第十九點到第廿點之間，約有一半的選手選擇穿越小丘，另一半則是繞道而行。Leandersson和Boström有類似的跑法，但有著驚人體力的Boström顯然更輕易勝出。值得一提的是，兩人的路線與女子組的Billstam選擇一樣。

The World Orienteering Championships in Vuokatti started with qualification races in six different classes; three for women, three for men. For many of the top runners, qualification race is more about not losing than about winning.

Denna text återfinns också i den tryckta tidning som delas ut på VM i orientering. Läs mer om bakgrunden här. Bilden ovan är tagen av WOC2013 själva - och inte av mig.

下拉另可見中文翻譯。For Chinese please scroll down.

About 200 runners started and the 15 best ones in each heat, a total of 45 men and 45 women, are now ready for the final on Tuesday. Only men were using GPS tracking devices today, so the focus of this text is on the men.

A popular Finnish victory on home ground was achieved by Tero Föhr in Men heat 3. He was 30 seconds ahead of Baptiste Rollier from Switzerland. Föhr, usually running for the Finnish club Vehkalahden Veikot, was only the 8th fastest on the longest leg, the one between control 4 and 5 which was similar for all three heats.

– I made a wrong choice on the long leg, but otherwise I felt relaxed even though there were some demanding controls. I hope to have the same feeling in the final as I had today, says Tero Föhr.

Road or terrain?

There were many different route choices made on the longest leg as shown in the illustration above. Tue Lassen from Denmark ran almost the whole leg on the road to the north (3300 meter) - while Daniel Barkasz chose a route mostly on the road to the south (3600 meter). The optimal choice on this leg is the 2900 meter long route of Baptiste Rollier (2nd in heat 3) and Peeter Pihl (4th in heat 3), using the northern road for the first part of the leg, and then continue through the terrain for the second part of the leg towards the control. The route run by Tero Föhr is significantly shorter (2650 meter).

38-year old Valentin Novikov from Russia was one of the favourites, but he took a southern route choice (2700 meter long) without any roads at all, and spent over two minutes more than Baptiste Rollier on the same leg.

In the illustration the faster routes are shown in green and the slower in red - generally the northern choices are the fastest for the leg in heat 3. In the other heats the 5th control was placed further to the north, giving other optimal routes.

Finnish winner also in Men heat 2

One of Finland’s favourite runners, 36-year old Jani Lakanen, won his first WOC gold medal in 2001. Lakanen ran in Men heat 2 along with two other World Champions on the long distance, Thierry Gueorgiou (from 2011 in France) and Daniel Hubmann (from 2008 in Czech Republic and 2009 in Hungary). The illustration shows a comparison between Hubmann and Lakanen from the start until control 9. The first 6 controls - including the long route choice leg from 4 to 5 which was similar for all heats - went well for both. Then at the 7th control Lakanen made a small mistake.

 – During my run, I was not sure if I was fast enough. I made a small hook and got a bit nervous after it. But now I can see from the results that I was fast and I am very confident about myself. All the small signs before the race are telling me that things are going well, says Jani Lakanen.

Daniel Hubmann was in the lead at control 7 - having the highest running speed of all runners in the heat. However, at control 8 Hubmann “hit the wall” - losing nearly 3 minutes for a mistake in the control ring.

In the end Lakanen was the winner of Men heat 2, 40 seconds before Thierry Gueorgiou from France and another 49 seconds before Russia’s Leonid Novikov. Lakanen made a stable run, except for a small mistake at control 7.

Thierry Gueorgiou got second and admitted that the terrain was faster than he expected, but said that he saved some energy for the upcoming Final. Hubmann finished 1.41 after Jani Lakanen in 6th spot.

High speed and straight lines

Men heat 1 was dominated by Edgars Bertuks from Latvia. The 28-year old Bertuks’ race was characterized by high speed and straight lines in the terrain. It is also very interesting to note that Bertuks is one of the very few runners who manages to run an excellent time on a southern route choice from control 4 to 5 - winning the leg with 34 seconds ahead of Yury Tambasov from Belarus. Bertuks’s knowledge of this terrain type, knowing it from similar terrain in Latvia, and his high running speed explain how he managed this feat.

 The illustration below shows a comparison between Bertuks and the World Champion Long Distance from 2007 in Ukraine, Matthias Merz from control 13 to the finish. At control 12, Bertuks is in the lead, and a 40 second mistake just before the control point itself doesn’t change that. A mistake between control 13 and 14 costs Bertuks more than a minute, making him lose the top position for a while, but a strong and stable run in the end of the course makes him the winner - despite a slight flu.

– I felt slow today and I did not feel fresh at all. Perhaps the flu is still affecting me, says Edgars Bertuks, who won Middle Distance gold at last year’s WOC.

Merz did - just as Hubmann - a big mistake in the control ring. He passed control 19 with just a few meters - without finding it - and needed another two minutes to find it. He finished on 6th place, 2.16 after Bertuks.

  Tove outstanding in fast Finnish forests

In the three women classes, Switzerland, Great Britain and Sweden were in the top. Most outstanding was Sweden’s Tove Alexandersson, who won heat 3 with a margin of more than five minutes to Natalia Efimova from Russia.

 – I made a mistake at control 7, where I was too far to the east side of the control, says Tove Alexandersson.

She also said that the end of leg 2-3 (a long leg similar to leg 4-5 for the men) was a difficult area, but she was still 16 seconds ahead on that leg. Dana Safka Brozkova from Czech Republic was on second place before leg 2-3, but lost one and a half minute on the long leg and finally ended up at 8th place.

Finland’s favourite Minna Kauppi participated in heat 2, where she had a stable run - except for leg 2-3 where she spent almost three minutes more than the winner Catherine Taylor from Great Britain.

– My mistake was to go straight, and then I even made a small hook in the end of the leg. My feelings were not super-good and my legs felt too relaxed, says Minna Kauppi.

Simone Niggli from Switzerland won women heat 1, despite a one-minute mistake on leg 9-10. Niggli’s winning margin to Tatiana Ryabkina from Russia was only 8 seconds.

– I am pretty happy, even with this mistake. It was white on the map there, and I didn’t expect the terrain to be so open. I tried to save some energy in the later part of the race, says Simone Niggli, who so far has 20 WOC gold medals.

Anders Frick & Jan Kocbach

  芬蘭在資格賽中取得兩席勝利

於芬蘭屋卡第（Vuokatti）所舉行的定向世界錦標賽在資格賽中展開了，資格賽共有六組，男女各三。資格賽對頂尖選手來說，維持住資格比贏得勝利更為重要。選手共兩百名，各組中前十五名的選手，即四十五名男選手與四十五名女選手，將於星期二決賽中爭奪桂冠。今日資格賽中只有男選手穿戴GPS追蹤器，本文因此針對男選手來進行分析。

地主芬蘭隊在男子第三組中成功地由Tero Föhr取得勝利。他以卅秒之差領先來自瑞士的Baptiste Rollier。Föhr通常代表芬蘭Vehkalahden Veikot俱樂部來跑，資格賽裡最長的賽段中，他的速度排在第八名。介於控制點第四點與第五點最長賽段在三組來說難度差異不大。

「我在長賽段中出現失誤，不過即使我仍覺得狀況還不錯，希望決賽中能有像今天的表現。」Tero Föhr說。

選擇路徑或穿越樹林？

根據上圖，最長的賽段有很多不同的路線選擇，丹麥的Tue Lassen整段幾乎都跑在北邊的路徑上（3300公尺），而Daniel Barkasz則是選了南邊的小徑（3600公尺）。此賽段最理想的路線選擇為第三組第二名的Baptiste Rollier與第三組第四名的Peeter Pihl，兩人先是選了北邊的小徑後，就直接穿越林子奔向控制點。但Tero Föhr的選擇更短，僅2650公尺。

卅八歲來自俄羅斯的Valentin Novikov是本次的大熱門，但他在整個賽段中選擇穿越南邊的林子，使得他比Baptiste Rollier多花了兩分鐘的時間！

最快的路線選擇以綠色、最慢以紅色顯示於圖中，整體來說北邊的選擇對第三組此賽段來說最快，其他各組因第五點被放到較北邊的位置，因而有其他的理想路線選擇。

芬蘭在男子第二組中也勝出

芬蘭奪牌熱門人選之一的卅六歲Jani Lakanen，於2001年贏得他首面世錦賽金牌。Lakanen被安排在第二組，同組尚有兩位長距離賽世界冠軍：Thierry Gueorgiou （2011年於法國） 及Daniel Hubmann（2008年於捷克與2009年於匈牙利）。本圖展示了Hubmann 與Lakanen從起點到第九點的路線選擇比較。前六點，包括與其他各組相似從第四點到第五點的長賽段，兩人都跑得很好，但在第七點，Lakanen犯了一個小的失誤。

「當我在跑時，我不確定我跑得是否夠快，我繞了一小圈，然後開始緊張起來。但現在再來看結果時，我當時跑得夠快也顯得很有自信。比賽前所有的即使是小的訊息都在告訴我一切會很順利。」Lakanen表示。

Daniel Hubmann在第七點領先群雄，他的速度贏過該組所有選手，但到了第八點，Hubmann似乎是「撞了牆」，即使他人已在控制點圓圈裡，但其疏失使他損失了近三分鐘的時間。

Lakanen最後在男子第二組勝出，比來自法國的Thierry Gueorgiou快四十秒，比來自俄羅斯的Leonid Novikov快四十九秒。Lakanen的表現很穩，除了第七點的小失誤。

Thierry Gueorgiou排該組第二並也認為地形比他預期的還要好跑，他隱藏了些許實力，留待最後的決賽。Hubmann排在第六，比Jani Lakanen多出1分41秒。

高速與直線

男子第一組由拉脫維亞的Edgars Bertuks領先。28歲的Bertuks穿越樹林時不僅維持高速，且幾以直線方式行進。有趣的是，Bertuks並不被看好會在第四點到第五點這個賽段跑出絕佳的成績，他後來不僅是該賽段跑最快的，並以卅四秒大幅領先來自白俄羅斯的Yury Tambasov。據了解，Bertuks之所以能勝出，原因在於拉脫維亞有相似的地形，因而能跑出此佳績。

圖中比較了Bertuks與奪得2007年烏克蘭定向世錦賽長距離賽冠軍Matthias Merz從第十三點到終點的跑法。在第十二點時，雖然出現了損失四十秒的失誤，Bertuks仍居領先，但隨後在第十三與第十四點的失誤使他多花超過一分鐘的時間並失去領先地位，但強健及穩定的速度仍帶領他邁向成功，即便他有輕微的感冒。

「我覺得今天跑得很慢、很不理想，也許是因為感冒作祟。」曾贏得去年世錦賽中距離賽金牌的Edgars Bertuks說。

Merz跟Hubmann一樣在控制點圓圈內花了相當長的時間。剛開始他離第十九點只有幾公尺遠，卻沒看到它，結果他多花了兩分鐘才找著。最後他排名第六，比Bertuks多出兩分十六秒。

  Tove技壓全場

瑞士、英國與瑞典各在女子三組中排名第一。其中表現最為優異的是瑞典的Tove Alexandersson，她以超過五分鐘的時間大幅領先排名第二，來自俄羅斯的Natalia Efimova。

「我在第七點犯了個錯誤，我跑得太東邊了。」Tove Alexandersson說。

她也說第二到第三點賽段後半部區域（與男子組第四到第五點的長賽段相似）是相當困難的，但她仍以十六秒領先。來自捷克的Dana Safka在第二到第三點前居於第二，但自從在長賽段損失一分半鐘以後，最後以排名第八收場。

芬蘭的希望Minna Kauppi排在第二組，她跑得很穩，除了在長賽段中比該組冠軍，來自英國的Catherine Taylor，多花上幾乎三分鐘的時間。

「我的問題是跑太直了，後半段甚至還多繞了一小圈。跑起來的感覺不是很好，雙腿也太放鬆。」Minna Kauppi說。

來自瑞士的Simone Niggli在第一組排名第一，即便她在第九到第十點出現了一分鐘失誤。Niggli僅比排名第二，來自俄羅斯的Tatiana Ryabkina快上八秒鐘。

「即使有此失誤，我還是蠻開心的。它在地圖上是白色的，但我沒有預期現場會如此開闊。我試著在比賽後段節省些體力。」到目前為止已贏得廿面定向世錦賽金牌的Simone Niggli說。

Den här veckan pågår orienterings-VM 2013 i Vuokatti, Finland. Världsmästerskapen lockar alla de bästa orienterarna från hela världen och en spännande utveckling av orienteringssporten är möjligheten att följa löparna diekt i skogen med hjälp av GPS-tracking.

Orientering är oftast ingen större publiksport, men genom att arrangörerna har bjudit in till en orienteringsvecka för vanliga orienterare så får VM plötsligt en jättepublik. Smart drag!

Under veckan kommer Jan Kocbach (känd som upphovsmannen bakom orienteringssajten World of O) och jag att tillsammans analysera tävlingarna. Analysen kommer sedan att publiceras i den dagliga VM-tidningen som delas ut på plats till publik och tävlande.

Vill du följa VM i sociala medier gör du det lättast här:

https://twitter.com/WOC2013Vuokatti

https://www.facebook.com/woc2013vuokatti