News Archive

News

Monday 27th June 2022

Great Britain take Silver in the Mixed Sprint Relay at the World Championships

Great Britain take Silver in the Mixed Sprint Relay at the World Orienteering Championships, Denmark. ????

GB team (left to right): Charlotte Ward, Ralph Street, Kris Jones, Megan Carter-Davies

Sunday saw the first race of the World Orienteering Championships, the Mixed Sprint Relay. Taking place in the complex old city centre of Kolding Denmark, the route choice involved railway and river as well as narrow streets, alleyways, and backyards.

The GB team of Charlotte Ward, Ralph Street, Kris Jones, and Megan Carter-Davies was going into the Championships as one of the strong contenders for a medal, especially after a good performance in World Cup 1, where the team was also hit by illness.

Charlotte Ward (GB) ran a confident and strong first Leg handing over to Ralph Street (GB) in 3rd place. The race was already thought to be both physically and navigationally challenging but during the second Leg, several of the international teams made an unexpected error that cost 30-45 seconds. Ralph however demonstrated his strong navigational skills to not follow the pack but make his own route choice which saw him hand over to Kris Jones (GB) in 2nd place.

Kris Jones (GB) who showed exceptional performances on the track last year, ran a great leg to hand over to Megan Carter-Davies (GB) in 1st place, with World Champion Tove Alexandersson (SWE) starting close behind. Alexandersson once again demonstrated her usual strength and speed, and although Megan kept her within sight for a good proportion of the course, she finished well ahead after the final forking.

Kris Jones said after the race: "I had a really stable race, but I knew that the guys before me had done their job well, so I just needed to go out and do my job, nothing special, but also do the best I could to hand Megan out in a good position on the last Leg."

Charlotte Ward says: “This medal feels like it’s been coming for a long time now. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be part of this incredible team. We all believed we could do it! This medal is for so many other people as well. For all our teammates that push us, for the coaches, and for all the supporters at home. Thank you to everyone!”

Ralph Street says: "If you were to analyse my race like an individual sprint you would say it was reasonable. However, what was really good was I managed to avoid making a massive mistake together with my group and that gave us the gap at the finish down to the other teams. I'm really happy that my decision-making can work under pressure. I hope that can continue over the rest of the week."

Megan Carter-Davies, says: "I was really ready to fight for a medal before the race, and then before the changeover, I could see we were pretty much guaranteed at least a Silver medal and that I would be fighting Tove for the gold. After a small-time loss into control 1, I was just behind Tove all the way to control 10 on some different route choices. She got slightly further ahead to 11 and then I lost the fight for gold with a mistake to 13 going down the wrong flight of steps. But I kept it secure as best as I could after that knowing that there was still a gap to the other teams and was glad I could bring home the Silver medal for my incredible teammates and all of our supporters! It has been a long time coming and hopefully, this has now broken the ice for repeating again."

This is the first Relay medal won at the World Championships since 2008 and hopefully the start of a great Championship.

Megan running into the Finish to team mates

Sprint Relay results

1. Sweden (Lina Strand, Max Peter Bejmer, Gustav Bergman, Tove Alexandersson)
2. Great Britain (Charlotte Ward, Ralph Street, Kris Jones, Megan Carter Davies) + 1.02 ????
3. Norway (Ane Dyrkorn, Lukas Liland, Kasper Fosser, Andrine Benjaminsen) + 1.41
4. Switzerland + 1.47
5. Denmark + 1.49
6. France + 1.52

Congratulations GB on a solid team performance

Results and more can be found at IOF LIVE.

Congratulations to the GB team…Charlotte Ward, Ralph Street, Kris Jones, Megan Carter-Davies.

Fantastic result! Well done, and very well deserved.

----

The next event is the Knock-Out Sprint on Tuesday (28 June), with a qualification in the morning and quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals in the afternoon.

The Knock-Out Sprint event saw Megan Carter-Davies bring home a silver medal in the recent World Cup 1, behind Alexandersson (SWE), and will also have GB Ralph Street, Kris Jones, and Charlotte Ward joined by GB Jonathan Crickmore and GB Grace Molloy.

Follow the competition at IOF LIVE - Knock-Out Sprint

The Individual Sprint will take place this Thursday (30 June).

----

All photo credits: IOF / William Hollowell

Photo Dmytro Levin

Top

News Archive

News

Great Britain take Silver in the Mixed Sprint Relay at the World Championships

Partners