Many congratulations to six athletes who have gained early selection to the TEAM to represent Great Britain in Round 1 of the 2017 World Cup, in Finland 24th – 28th May 2017.

British Orienteering have been granted six men’s and six women’s places in each event along with three sprint relay teams and are committed to selecting a large team of athletes that will be working towards the 2017 target of achieving a relay medal. Three men and three women have been given early selection as certainties for the team.

The Long Distance competition is somewhat unusual as it includes a chasing start with athletes’ start times based on the sum of their finishing times in the sprint qualification and the middle race and so those selected for the long are also selected for the sprint and the middle.

British Orienteering’s Performance Manager and selector, Jackie Newton, said:  "We are delighted to confirm the first six selections of athletes for this World Cup team, all of whom performed exceptionally well in 2016 IOF competitions. Graham Gristwood, Peter Hodkinson, Hollie Orr and Ralph Street, through their performances at last year’s EOC and WOC, demonstrated their potential to be on medal winning teams in 2017 and Megan Carter-Davies’ performances at JWOC and WUOC demonstrate the talent that she has and her potential for future WOCs. We are also delighted to be able to select Tessa Strain who made her international comeback at the World Cup Finals last September. At that stage, with only a few months consistent training behind her, Tessa delivered a world class sprint race and in so doing underlined her potential to race well in 2017. It is important for British Orienteering to build on the momentum from the last two years and convert our podium places, and particularly the 4th places, into medals. Some of our top athletes are not available for or have not yet decided if they will compete in this first World Cup and this gives opportunity to others. We look forward to naming the full team after JK.”

The British Orienteering Selection documents can be found here.

Item posted by Jennie Taylor, Marketing Manager on behalf of Jackie Newton, Performance Manager