The weekend saw days 1& 2 of the World Orienteering Championships held in the Czech Republic. After last year's Sprint Championships were cancelled, this year's programme was extended to incorporate these races into the schedule.

Day 1 - Sprint Qualification and Sprint Final

Saturday (3 July) saw the Sprint race with Cecilie Andersen, Alice Leake and Grace Molloy in the women's and Chris Smithard, Peter Hodkinson and Nathan Lawson in the men's.

With the qualification races taking place in the morning, the top 15 athletes from each progressed to the finals. Unfortunately, a mistake by Cecilie cost her a place in the final finishing 23rd in her heat, but Great Britain had five athletes who progressed through to the final later that day.

An outstanding performance by Alice Leake saw her finishing 4th in the women's, missing a medal by just four seconds with Sweden's Tove Alexandersson taking gold. Grace Molloy after a strong start to the final came home in 12th place.

Sprint Final:  Women’s Results

In the men's Peter Hodkinson was the highest placed finisher (14th) in a race won by Isac Von Krusentierna making it two golds for Sweden, Chris Smithard was 24th and Nathan Lawson just behind in 25th.

Alice said after the race: 
"Really really happy with my 4th place today. My race didn't feel particularly great, but I was so excited to be back racing after so long and really enjoyed the whole day and experience. The course setters did a great job and I took my time to make good decisions, even stopping still a couple of times to spot the routes, not something that feels natural in a sprint race. I didn't think that the area suited me before the race so I was very excited and shocked when I realised the result.”

Official results from the Sprint Final can be found here.