After a positive first day of World Cup Sweden, the British team could take some great performances into the Knock-out Sprint.

The day started with the qualification rounds where GB Ralph Street and Jonny Crickmore made it into the Quarter Finals from the men’s and GB Charlotte Ward, Cecile Andersen, and Megan Carter-Davies made it through for the women’s team.

Both GB Ralph Street and Megan Carter-Davies made it into the Semi-Finals with strong performances and backed this up to earn themselves a spot in the final.

Both had a quick turnaround into the final, it was the men’s final who started first, after a strong start, GB Ralph Street couldn’t stay with the leading men and went on to finish 7th.  

Ralph said after his race: “I’ve had a good day and made it into the final. I got a couple of route choices wrong near the end of the race and I didn’t have the speed in my legs to close the gap. I’m looking forward to taking this experience forward to the World Orienteering Championships."

In the women’s final there was a tight group through the first of the controls, before a split with different athletes taking different route choices. An excellent choice by GB Megan Carter-Davies put her in the front with Tove Alexandersson (SWE) close behind and although Megan was still running strong, it wasn’t enough to hold off the Swedish World Champion.

After the race, Megan said:  “Firstly I was happy to make the Final, which I thought was possible, but I hadn’t yet managed to do in a World Cup. Then the Final went better than expected when my route choice paid off on 5. I was a bit worried when none of the girls came with me, but I was glad to see that I came out in front with a bit of a lead. I wasn’t feeling under pressure after that but just orienteering smoothly and hoping the others wouldn’t catch up quickly. And in the end, it was only Tove who passed me with a couple of controls to go. So, I’m really happy with how I was able to perform and to be able to stand on the podium at the end of it was very cool! It was a great experience, and I really learnt a lot from the whole day too.”

TOP 6 Results

Women

Tove Alexandersson, SWE 8:15

Megan Carter Davies, GBR 8:19

Andrine Benjaminsen, NOR 8:26

Lina Strand, SWE 8:30

Karolin Ohlsson, SWE 8.31

Hanna Lundberg, SWE 8:37

Men

Matthias Kyburz, SUI 7:21

Tim Robertson, NZE 7:22

August Mollén, SWE 7:23

Kasper Fosser, NOR 7:24

Martin Regborn, SWE 7:25

Miika Kirmula, FIN 7:26

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Yesterday the World Cup Mixed Sprint Relay took place in the afternoon with the centre of Borås welcoming the orienteering world elite orienteers for the second day in a row.

The photo above: (left to right): Megan Carter-Davies, Charlotte Ward, Nathan Lawson, Jonny Crickmore.

The first World Cup of the season concluded with the Mixed Sprint Relay, and with the British Team having to make a few last-minute changes, the team of Charlotte Ward, Jonny Crickmore, Nathan Lawson, and Megan Carter-Davies ended the weekend finishing on the podium as 4th Nation and the second British Team of William Gardner, Chris Smithard, Alice Leake and Grace Molloy finishing in 22nd place.

Sweden took a superior win in the World Cup Mixed Sprint Relay, as centre Borås welcomed the orienteering world elite for the second day in a row.

The sun was shining as the 57 teams set off into the streets of Borås, with the Swedish, Swiss and Norwegian teams as favourites to win on the final day of World Cup Round 1.

And apart from the first few minutes of the first leg, Sweden 2 was in lead all the way and ended up winning by smashing 36 seconds ahead of Switzerland 1 with Sweden 1 another 24 seconds behind.

Lina Strand ran the first leg for Sweden 2 and went into the exchange with a margin of 22 seconds. Both Sweden 1 (Max Peter Bejmer) and Switzerland 1 (Joey Hadorn) caught some seconds on Martin Regborn in the second leg.

But on the third leg, the relay was actually decided, when Emil Svensk increased the lead to nearly 40 seconds, taking clever route choices and continued going with a high pace ahead of Matthias Kyburz and Gustav Bergman.

Karolin Ohlsson kept cool on the fourth leg and the victory was never in doubt – instead, the battle for the second place rose in excitement. Elena Roos and Tove Alexandersson were neck to neck all the way to the second last control, where Roos chose the fastest route, deciding the battle.

Andrine Benjaminsen ran the last half of the final leg for Norway on her own, crossing the finish line 16 seconds behind Tove Alexandersson.

TOP 6 Results

1. Sweden 2, 55:20 (Strand, Regborn, Svensk, Ohlsson)
2. Switzerland 1, 55:56 (Aebersold, Hadorn, M. Kyburz, Roos)
3. Sweden 1, 56:20 (Lundberg, Bejmer, Bergman, Alexandersson)
4. Norway 1, 56:36 (Dyrkorn, Eidsmo, Fosser, Benjaminsen)
5. Switzerland 2, 56:56 (Gemperle, M. Hubmann, Rancan, Hauswirth)
6. Great Britain 1, 57:06 (Ward, Crickmore, Lawson, Carter Davies)

After the race, GB Charlotte Ward said:  “It was so exciting to be part of the Sprint Relay in Boras today. We had two strong teams competing and it was a lot of fun to line up in a massive field of athletes. I am mostly happy with my race.  I stuck to my plan but was suffering in the last loop as the running pace has been so high!  A bad route to the final control added a few seconds to my time, but on the whole, I am pleased and so proud of the whole team for their races as well.”

GB Nathan Lawson, added to this by saying:  “Being my first Sprint Relay, I was really looking forward to the experience. The last-minute change to the first team added a bit of pressure but speaking to the others in the team helped calm the nerves. I was just really excited after Jonny and Charlotte ran so well and I wanted to put Megan out in as good a place as I could. The race was crazy fast as expected and it felt a bit bizarre to be shoulder to shoulder with some of the best runners out there. But I controlled my routes generally well and kept a cool enough head not to feel quite calm to the run-through at which point it was just a case of keeping on grinding! To come 6th/4th on my first Mixed Sprint Relay is insane and I feel really lucky to have been given the chance to be part of such a great team."

Nathan continued:  "I’m also glad the dramatic ‘incident’ in the middle of the course didn’t cause any significant damage to me or the team’s chances, plus it’s a funny memory for my first Mixed Sprint Relay!"

This World Cup was an important part of the preparation for the World Orienteering Championships next month, which will be the first World Sprint Orienteering Championships and the British Team will be looking to carry this forward to this event!

Photo above of GB Team Staff:  (left to right):  Lasse, Emil, Jo and Murray. 

An absolutely great team who managed some tricky GB decisions and situations during the competition. 

Emil Wingstedt, says: "I am really happy with the Team's performance today. We lost out on two potentially best runners in the morning, but the reserves stepped in and did a great job with both Jonny and Nathan earning their first World Cup podiums. Charlotte has shown great form these days despite being injured most of the spring. With Megan, we now have a superstar who can do well in all races. When we hopefully get all runners available at the World Orienteering Championships we are definitely one of the favourite teams in all disciplines."