Catch up on the latest news from the World University Orienteering Championships in Vila Real, Portugal. The penultimate day saw athletes compete in the individual sprint, before the championships came to a close with the middle distance race in the forest.
Sprint Distance
After a rest day on Thursday, the competition got back underway with the individual sprint, the third and final of the sprint disciplines that once again headed to the centre of Vila Real. Despite there having already been 4 rounds of Knock-Out and also the sprint Relay, the planners did an excellent job of utilising different parts of the terrain for each race, each with their own character.
The courses were once again very challenging with some complicated route choices and a large number of artificial barriers to identify on the map and navigate in the terrain. Jim Bailey was once again the top Brit, finishing in 11th place having been fighting with the medallists through the first half of the course. In the women, it was again Imogen Pieters who placed highest for GBR, finishing in 18th place, in a race that saw her lose time in the first part of the course before a strong finish saw her pick up 12 places.
“I was pretty careful in the first section, and was running a decent split, but then a mistake at 14 not seeing a barrier and took a bad route to 18. Other than that, I’m happy with the race. It was a bit annoying to just miss out on the top-10, but a decent end to the sprint season” – Jim Bailey, 11th
“I had quite a bad start with some bad routes taken, but I then picked up and had a last 10 minutes I was happy with where I stopped when needed but took good routes. It was such a technically intense sprint, which was very fun” – Imogen Pieters, 18th
Men
1. Francesco Mariani, ITA – 15:05
2. Linus Wernström, SWE – 15:06
3. Guilhem Verove, FRA – 15:16
11. Jim Bailey, GBR – 15:44
35. James Hammond, GBR – 16:30
38. Charles Rennie, GBR – 16:37
44. Sam Griffin, GBR – 16:56
49. Euan Tryner, GBR – 17:03
Women
1. Klara Borg, SWE – 15:50
2. Cécile Calandry, FRA – 15:51
3. Annabelle Delenne, FRA – 16:05
18. Imogen Pieters, GBR – 16:58
48. Isobel Howard, GBR – 18:17
48. Rachel Duckworth, GBR – 18:17
51. Rachel Brown, GBR – 18:19
69. Jocie Hilton, GBR – 19:16
71. Emily Gibbins, GBR – 19:26
Middle Distance
The final race of the competition saw the athletes move out of urban terrain of Vila Real and into the forest for the middle distance; this year’s only forest event because of restrictions in place due to wildfires.
It was an early morning for some, with first starts at 8am. This was to avoid the worst heat of the day as the start interval was now 2minutes between athletes, however it was still very hot for those running later on. France once again showed their dominance picking up three medals and securing their victory in the overall team competition. The best British performances of the day came from James Hammond in 26th and Rachel Brown in 37th.
“The forest was really nice, if steep and rough in places, perfect for a tricky middle course. I made a few mistakes early on as I was rushing but held on till the end for a decent result. It’s been an awesome week of racing with a great team” – James Hammond
Rachel Brown, 37th – “My goal was to just have a stable and consistent race. I saw quite a few other runners out there, but just focused on my own race and that worked well.”
Men
1. Antoine Becaert, FRA – 25:41
2. Svante Selin, SWE – 26:56
3. Romain Pichard, FRA – 27:41
26. James Hammond, GBR – 30.15
33. Charlie Rennie, GBR – 31:00
40. Euan Tryner, GBR – 31:50
41. Jim Bailey, GBR – 31.57
49. Sam Griffin, GBR – 32:42
55. Alex Wetherill, GBR – 33:13
Women
1. Inari Karppinen, FIN – 29:00
2. Klara Borg, SWE – 29:49
3. Fanny Delahaye, FRA – 30:30
37. Rachel Brown, GBR – 38:14
54. Isobel Howard, GBR – 41.48
59. Jocie Hilton, GBR – 42:39
73. Emily Gibbins, GBR – 46:15
76. Rachel Duckworth, GBR – 47:37
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