WC podium to day, but where was the flow?

The first half of to days middle distance was really not good, to the spectators control I did a race with total lack of flow both in the map reading and in the tracks, no big misstakes but lost over a minute to the fastes time on the first 3.5-4 km. After the spectator controll I luckily got my head together, and after a strong finish I could climb up on the podium with Josefin Engström and Tove Alexanderson. Sum up for to day: I am happy with the second place and a strong finish of teh race, but not so happy with my performance on the first part of the race.

To days GPS tracking from the race can be found here: GPS W21 middle
(As I am not among the 12 best in the WC and the organiser chose to give the three extra units to other skiers you will not find me in the list)

Christian did a hughe misstake to day and lost lots of time and ended around nr 25. The mens class was won by Erik Rost and Peter Arneson, our club mate in Wing OK, Lars Hol Moholdt ended third!

To morrow we will ski Ultra long distance, hopefully with flow both in the map reading and in the tracks for both of us.

Not even close..

To day we finished second in the WC-relay in Boden. The goal was to give Sweden a fight for the victory, but already on the second leg they were far ahead and were crusing in to a 2min 30sec Victory. Anna skied well on the first leg, agressive and safe and finished in the lead on the first leg. Just as planned. On the second leg Audhild skied well in the start, but from the 6th control she skied to the 8th and lost much time skiing back to the 7th. We were now almost three minutes down togehter with a pack, Finland 1 and 2 and Russia I did an ok race, but the good flow was lacking and did some small misstake. I did catch some time to the lead, but I assume this was bacause of a short forking. So, unfortunatley we were not even close, but still satisfied with a second place. Russia finished third.

The program the next days:
Friday: Rest day
Saturday: Middle distance
Sunday: Ultra long distance

WC-Final in Boden, 1st race, 4th place

The first race in the WC final in Ski-o is history, and it feels great to be competing again! We have both been sick the last weeks and this was the ultimate test in how well we have recovered. Marte did an OK race and finished 4th, behinde Tove Alexanderson, Josefin Engstrøm and Polina Malchikova. Christian had some more trouble and finished 25th. Erik Rost won the mens class in front of Peter Arneson and Stanimir Belomazev. (Picture: Sven Åke Nordenmark)
Martes race to the map change was good. But here she lost much time in fighting the maps in the map change box (i.e. trying to separate one of the maps from the others), this stressed her and stressful map reading resulted in some bad route choices in the end of the race. Just not good enough in a sprint race. Christian still needs a few races to get in shape after the cold he catched in Kazakhstan, oreinteering techincally he did a good race but lost time physically to day. This will hopefully improve the next days.


Results from the sprint: W21, M21
More about the WC sprint: Norwegian orienteering federation

To morrow we will ski relay, and hopefully take another step back towards the top.

Follow the WC final in Boden here: WC Final Ski-o

Christian in Kazakhstan, and I?

At the moment Christian is skiing the WC round in Kazakhstan, while I am recovering from a bronchitis infection at home in Trondheim. After the middle distance victory in Ukraine, I got sick and could not start in the last races. It feels hard to stay in bed when you want to race, but the title was defended, and that was the goal of the season, so really no reason to complain. Christian did unfortunatley not find the flow he found in the US in the individual races in Ukraine, but skied ok and steady in the top 20. His relay leg was good, and after two legs Switzerland was fighting in the top. However as Christian Spoerry unfortunatley did a big misstake in the last leg they lost lots of places. My team, Christina, Audhild and Andrine skied amasing without me and ended 2nd. I am impressed about what those girls did in the relay!
(Picture: Christian in Ukraine, Sergiy Panchenko)

The first two races in Kazhakstan was very orienteering technical demanding (se sprint map above). Christian did not find the flow but is enjoying the demanding courses, trying not to focus on the results. When you have a hard time finding the flow it is easy to start focusing on results and forget what ski-o is really about. Hopefully he will find the flow in the middle distance.

The WC round in Kazakhstan can be followed here; WC Kazakhstan.
Here you can find results and maps from all the races.

European champion!

To day I won the middle distance in Sumi and defended my european champion title on the middle distance. After a big misstake in the sprint yesterday it felt really great to win to day!
To days race was demanding. It was tough physical and the course offered difficult route choices. I was satisfied with my race and very happy to win. Josefin Engström won silver, Kajsa Richardson bronze!
(Photo: Sindre Haverstad)

European championships in Sumy

First race in Sumy to day, mixed sprint relay. A tough, tight race. Fun, but unfortunatley no great success for Christian or me.

I skied for Norway 1 together with Hans-Jørgen Kvaale ( read his blog here(Norwegian): Team Avancia). Our goal was to ski for a medal. We skied well on the first two legs and was fighting for a medal, then we got map trouble. Hans Jørgen got my map and started skiing the women 2nd leg. For the two first controls the course was the same as for men, then the other men skied in another direction. He understood something was wrong, saw that his map was marked women and decided to try ski with Staffan, it was a 50/50 chance that they had the same forking, he also puched all the controls in the womens relay on his way. However the jury had seen him taking my map and gave me a mens map. So in all we skied 4 times mens leg and 2 times womens leg. Unfortunatley I also lost focus and did a few misstakes and we only managed a 20th place.

Christian skied in the Swiss 3rd team, they had no big hopes for to day, finished 33rd. More important for them was to get to know the tracks and terrain a bit and to get good competition training.

Russia with Paulina Malchicova and Andrey Grigoryev won. Best Norwegian team was our club mate Lars Moholdt and Maren Haverstad on a 10th place. Gion and Ladina finished 12th as best Swiss team.

Results: sprint relay

World Cup USA over - fokus EOC

Today we skied the last individual competition of this World Cup round, a middle distance at Tahoe XC.
I started quite well but to the 4th control I had a mistake while cutting. Because of this I lost all my selv-confidence. And the rest of the race was just bad. A lot of bad routechoices because I didn't dare to cut and a lot of small mistakes. This resulted in a 16th or 17th place depending on which resultlist is correct.

For me the World Cup Round 1 is over. I will not ski the mixed sprint-relay tomorrow. Now all the focus is on the European Champinships in Sumy, Ukraine from February 21st to 26th. After this week I am quite optimistic. My shape improved a lot the last three weeks. Now I have to work with the map-reading and doublepoling. I am really looking forward to the races in the Ukraine.