Bronze!

To win the long distance mass start was my big goal at this Ski-WOC, but to day I really feel like I won the bronze medal (Picture: Ski WOC 2011). I have had some problems with a sore throat and a stuffed nose since the middle distance and this morning I did not even know if I was able to ski at all. I decided to warm up like normal, start the competition, and if I could ski with the lead the first controls I would try to do the whole competition. I got a good start, it felt a bit harder to breath than normal, but I was skiing with the lead to the first control. After the first control I was skiing alone most of the competition, I was number 7 at the map change, and when I saw that the second round seamed to be shorter I understood that I could fight for a medal. I did few mistakes and finished as number 3, a bronze medal that feels like a victory.

Results and gps tracking can be found here: Ski WOC 2011

An other snowy day in Tänndalen

Although I got to practice ski-o in heavy snowfall at the sprint yesterday, I did not handle the snowy conditions to day very well (Picture above taken from our hotel room). It was snowing a lot and the visibility of the tracks were not good , the snowfall also made it difficult to read the map. I had trouble to read the map in the beginning and felt that I totally lacked flow in the map reading, however, except a turn towards the fourth control, as I did not see the tracks at all up there, I skied OK. Then it happened; towards the sixth control I could no longer see the broad tracks and totally lost control in the downhill, a major mistake that costed me to much time. I had no idea were I was until I saw a cabin and later a road. See tracking here: GPS Tracking. After this mistake I did not ski very well, no big mistakes but small mistakes and map reading stops I could not afford to get a top result. What I did not know was that nearly all the girls did the same mistake towards the third control and that if I just skied well the rest of the race, top three would still be in reach. I finished fifth, Polina Malchikova won, Alena Trapeznikova was second and my room mate Stine O Kirkevik won the bronze medal and saved the day.

(Wing OK well represented at the Ski-WOC; Lars Moholdt, Emily Wall, Chris Forn, Marte Reenaas, Christian Hohl. Helen Palmer will come to compete in the relay)

Christian was number 13, a good result under difficult conditions. He did not have a good feeling when racing, no major mistakes as he knows of, but is not sure if he had some bigger time losses in his race. "Probably no body had a great feeling to day".

GPS for part I and II of both the women and the mens middle distance and the sprint can be found here; GPS tracking WSOC.

To morrow mixed sprint relay is on the program, a new discipline and open competition. Many nations have good teams and I think it will be a tight fight for the medals. Christian will ski for Switzerland together with Carmen Strub. I will not ski to morrow, to recover for the long distance and the relay. Stine Kirkevik and Hans-Jørgen Kvåle will ski in the Norwegian team.

"Caught in a blizzard"

A 10-15 min blizzard strongly influenced my first competition here in Tänndalen (Photo: Ivar Haugen). I skied well in the beginning, a bit controlled to get into a good map reading rhythm, on the third control however, I failed to punch and had to return to the control to punch again, I lost time on this but was still in the race. As I skied from the sixth control wind and heavy snow fall made map reading and vision of the tracks difficult. I struggled to read the map and had to ski less aggressive. Specially in the last short loop the vision was a problem and I even skied out of the track a few times. Although I am not to happy with a 7th place, I did a good race and got an OK start of the championships. 36 seconds is not to much with a miss punch and blizzard. Hopefully the weather will be equal for all competitors the rest of the WOC and I am really looking forward to the rest of the competitions. Junior(!) Tove Alexanderson won in front of Helen Söderlund and Liisa Anttila. My team mates Barbro Kvåle and Stine Kirkevik finished 5th and 6th.

In the mens race the weather was at least more stable. Christian did a good race in the start and was 10th, 37 sec behind the lead at the first intermediate control, unfortunately he did a mistake after this and ended as number 19. Olli Markus Taivanen won in front of Staffan Tunis and Peter Arneson.

GPS tracking from the sprint distance can be found here: women, men.

To morrow we will ski middle distance. You can follow the competitions live under "live results": here. First start is at 10.00.

Finally: World championships in Tänndalen

In three days we will ski the first distance in SWOC in Tänndalen. As I got sick at the world championships in Japan two years ago, and did not have the chance to compete 100% there, SWOC in Tänndalen has been my main goal the last two years, and finally the championship is here. (Picture: Ski-o.com. The Norwegain relay teams in Ånn last year, both teams finished top three)

Both Christian and me have prepared well and we are really looking forward to the challenges waiting for us in Tänndalen. My goal is to perform well in the races and have fun, hopefully this will be good enough for a gold medal in one of the distances, which is my big goal this year.

Program at the ski-orienteering world championships:

Sunday Mar 20^th - Arrival
Monday Mar 21^st - Model event
Tuesday Mar 22^nd - Sprint
Wednesday Mar 23^th - Middle distance
Thursday Mar 24^th - Sprint relay
Friday Mar 25^th - Rest day
Saturday Mar 26^th - Long distance
Sunday Mar 27^th - Relay

You can follow Christian, me and the rest of the competitors directly via GPS-tracking during the world championship competitions at the official web page of SWOC Tänndalen.

Ski-O WOC, last preparations

In one week the ski-o world championships starts in Tänndalen (Ski WOC 2011). This weekend Christian and I did the final ski-o technical preparations in Kvikne, about 120 km south of Trondheim. We trained in a track system in a mountain slope in Kvikne with the rest of the Norwegian team, super relevant training in front of Tänndalen. Really good training, sunny weather and beautiful mountain surroundings made the weekend perfect.

Harald Svergja organized the training camp

Harald Svergja, ski-o world champion (relay) in 1994, organized the training camp. He had prepared a very nice track system and good training sessions for us. See maps from the training camp race, part I and II, underneath. Results from the training competition can be found here.

Stine and I had many tight fights this weekend

Beside the training competition saturday morning we did line orienteering, 7*3-5 min ski-o intervals and 3*7 min downhill ski-o. Both the training competition and the other sessions went well for both of us, we feel well prepared and are really looking forward to Tänndalen now.

The last preparations will be done home in Trondheim before we travel to Tänndalen next weekend.

Training competition, part I

Training competition, part II

Gold and silver at the Norwegian championships

This weekend we skied the norwegian championships in Stokke south-west of Oslo. As I caught a cold after the Ski EOC at Lillehammer, I was not sure if I could take part in the national championships before friday. I did a short classic training thursday evening and a skating session friday, as I felt much better friday I decided to compete. (Photo: Ivar Gilså, photo taken at the middle distance)

Saturday we skied the middle distance. It was tough physically, I felt tired, but I did a good orienteering technical race and finished second, 12 seconds behind Stine Kirkevik. Junior Barbro Kvåle finished third. Christian skied ok and finished as number 6. Results: Women, Men

Sunday, I felt better, I skied faster and did a good orienteering technical race. I won 30 sek ahead of Stine Kirkeivk. Christian did not ski 100% at the long distance, as he did not feel 100%, and used the long distance to find the orienteering technical flow. Results

A perfect end of the week: Relay Bronze

Together with the rest of the norwegian women relay team, Stine Olsen Kirkevik and Marianne Melbye Larsen, I ended the european championship with a bronze medal. Our goal was to fight for a medal, but during the relay it did not seam very likely. Marianne skied the first leg, she did good in the start and was about a minute behind the lead about half way. But towards the end of her leg she got trouble, and lost almost 5 minutes to Russia I in the lead. Stine skied amazing on the second leg, with the best leg time she skied us up from a 9th to a 6th position and changed over 3.50 behind Russia I. However 3.50 is a lot to catch, and a medal seamed like an impossible task, but as I skied out on the last leg I heard the speaker say that both Russia and Finland was doing mistakes in the lead: there was still hope! I did an ok start and cathced Finland II towards the 3rd control, at the public control I could see Finland I, and Liisa Anttila, in front. I was fighting for a forth place. Four controls later we were together, Liisa did a right rout choice to the 3rd last control, whilst I decided to go left to avoid the extra climb. This was a smart move and I punched the next control in front of Liisa. What I did not know was that Russia II did a major mistake in the end and was behind us, we got the bronze! (Photo: Stein Arne Nygård)

GPS tracking from the last leg: here.

Christian finished 7th with the Swiss team. He did an ok race on the second leg. Switzerland won a bronze medal in the relay at the World championships in Moscow in 2007. Hopefully they will do well in Sweden in march and fight for a medal.