WC Final middle distance ‘09 – Video and photo report
September 26, 2009 by Lucie Babel
The rankings of the second to last stage of the World Cup, held in Buch am Irchel (Zurich, Switzerland) took a little air of déjà vu. Just like the long distance of the World Championships 2009 saw a Swiss double, Simone Niggli and Daniel Hubmann obtained the victory and are both in excellent position to win the overall ranking of the World Cup final after tomorrow’s sprint.
“Thrilling”, “demanding”
The race was held in a mainly steep slope cut by many lateral roads and little streams. Most of the controls were set in two very detailled and rocky areas, linked by a longer routechoice. “It was very demanding, both physically and technically”, Helena Jansson told Ultimate Orienteering. Daniel Hubmann experienced the same: “I knew it would be quite thrilling, in a slope with plenty of stones and many details. It was clear one would need a precise map reading to avoid mistakes”. He succeeded. Even thought the gaps staid very closed in Men’s class (the 34 firsts finishing inside of 4 minutes, versus the 16 firsts for Women’s class), he though managed to set a 48 seconds lead on Mikhail Mamleev, bronze medalist at this year’s World Championships.
Big rivalry by Schneider until half of the race
During the race, the situation was however not as obvious as it would sound like. The lead was kept until the 9th control by David Schneider, also brilliant mountain runner, who focused on this discipline during the summer after he didn’t qualified for the World Orienteering Championships. He then made a mistake at the 10th control, loosing over one minute. Daniel Hubmann made the difference on his other concurrents during the longer route choice to the 13th control (mapfragment below), where he could increase the lead he gained after Schneider’s mistake. The third place was taken by Swede David Andersson, 1′03” behind Hubmann. The biggest surprise of the day came by the 6th place of the “king of the middle” Thierry Gueorgiou, who lost 1′31 on the long distance World champion. He hadn’t been able to take part in the military world champs two weeks ago due to an injury. The 7th place also brought an unexpected name, but in the opposite way: Swiss Andreas Kyburz, who is running in his first elite year, managed to insert his name in the very top at his first participation to a World Cup event.
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Niggli on the way to an other World Cup overall victory?
On the 4.9km long Women’s race, Simone Niggli confirmed her great WOC performances by a victory and a new 2nd position at the World Cup overall ranking. She finished just 8 seconds ahead of an as always very enthusiastic Helena Jansson, already looking eagerly for tomorrow’s sprint in the very centre of Zurich: “I think it will be so much fun! Running a sprint in Switzerland, the Post finance sprint, is the best thing I could do… The crowd is so large and it’s not like anything else you’ll experience”. Dana Brozkova, current World Champion on middle distance, finished her race 35 seconds behind Jansson on 3rd place. Due to her 9th place today, Marianne Andersen, still 1st in the overall ranking of the World Cup, decreased her lead over Niggli and is now only 3 points ahead of the Swiss star. Enough to guaranty a nice suspense for tomorrow’s final, the Post Finance sprint.
