The 2021 World Championships took place in Kuortane and Seinäjoki in Finland. The first international competitions in two years were a bit difficult for me, but in the end I was rewarded with a bronze medal in the relay!
I travelled to the World Championships in Finland without ever having orienteered in Scandinavia before. The planned exchange semester in Seinäjoki unfortunately got cancelled due to the Corona pandemic. However, the Swiss team arrived about a week before the first competitions so that we could still prepare with on-site training.
The preparation week went well and the anticipation for the first international races in what felt like an eternity grew.
On Saturday, 12th of June, it was time for the mass start race. I had some difficulties to keep up with the very fast elite field in this terrain without altitude metres. However, I made it through without making any big mistakes and was able to secure 20th place in the final sprint ahead of 3 Russians, all of whom are ranked in the top 10 of the world rankings.
In the sprint I didn’t do so well. On the way to post 5 I had a complete blackout and had to reorientate myself, which cost me over a minute. But since everyone made mistakes, it was still enough for 25th place despite this serious mistake. I was not satisfied with this result, but it could have been worse.
In the middle distance I rode a very safe race. I made a few control stops and didn’t make any mistakes worth mentioning. But unfortunately it wasn’t fast either, and so in the race with the best feeling I got the worst result: 27th place.
In the long distance I had little hope, because the absolutely flat terrain does not suit me and I was missing the climbs. After a few mistakes and lack of concentration at the beginning, things went much better and I was able to secure 25th place, which I can be quite satisfied with in this terrain.
The end of this intensive week was the relay in Seinäjoki. Finally, there was some altitude to master, but it was so steep that hardly anyone could ride all of it. The course was also extremely difficult in other respects. The demanding course in difficult terrain challenged us, but also the trails that were difficult to ride demanded a lot from us. I rode the first section and had a lot of trouble finding my way around the map right at the beginning. After post 2, however, things got better and better and I was able to catch up with the big group again.
On the second course Silas was able to keep our chances for a diploma with a safe race. As more and more disqualifications were announced due to wrong posts, we slipped further and further ahead. At some point it was clear to us that Simon could drive us to bronze place with his unleashed race. The joy when Simon crossed the finish line in third place was enormous, and even greater when we were sure that we had correctly acknowledged all the posts on all the courses. The bronze medal was in the bag! My first medal in the elite was a bit unexpected, but that’s why it was so nice!