Simona Ebersold (Switzerland) and Kasper Vosser (Norway) won by a large margin in today’s Orienteering World Cup Sprint in Genoa, Italy.
With an arena beautifully situated on the waterfront at the western edge of Genoa and a varied and challenging sprint course, the second round of the World Cup got off to a fantastic start.
Both the women’s and men’s courses started in hilly woodland areas, posing difficult challenges in choosing the right route on the slopes.
The second half of the course was a short section of more classic urban sprint on narrow streets.
Aebersold wins by a large margin
Simona Aebersold completed the task almost perfectly and won by a huge margin of 28 seconds over her compatriot Natalia Gaemperle. Although both riders recorded almost identical split times over most of the course, Aebersold’s choice of a faster route to win number 16 was what decided the race of the day.
Simona Aebersold puts in another top performance at the World Cup. Photo: Christina Lindgren
Norway’s Ane Dirkon took the fastest route with confidence in the early stages to secure third place, her best individual result to date at an international competition.
Tove Alexandersson (Sweden), who placed fourth today, struggled further towards the tricky control 5, trying in vain to make up time on the final part of the course.
Victoria Hestad Bjornstad (Norway) and Venla Harju (Finland) completed the top six.
Return of the Fosser
In the men’s class, Kasper Vosser won by 21 seconds over Sweden’s Martin Legborn.
Fosser took his time early in the course, carefully studying the map, and by the time he was halfway through the course he had a comfortable 18-second lead.
Legborn took the slower route to control five, where he finished 37 seconds behind Fosser.
With a long stretch to control the number 9, Legborn took the fastest route, finishing around 15 seconds ahead of Vosser and third-placed Tomáš Klichda (Czech Republic).
Kaspar Vosser in the final metres of today’s sprint along the seafront in Genoa. Photo: Christina Lindgren
The win was a remarkable return for Vosser, who struggled to perform at full speed during last weekend’s World Cup in Switzerland.
Behind them, Legborn took control of the 18th with some quick route choices and clinched the battle for second place, finishing just five seconds ahead of Klihuda.
Switzerland’s Florian Attinger and Tino Polsini performed well in fourth and fifth place respectively, ahead of Miikka Kirmura, who finished in sixth place, 40 seconds behind Fosser.
Full results, GPS tracking and maps available on IOF LIVE
The second round of the World Cup begins tomorrow with a sprint relay on the eastern edge of Genoa.
Television coverage begins at 15:30 CEST (UTC+2), with the race starting 10 minutes later.
Watch the Sprint Relay on IOF TV