And again two times Gold for Switzerland in the Middle Distance Race

Simona Aebersold (Switzerland) captured her second title in an outstanding manner at the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Switzerland in a distinctly demanding middle distance race. After winning two silver medals in the sprint and the long distance, Thomas Curiger crowned his impressive JWOC-performance with gold. With 10 individual medals the hosting country is already deemed the dominating nation at these 27th Junior World Orienteering Championships in the Lower Engadin.

With a victory from start to finish and a huge lead of 1:50 over the surprising second-place finisher from Poland, Aleksandra Hornik, the only 18-year-old Swiss woman demonstrated her unparalleled class.

„I have always and repetitively come to short security stops to be able to clearly understand the map in this exceedingly detailed terrain”, stated Aebersold in the finish. “I absolutely also wanted to be successful in a forest race. Therefore, this gold medals means even a little more than the title in the sprint,” explained the young Swiss her success at the last of the individual races of this JWOC-week. The 20-year-old Aleksandra Hornik from Poland made for a huge surprise in coming in for the silver medal. “My very focussed attitude helped me to achieve one of my best competitions of my life despite a few minor insecurities”, explained Hornik her most important success of her past 4 JWOC-participations. 21 seconds down from silver, the Swede Johanna Öberg won the third bronze medal for Sweden. Three small mistakes cost the 20-year-old Swede another silver medal after having come in 2nd place 2015 in the middle distance.

The 20-year-old Thomas Curiger could celebrate a convincing victory. The Swiss covered the course almost error-free. Only two somewhat slower route choices to control 5 and 8 endangered temporarily the winning of his first international gold medal. Curiger demonstrated an impressive JWOC-performance with two second-place finishes and, at closure, the gold medal. The same testimony of achievement shows Joey Hadorn. Only 49 seconds down from the winner, the Swiss also won the silver award despite two mistakes to controls 4 and 5 after his two gold medals in sprint and the long distance. Audun Heidal improved by two places compared to his result at the last JWOC in his home country of Norway. An error-free run gave him the bronze medal. The big loser was once again the double world champion Olli Ojanaho (19) from Finland placing 19th. The co-favourite lost one and a half minute alone going to the 8th control.

The Middle Final race of JWOC 2016 was held in an exceedingly challenging alpine area with detail-rich contour relief between Susch and Lavin at 1500 m altitude. Rocky features, as well as pine and spruce forests and small open areas in this small-scale terrain sector demanded high flexibility and physical top performances.

The 27th Junior World Orienteering Championships in Scuol (Switzerland) will be concluding tomorrow, Friday, with the relays above Tarasp. As was the case for the middle distance areas, this terrain will be used for the first time for an orienteering competition.  59 men’s and 47 women’s teams will be at the start for a spectacular final race.

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Women's podium: Aleksandra Hornik (2., Poland), Simona Aebersold (1., Switzerland) and Johanna Öberg (3., Sweden) (from left to right)

Simona Aebersold

Men's podium: Joey Hadorn (2., Switzerland), Thomas Curiger (1., Switzerland) and Audun Haimdal (3., Norway)

Thomas Curiger

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