JWOC 2022 report
Credit: Suzan Luzir
We recently co-funded sending the GBR team to the rescheduled Junior World Orienteering Championships in Portgual. Here we bring a report on the competition, reproduced from the British Orienteering news article.
Last weekend saw the completion of JWOC. Postponed first because of Covid and again this July because of fire danger, the three forest races were able to go ahead in the northern part of Portugal with 32 nations taking part (127 men and 117 women).
There was no seeding in the JWOC start lists, and the qualification race that is usually a part of the JWOC programme was removed to allow for 3 races in a compact weekend.
The mixed open and forested terrain had lots of bare rock together with crags and boulders, which allowed the planner to set tricky legs diagonally across rocky slopes. Matthew Gooch and Peter Molloy both had good races to finish inside the top 30 (21st and 26th respectively). In the women's Miia Roller and Imogen Pieters finished close together in 43rd/ 44th. After the race Peter Molloy said:
Overall, I was pleased with my performance - my navigation felt secure and I could move well through the terrain, despite the slippy rocks! Although the result is not what I wanted, I’m really excited for tomorrow’s relay and am looking forward to uniting once again with Matt and Flurry.
Saturday hosted the Relay's which saw Sweden dominate both races and win both titles. Peter Molloy was the early leader in the men’s race, handing over with a 6-second lead to Matthew Gooch and Flurry Grierson. The final result for both the Men's and Women's team was a credible 10th nation.
The final day of JWOC was the Long which took place in full, damp and misty conditions and saw Hannah Lundberg take her third gold of the event, beating the estimated time by almost 2mins and Sweden taking gold in the Men's with Noel Braun winning by 17 seconds. There was less rock in the western than the eastern part of the terrain, and the courses were characterized by long legs – one for women and two for men – plus a lot of short legs towards the end including a tricky circuit after the arena passage. Peter Molloy carried on a great run of form finishing inside the top 20, in 17th place. Both Flurry Grierson and Sam Griffin finished inside the top 40. In the women's Miia was again the highest placed British athlete in 34th.
This draws the long International season to an end for the Juniors and thank you to the Orienteering Foundation for their support to the athletes which made the return trip to Portugal possible.