Wednesday saw the start of the European Orienteering Championships 2022, with around 300 athletes chasing the medals with the Middle-Distance qualifier opening the competition in the forests around Põlula, North-eastern Estonia.
Returning to the forest disciplines after a heavy sprint focus for the first half of 2022 and also it is the first European Orienteering Championships forest competition since the 2018 Championships
Both men and women were divided into three qualification heats, where top 20 in each heat qualified for the Middle-distance finals on Saturday.
As expected, the vast majority of the favourites managed to qualify for the finals, with Andrine Benjaminsen (NOR), Marika Teini (FIN), and Simona Aebersold (SUI) winning their respective heat in the women’s qualification. Miika Kirmula (FIN), Gustav Bergman (SWE) and Tomas Krivda (CZE) took the wins in the men’s qualification.
For Great Britain, we saw Ralph Street run a great qualification race to finish 5th and qualify for the Men’s final and Grace Molloy (9th), Megan Carter-Davies (13th) and Fiona Bunn (15th) all qualifying into the Women’s final.
Yesterday afternoon (Thursday 4 August), the European Orienteering Championships saw a tough long-distance unfolding with Venla Harju (FIN) and Martin Regborn (SWE) being crowned as champions.
The race was run in low visibility in some parts and on tricky terrain, with many of the athletes unable to claim the perfect race. Unfortunately, Ralph Street was having a great race and looking strong for a top 20 finish, but unfortunately, mis punched at the drinks control.
In the women’s Megan was the highest placed athlete in 30th position.
Middle Qualification - GB Results
Joshua Dudley |
27th |
Megan Carter- Davies |
13th |
Sasha Chepelin |
30th |
Cecilie Andersen |
29th |
Ben Mitchell |
27th |
Rachel Brown |
30th |
Peter Molloy |
46th |
Grace Molloy |
9th |
Ralph Street |
5th |
Chloe Potter |
37th |
Peter Taylor-Bray |
39th |
Fiona Bunn |
15th |
|
|
Jo Shepherd |
37th |
Long Distance - GB Results
Peter Taylor-Bray |
52nd |
Megan Carter-Davies |
30th |
Ben Mitchell |
59th |
Grace Molloy |
46th |
Joshua Dudley |
61st |
Fiona Bunn |
64th |
Joe Woodley |
87th |
Cecile Andersen |
65th |
Sasha Chepelin |
88th |
Jo Shepherd |
72nd |
Ralph Street |
MP |
Chloe Potter |
87th |
Today (Friday) sees a rest day before the Middle Final on Saturday (6th August) and the Forest Relay on Sunday (7th August).
Photo credit: Tanel Meos (EOC 2022)
Follow all the action over the weekend from the European Orienteering Championships in Estonia.
Saturday 6 August: Middle Final - here.
Sunday 7 August: Relay - here.
The European Orienteering Championships 2022 website can be found here.
British Orienteering would like to take this opportunity to wish all the GB athletes over in Estonia all the very best for the remaining days at this competition.