World Cup Round 1 Results and Roundup

KO Sprint

The 2024 Orienteering World Cup got underway in Switzerland under very variable weather conditions. As the first runners in the men’s qualification got underway the sun was shining, but halfway through heavy rain made the short tricky courses even more complicated.

Due to the weather being so bad, the Womens start was delayed by 30mins and the rain eased, so that the rest of the qualification could go ahead.

Of the British Team, Ralph Street, Nathan Lawson, Rachel Brown and Cecilie Andersen made it out of the qualification heats into the quarter finals the following day.

Fortunately, the previous day’s heavy rain was nowhere to be seen, and the sun shone in central Olten that hosted all of the Saturday’s races.

Joey Hadorn (SUI) and Tove Alexandersson (SWE) took the first Orienteering World Cup wins of 2024, on a flat and fast urban terrain course in the old town centre. The semi-finals featured “runner choice”, leaving the athletes with 20 seconds before the start to decide one of three course options. It was at this point that Ralph Street along with Sweden’s Hanna Lundberg missed out on the top 2 to earn a place in the final.

Unfortunately, Cecilie Andersen, Nathan Lawson and Rachel Brown did not make it out of the competitive quarter finals, all with close finishes.

Individual Sprint

Sunday hosted the Individual Sprint, where athletes returned to the old city centre of Olten, after starting the course in Eastern Olten.

In an event won by Switzerland’s Natalia Gemperle and Sweden’s Emil Svensk Great Britain had 12 competitors on the start line. Unfortunately, Megan Carter Davies as reigning World Champion was still unwell and unable to compete.

After recently returning from studying in America, Grace Molloy was highest of the British Athletes in 14^th place, with Ralph Street leading the Men’s team in 16^th.

The team quickly moved on to Genoa, Italy where World Cup 2 will be taking place this weekend with another Individual Sprint on the Saturday and Sprint Relay and once again the British athletes will be hoping for good performances as the World Championships on home soil gets ever closer!

With thanks to our photographer at the event Robert Lines. A full gallery of all the images from World Cup Round 1 is available here. You can also watch interviews carried out by Edward Lines with the athletes post race via our Instagram or Facebook.