Category: National Team

Team USA At WOC

Men’s middle distance final. Click on map for larger image
Åsne in action in the middle distance. 
Anton sprinting to the finish.

The biggest event of the international racing scene, the World Orienteering Championships, took place in Norway in the middle of August. Team USA had some outsanding performances. Anton Salmenkylä (CSU) finished 37th in the middle distance final, just over 8 minutes behind the world champion Olav Lundanes of Norway. This was the best U.S. men’s middle distance result at WOC of all time, improving on Brian May’s 44th place from WOC 2003. The men’s relay team (Morten Jorgensen, Anton Salmenkylä, Greg Ahlswede) ran very well, finishing as the 20th nation – the best U.S. men’s result since 1991, when considerably fewer countries participated in WOC.

Morten in the relay (photos by Matias Salonen)
Ali in the long distance

The women’s team also had strong results, led by Alison Crocker’s 41st place in the long distance and Åsne Skram Tromborg’s 49th place in the middle distance. As a result of the U.S. women’s successful performances during WOC, Team USA has been promoted to “Tier 2 nation” status, meaning that we will be able to field at least two women in the long distance final in the next forest WOC (2021 in Czechia). Note that WOC in 2020 in Denmark will only be contested in the sprint distances, with subsequent WOCs alternating between “forest” and “urban” every other year.

You can see full WOC results and maps here.

US Team Results at World Orienteering Championships 2019

Middle Qualification, August 13

  • MEN
    • Heat 1
      1. Olav Lundanes (NOR), 24:20; 2. Daniel Hubmann (SUI), 25:12; 3. Oleksandr Kratov (UKR), 26:25; 20. Anton Salmenkylä 30:25; 29. Michael Svoboda (CAN), 37:39; 35. Jordan Laughlin, 44:41
    • Heat 2
      1. Lucas Basset (FRA), 24:49; 2. Magne Daehli (NOR), 25:40; 3. J.V. Guildys (LIT), 25:53; 27. Robert Graham (CAN), 33:45, 30. Eric Bone, 34:41
    • Heat 3
      1. Matthias Kyburz (SUI), 25:21; Gustav Bergman (SWE), 25:38; Aleksi Niemi (FIN), 26:17; 23. Jan Erik Naess (CAN), 31:39, 34. Greg Ahlswede, 37:54
       
  • WOMEN
    • Heat 1
      1. Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg (NOR), 28:59; 2. Natalia Gemperly (RUS), 29:28; 3. Evely Kaasiku (EST), 30:13; 23. Emma Waddington (CAN), 39:27, 33. Sydney Fisher, 61:14
    • Heat 2
      1. Kamilla Olaussen (NOR), 29:16; 2. Lina Strand (SWE), 29:23; 3. Marika Teini (FIN), 29:57; 24. Åsne Skram Trømborg, 39:39; 27. Pia Blake (CAN), 41:56
    • Heat 3
      1. Cecilie Friberg Klysner (DEN), 28:45; 2. Tove Alexandersson (SWE), 28:51; 3. Marianne Andersen (NOR), 29:20; 14. Emily Kemp (CAN), 34:58; 29. Alison Campbell, 49:40; 32. Jennifer MacKeigan (CAN), 71:26

Commentary from Boris Granovskiy (U.S. National Team member):

The 2019 World Orienteering Championships (WOC) got underway today in Ostfold, Norway with the middle distance qualification race.

This year’s WOC is the first forest-only WOC since before the introduction of the sprint discipline in 2001. Forest and sprint WOCs are set to alternate annually starting this year.

In the middle distance qualifiers, top 15 competitors in each heat qualified for the finals outright. Additionally, the top runner from each country that did not have an automatic qualifier also made it through to the finals, up to a total of 60 finalists.

The top U.S. performance of the day was by Anton Salmenkylä (CSU / Helsingin Suunnistajat), who finished 20th in his heat, less than 2 minutes from qualifying outright. He will race in the middle distance finals on Friday along with Åsne Skram Trømborg, who had the best U.S. result on the women’s side, finishing 24th in her heat.

The full results can be found here, and the U.S. results are summarized below.

WOC continues tomorrow with the Long Distance final. Racing for the U.S. are Jordan Laughlin, Morten Jorgensen, Syd Fisher, and Ali Crocker. You can follow the races live here. Go Team USA!

Plc    Name                  Heat       Time    Time behind leader
20     Anton Salmenkylä       Men 1     30:25        +06:05
24     Åsne Skram Trømborg  Women 2     39:39        +10:23
29     Alison Campbell      Women 3     49:40        +20:55
30     Eric Bone              Men 2     34:41        +09:52
33     Sydney Fisher        Women 1     61:14        +32:15
34     Gregory Ahlswede       Men 3     37:54        +12:33
35     Jordan Laughlin        Men 1     44:41        +20:21

Long Final, August 14

  • MEN
    • 1. Olav Lundanes (NOR), 1:30:09
      2. Kasper Fosser (NOR), 1:31:48
      3. Daniel Hubmann (SUI), 1:33:07
      59. Morten Jorgensen, 2:07:18 (+37:09)
      60. Jordan Laughlin, 2:09:10 (+39:01)
      68. Will Critchley (CAN), 2:24:39 (+54:30)
  • WOMEN
    • 1. Tove Alexandersson (SWE), 1:09:00
      2. Lina Strand (SWE), 1:15:16
      3. Simona Aebersold (SUI), 1:15:50
      41. Ali Crocker, 1:37:27 (+28:27)
      62. Syd Fisher, 2:10:51 (+1:01:51)
      (Canada’s Emma Waddington dns)

Commentary from Boris:

On Wednesday the first medals of WOC 2019 were handed out, and long distance world champions were crowned. For the fourth year in a row on both the men’s and women’s sides, the champions are Olav Lundanes (Norway) and Tove Alexandersson (Sweden). Olav won an exciting close race, defeating teammate (and still junior!) Kaspar Fosser by 1:39, while Tove won in dominant fashion, finishing a whole 6:16 ahead of silver medalist Lina Strand (Sweden).

Team USA had four competitors, and four solid performances. On the women’s side, Ali Crocker held the lead when she finished and ended up in 41st place. Sydney Fisher ended up 62nd in her first WOC long distance race. Among the men, Morten Jorgensen finished just ahead of Jordan Laughlin, as they took places 59 and 60.

You can read the race report on World Of O, and see the full results on the WOC website.

Follow Team USA on Facebook (@usorienteeringteam) or Instagram, as they have been great at posting photos and videos direct from the races!

Middle Final, August 16

  • MEN
    • 1. Olav Lundanes (NOR), 34:18
      2. Gustav Bergman (SWE), 34:29
      3. Magne Daehli (NOR), 34:47
      37. Anton Salmenkylä, 42:29 (+8:11)
      42. Jan Erik Naess (CAN), 43:15 (+8:57)
  • WOMEN
    • 1. Tove Alexandersson (SWE), 38:20
      2. Simona Aebersold (SUI), 38:25
      3. Natalia Gemperle (RUS), 40:05
      26. Emily Kemp (CAN), 44:48 (+6:28)
      49. Åsne Skram Trømborg, 55:47 (+17:27)

Commentary from Boris:

Today at WOC was the middle distance final. The story at the top of the leaderboard was the same as for the long distance, with Olav Lundanes (Norway) and Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) becoming double gold medalists, albeit by much smaller margins than on Wednesday. Lundanes held off Sweden’s Gustav Bergman by 11 seconds, while Tove had just five seconds to spare in her win over Switzerland’s Simona Aebersold. (Places 3-7 were about 1:30 behind Simona, but within 7 seconds of each other!)

On the women’s side, Team USA was represented by  Åsne Skram Trømborg, who was in the lead early on and finished in an excellent 49th place. Running later in the day, Anton Salmenkylä did even better, finishing 37th, just over 8 minutes behind the world champion. This was the best U.S. men’s middle distance result at WOC of all time, improving on Brian May’s 44th place from WOC 2003. Congratulations Anton and Åsne on some great races! You can see full results here and maps and route choices here.

Tomorrow WOC concludes with the relay races. The U.S. teams, in running order, are as follows:

Women
Alison Crocker
Åsne Skram Trømborg
Alison Campbell

Men
Morten Jørgensen
Anton Salmenkylä
Greg Ahlswede

You can see the full start list and follow the race live here. Go Team USA!!

Relay, August 17

  • WOMEN
    • 1. Sweden, 1:35:49 (Strand, Alexandersson, Ohlsson)
      2. Switzerland, 1:35:53 (Hauswirth, Aebersold, Jakob)
      3. Russian Federation, 1:36:56 (Rudnaya, Riabkina, Gemperle)
      18. Canada, 1:58:24 (+22:35) (Waddington, Kemp, Blake)
      22. United States, 2:14:41 (+38:52) (Crocker, Trømborg, Campbell)
  • MEN
    • 1. Sweden, 1:40:42 (Runesson, Svensk, Bergman)
      2. Finland, 1:42:16 (Niemi, Kuukka, Kurmula)
      3. France, 1:42:25 (Rio, Tranchand, Basset)
      20. United States, 2:01:54 (+21:12) (Jørgensen, Salmenkylä, Ahlswede)
      29. Canada, 2:18:48 (+38:06) (Naess, Graham, Svoboda)

2019 US Team to WOC Announced

Below are the selections for this year’s World Orienteering Championships in Østfold, Norway, August 12–17. We saw some great performances at the Team Trials at West Point, and we hope all the athletes are able to stay/get healthy and train well. for those of you who didn’t make the team this year, please keep training and competing. I enjoyed watching you all race (except Greg limping into the Long finish).

Thank you to West Point (USMAOC) for hosting a great Trials, and to my fellow Review Panel Members. This year’s Review Panel (RP) consisted of Peggy Dickison, Tori Campbell, Will Hawkins, and Glen Tryson. If you have any questions, please direct them to Peggy and/or Erin Schirm, depending on your question.

Men

  • Greg Ahlswede, DVOA
  • Eric Bone, COC
  • Morten Jørgensen, KOK (Kristiansand orienteringsklubb, Norway)
  • Jordan Laughlin, HOC
  • Anton Salmenkylä, CSU / Helsingen (Finland)

Women

  • Alison Campbell, DVOA
  • Ali Crocker, CROC
  • Syd Fisher, WPOC
  • Åsne (Aasne) Skram Trømborg, NTNUI (Norway)

Race assignments

Middle Qualification, Tues, Aug 13 (Final on Aug 16):
Anton, Greg, Eric, Jordan | Syd, Åsne, Alison

Long, Wed, Aug 14:
Morten, Jordan | Ali, Sydney

Forest Relay, Sat, Aug 17:
Anton, Greg, Morten | Ali, Åsne, Alison

Review Panel notes:

Pavlina Brautigam qualified for the Middle by finishing second at the Team Trials, but has declined the automatic selection.

We have chosen to not name any overall team alternates.

In the announcement for race assignments , numbers in parentheses represent placing at Team Trials in the relevant discipline. “Performance” indicates the athlete either petitioned or was injured during Team Trials and was selected based on performance in National Ranking Events, World Ranking Events, or other events with a highly competitive field.

In selecting the best athletes for each race, the Review Panel considered automatic qualifications, strengths, and maximum number of races each individual could race competitively. For the remaining positions after automatic qualifications, the Review Panel considered whether petitioner or injured athlete’s body of performance indicated higher potential than another athlete’s documented team trials performance prior to naming an athlete based on performance.

Asterisks indicate we leave the selection of the men’s relay reserve (if needed) and the final call on Alison’s injury recovery for the WOC relay to the chair of the ESC, to be made during WOC as necessary. We wish all our athletes strong, healthy training in the upcoming months. Go, Team USA!

2018 OUSA Competitive Award Winners Announced

The annual OUSA Competitive Awards are given to top American orienteers in several categories for outstanding competitive performance over the course of the past year. The Awards Committee members are Susan Grandjean, Boris Granovskiy, Linda Kohn, Patrick Nuss, and Ken Walker Sr.

This is the ninth year for these awards, and the fourth year that Orienteering USA members had the opportunity to vote for the candidates. The committee thanks all those who submitted nominations and who took the time to vote for your top OUSA athletes. We had a near-record number of votes cast this year! The vote totals were used as the main component in final award selection.

The Orienteer, Junior, and Comet of the Year award winners each receive a $500 travel grant to help them continue to improve their skills. Additionally, the Honorable Mentions in the three individual categories will receive $100 travel grants.

The Awards Committee would like to thank two anonymous donors for their generous contributions to the travel grants.

Previous Competitive Award winners

Here are the 2018 winners and recipients of honorable mentions (HM). Congratulations to all the winners!

Orienteer of the Year

Awarded to the best U.S. orienteer in 2018, based on results at national and international events

Greg Ahlswede (DVOA / Escondite Nature Sport, Spain)

Greg was among the very best U.S. orienteers at almost every race this year, with top-3 finishes at NAOC (3rd – long, 2nd – middle, 2nd – sprint) and at the U.S. Champs (2nd – long, middle, sprint).

Greg also finished 54th in the WOC long distance final and anchored Team USA to NAOC relay victory.

Honorable Mentions

Alison Crocker (CROC)

Ali made a strong return to the world elite in 2018, finishing 36th in the sprint and 40th in the middle at WOC, Team USA’s best two individual performances.

She also exchanged in 10th place after the first leg of the WOC relay and anchored Team USA to relay victory at NAOC. A win in the long distance at NAOC earned Ali an automatic qualifying spot for WOC 2019.

Anton Salmenkyla (CSU / Helsingin Suunnistajat, Finland)

In his first year as a senior, Anton distinguished himself by qualifying for the middle distance finals at the European Championships in Switzerland, finishing 48th against an extremely strong field. Other highlights include 55th place in the middle distance at WOC and a gold in the middle distance at NAOC, earning an automatic spot for WOC 2019.

Also at NAOC, Anton was part of the relay-winning US Team and finished 3rd in the sprint and 6th in the long distance.

Junior Orienteer of the Year

Awarded to the best U.S. orienteer in 2018 under the age of 21, based on results at national and international events

Tyra Christopherson (COC)

In her final year as a junior, Tyra qualified for the senior WOC team for the second year in a row and was perhaps the top U.S. junior at JWOC, where she finished 66th, 63rd, and 72nd in the three individual distances.

At NAOC, Tyra anchored the dominant U.S. junior women’s relay team to victory and added a sprint gold, middle distance silver, and long distance bronze in F-20 to her collection.

Honorable Mention

AJ Riley (DVOA)

Though still an M-18 runner, AJ had a dominant year in North American racing, sweeping the individual golds at NAOC in M18. He is ranked 1st in the U.S. in M-18 and 4th in M-20 and is the reigning U.S. High School Varsity Champion.

AJ tried his hand at racing against the seniors at the U.S. Champs, winning a bronze medal in sprint in M21.

Comet of the Year

Awarded to the US orienteer who has made the most progress in their orienteering results during the 2018 season

Keegan Harkavy (CSU/NEOC)

As just a 15-year-old, Keegan made the jump from the Orange course to Green in M-18 and finished the year ranked 2nd in that category.

He also earned the bronze medal at the U.S. High School Varsity Championships, and had top-10 finishes at the Billygoat and the Harriman Fall Goat races.

Honorable Mention

Sydney Fisher (SMOC)

Sydney improved from a ranking of 8th to 4th in the F21+ category over the course of the year, raising her OUSA score from 74.75 to 78.85. She was named to the 2018 USA team for the first time as a development member. After training hard through the spring, she came in 3rd in points at her first team trials and was named an alternate to the WOC team for the first time.

She also recorded her first solo overall wins in Rogaining with wins at Green Corn Moon (6 hr) and Legend of the Dogman (18 hr) and earned a silver medal at the U.S. Champs in the long distance.

Team of the Year

Awarded for the best team competitive performance during the 2018 season

U.S. Senior Team at NAOC

Team USA went all the way to the Yukon, Canada and took the Björn Kjellström Cup back from the Canadians. This was a true team effort, as four different team members (Ali Crocker, Tori Borish, Morten Jorgensen, and Anton Salmenkyla) winning individual gold medals, and both the men’s and women’s relay teams claiming golds as well.

Fifteen different competitors contributed to Team USA’s victory.

Honorable Mention

U.S. JWOC Men’s Relay Team

Composed of Thomas Laraia, David Runde, and Martin Borge Heir, the team finished as the 15th country, just 17 minutes behind winning Norway.

This is the best-ever U.S. men’s relay finish at JWOC, improving on last year’s 18th place.

Competition Awards eligibility

To be awarded any of the individual awards a nominee has to be a USA citizen, and must be a member of Orienteering USA in good standing during the current calendar year. Additionally, for the Junior Orienteer of the Year award, the nominee has to be no older than 20 at the end of the calendar year. To be selected for the Orienteering Team of the Year award, all team members have to be Orienteering USA members and represent the U.S. or an OUSA chartered club in competition.

Competitors in any forms of orienteering are eligible, including Foot O, Ski O, Mountain Bike O, Trail O, and Rogaining.

The award winners were selected by a committee appointed by Orienteering USA from a list of candidates nominated by members of the U.S. and international orienteering communities, with voting by OUSA members again guiding the selection this year.

2019 U.S. National Orienteering Team Announced

We are excited to announce the U.S. National Orienteering Team members for 2019:

Elite:

Greg Ahlswede, Giacomo Barbone, Eric Bone, Tori Borish, Alison Crocker, Morten Jørgensen, Jordan Laughlin, Anton Salmenkyla

Performance:

Alison Campbell, Will Enger, Sydney Fisher

Development:

Brigitte Bordelon, Siri Christopherson, Tyra Christopherson, Martin Heir, Michael Laraia, Asne Tromborg

According to OUSA Rules of Competition section G.1.6.2, Senior Team selection is based on:

a. The results of national and international competition.
b. Dedication to the sport of Orienteering.
c. Demonstration of sporting attitude.

From the OUSA website, Criteria for Selection to the Senior Team:

Selection is based on those who submitted Athlete Agreements, indicating their desire to be named to the Sr. Team. From that pool, National meet and international M/F-21+ performances during the preceding year were used to divide the members into Elite, Performance and Development teams.

  • Senior Elite Team — athletes who consistently produce top-level U.S. results in F21/M21.
  • Senior Performance Team — athletes who frequently produce strong U.S. results in F21/M21, at or near the level of the Elite Team.
  • Senior Development Team — athletes who have demonstrated potential to reach Performance/Elite level with further training and experience.