Norway’s Olaussen wins Long Distance race at WUC Orienteering

 Test of stamina in the Finnish countryside

KUORTANE — Day 4 at the World University Orienteering Championship started with a cloudy sky and cool air, but the Long Distance race was a challenge nonetheless, for the athletes. With legs that were already heavy from previous races, the athletes found themselves making a few mistakes during the race and there was no clear winner from the beginning.

In the men’s race, the standings kept changing until Switzerland’s Jonas Egger entered the competition. He was the fastest in every control and ran to the championship with a 31-second lead over the next athlete.

“My plan for the race worked well,” he said later. “It was nice to run with a flow through the forest. I didn’t expect the running in Kuortane to be so tough! I thought it would be more like southern Finland, but it’s more like Norway,” Egger added with a laugh.

After a very close finish in the Sprint Race, the women didn’t disappoint again, putting up another very exciting race. First Switzerland’s Paula Gross stopped the clock at 1:15:48, then Norwegian Marie Olaussen took the lead with 1:13:18 and finally Sweden’s Johanna Öberg ran to the second place with 1:13:59.

“My strategy was to focus on my technique and stay calm. The route was difficult, I did some mistakes in the end and it cost me maybe one minute, but I tried not to stress too much and it was okay,” said Olaussen about her race.

Olaussen won’t put her feet up just yet as she is also running in the final event, the Relay. She had also clocked a silver medal finish earlier in the week in the Middle Distance race. One thing is for sure: Olaussen can’t be counted out in the final event either.