Ski-O 2018

Sweden's Tove Alexandersson - overall World Cup winner - in full flight. Find more images.. Photo John Lazenby

Last Updated: 14.Mar.2018

Over 60 Ski-Orienteering (Ski-O) World Cup athletes and 120 world masters took to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center trails last week for four days of racing. This was by far the most international race that the Center has hosted, and the last time the Ski-O World Cup raced in the U.S. was in 2012 in Truckee, California. With 16 countries' flags flying high above the start and finish hill all week, the ski venue was transformed into an international arena. While walking around the start area, Nordic center, and wax trailers, more foreign languages were heard than English making for a unique week for anyone skiing at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center.

Skiers started off with the sprint race on Tuesday with Andrey Lamov from Russia winning the men’s race and Tove Alexandersson from Sweden taking the women’s race. In an interview with Swedish Orienteering, Alexadersson said, "I have done a very good race. Really no mistakes at all.” When asked what is the difference between skiing orienteering in the United States and Sweden, she responded, “This is like it is at home. It was really good course, And it was fun, very intensive orienteering all the way.” Craftsbury Academy graduate, Melanie Sergiev, whose parents are both Bulgarian, raced for Bulgaria, placing 20th.

Sweden's Erik Rost won the next day’s middle distance race, and Alexandersson repeated as the women’s champion. The win sealed the overall World Cup title for Alexandersson. She noted that the ice and low snow on some of the wood’s trails made for challenging conditions. “The forest is dense. It has been difficult to ski while reading the map…but I successfully kept the equipment intact.” The second place women’s skiers Magdalaena Ollson said “The first half of the course went really well. Unfortunately, I made several small mistakes after the exchange. It was extremely intensive orienteering. We had 27 controls, and it really meant to stay with the map all the time.” Sergiev placed 22nd.

Racing conditions for the long distance mass start race on Friday changed from icy crust to soft powder after 6-8 inches of new snow. Rost won for the second day making him the over Men’s World Cup Champion. In the women’s race, the apparent top two finishers ran into the potential confusion that can occur in ski orienteering. Alexandersson crossed the finish line in first, but then realized she missed one of the last controls. Mariya Kechkina (Russia) was the 2nd finisher, but somewhere along the course she had mis-punched one of the controls. Both skiers were disqualified giving the victory to Finland’s Saila Kosklea. Racers exchanged maps twice during the event.

Races concluded on Saturday with mixed gender relays with each racer skiing 3 laps. The World Cup team title was on the line with only 2 points separating the top 5 teams. Team Sweden 1 with Kost and Alexandersson were the obvious favorites, but as the men completed the first lap, there was no sign of Kost. Bulgaria, Russia, and Norway went through first. What the commentator and crowd forgot was that there are 6 different maps for all 6 legs. Kost said, "Both I and Tove had a long fork on our first legs. Then I made a mistake on the start leg, so we were almost two minutes behind (after the 2nd of 6 legs), but we knew we had a short fork coming up.” They went onto win easily ahead of Russia, Sweden 2, and Finland giving Sweden the overall world cup team title.

The World Master’s Ski Orienteering Championships took place concurrently with the world cup races. Over 120 skiers from 30 years of age to 80 plus raced in their respective age classes. Most the winners were from Switzerland, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Norway, and the Czech Republic.

Men’s Sprint:
1) Andrey Lamov, Russia (12:47) 2) Audun Hemidl, Norway 3) Jorgan Madslien, Norway
Women’s Sprint:
1) Tove Alexandersson, Sweden (11:37) 2) Mariya Kechkina, Russia 3) Salla Koskella, Finland
Men’s Middle Distance:
1) Eric Rost, Sweden (45:00) 2) Linus Rapp, Sweden 3) Jorgan Madslien, Norway
Women’s Middle:
1) Tove Alexandersson, Sweden (46:08) 2) Magdalena Olsson, Sweden 3) Tatyana Oborina, Russia
Men’s Long Distance:
1) Erik Rost, Sweden, (1.27.00) 2) Lars Moholdt, Norway 3) Eduard Khrennikov, Russia
Women’s Long Distance:
1) Salla Koskela, Finland, (1.24:14) 2) Tatyana Oborina, Russia 3) Evelina Wickbom, Sweden

For detailed results of the masters' races visit Bullitttiming.com.