IMG 5944Today, the selections from the Swiss Orienteering Team for WOC in Latvia were presented. I'm going to run the Middle and will be the substitute for Sprint, Relay and Long. Even though I'm a bit disappointed to "only" run the Middle at the moment, I will of course try to make the best of it! 




After a pretty tough period at school, I was travelling almost directly from the last exam to Latvia to run the testraces for the World Champs in August. After a good physical training period, I knew that my shape was ok, but I was not very sure about my mental and technical preparation. Even though I didn't do a lot of trainings in Latvia, I felt surprisingly comfortable in the Latvian cities and forests and could run three very stable races.
In the Sprint in Limbazi, I had some troubles to find the "sprint feeling" in my head and to push my legs, but I could keep it together technically and got 4th.
In the Middle I got a nice 2nd place. It felt good from the beginning and I could really press down the gas pedal, but also slow down in the green and tricky parts. 
In the Long, I found a good rhythm and felt physically strong until the end, but struggled on two longer legs, where I took the wrong route and lost too much time there. I got 4th again. 
All in all, I was positively surprised about my performances and also about how nice the terrain in Latvia was! :) That's why I'm looking forward to spend some more time of my summer holidays out there in the forest!

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Photos: Ojars Millers, Janis Ligats