By Izzy Bryant
- WOC Schedule
- Final Preparations
- Words from the Team
- Live GPS Tracking and Results
- Racing Photo Dump
- Random Photo Dump
Hello readers!
The US WOC Team wrapped up an exciting week of racing in Flims-Laax Switzerland last Sunday. Read on to learn about how the team prepared for WOC, their thoughts on the races, and their goals for NAOC!
WOC Schedule
| Day | Event | Participating Athletes |
| 7/12 Wednesday | Middle Qualification | Thomas, Joe, Anton Ali, Evalin, Izzy |
| 7/13 Thursday | Long | Danny Ali, Syd |
| 7/14 Friday | REST DAY | |
| 7/15 Saturday | Middle Final | Anton Ali |
| 7/16 Sunday | Relay | Anton, Joe, Thomas Evalin, Izzy, Syd |
Final Preparations
Danny, Joe, and Anton arrived in Switzerland early to spend a few days training with Thomas at his family’s place in Davos. Thomas’s highlights from this time were all the orienteering sessions, the wine on the fourth of July, and the remote exam he had to write (in a tiny room, felt like Harry Potter). Oh and the most important highlight: Watching Joe eat a kebab and a whole pizza. Some words from Danny, “Starting near Davos with a rerun of part of the World Cup middle, we hit a few middle trainings before I started to focus more on the long. That rerun was the first orienteering I’ve done in a while due to injuries, so it took a couple of days for everything to come back.”
The team had all arrived to Flims by Monday, July 10th. Check out this shot of the place we were staying:
In the few days leading up to the first race we all did some prep on the model maps and courses from Training Camp #3 that were relevant to our individual race assignments.
Words from the Team
What were your goals for the championships?
Ali: “My reach goals were to be in the top 30 in the long and middle finals, or under 20 min back in the long or 10 min back in the middle. I also wanted to try to beat my own previous best placing in the middle, a 29th place in 2013. I didn’t make any of these goals, but am still really happy with my middle final in which I placed 36th- the second best placing of an American in a middle final.”
Izzy: “As this was my first WOC, my goals were pretty simple: 1) Navigate cleanly, 2) Remain calm and focused when you see competitors in the woods or when you can hear the announcer/spectators. I do feel like I achieved these goals, and I look forward to setting more competitive goals in the future!”
Thomas: “My goals were reaching the Middle Distance Final (fail), delivering a great performance at the relay (check) and having an epic time with the team (also check).”
Danny: “Honestly, just come back uninjured. I’m optimistic that this may not be my only WOC, so getting experience with elite competition, getting comfortable with the training regimen beforehand, and how to navigate something that isn’t the USA was all going to come naturally just by being out there.”
Joe: “Best American in middle (failed). Not feel like I totally let the team down in relay (succeeded).”
Evalin: “My goal was to have clean races and try to push myself physically. I’d had about 4 days in the terrain in June and hoped it would be enough to be familiar with it.”
How did you prepare for the unique challenges of WOC 2023 in the months leading up to the races?
Ali: “The most Swiss-focused workouts I did in the lead up to WOC were my hill intervals up and down a nearby old little ski hill. It was only 67m elevation gain, but pretty steep, especially on the black diamond trail. I did different workouts, some just up repeats, some up-down-up to train the downhill running as well. I also sometimes ran up the trails and sometimes in the woods, to do more terrain-relevant work.”
Izzy: “I incorporated more hill workouts into my training schedule, though I wish I had done even more!”
Thomas: “I participated in a lot of orienteering races in Switzerland and spent an extended weekend in Davos together with Evalin.”
Danny: “I wanted to get a lot more climb in, preferably to get back on track with my soft goal of 100km of climb by the end of 2023. Nagging ankle injuries and a new knee injury prevented me from entering the hardest, most physical stage of my workout plan and forced me to practice patiently waiting to be physically capable of running. It’s supremely unfortunate to have a downturn in physical and orienteering preparation in the month leading up to the World Champs, where feeling mentally and physical capable is imperative. That being said, finishing a WOC long without feeling 100% physically intact and prepared is, somehow, a confidence booster.”
Evalin: “I went to the test races and did some bonus training while there. I also tried to keep a consistent running plan to be physically fit but had an Achilles issue two weeks before which was a bit of a bummer.”
What model or training map was your favorite and why?
Ali: “I was so challenged by the training course on Crestasee. It is just such unique and super-difficult terrain with truly giant cliffs around almost every corner. I think the mapping made sense, with only the biggest features actually mapped, but with the density of features out there, it meant lots of things significant for making progress through the terrain didn’t make it onto the map. And so it also makes sense that they couldn’t actually use something quite as hard as Crestasee in WOC itself.”
Thomas: “Flüelapass! I haven‘t been there since quite some time und it was beautiful up there!”
Danny: “Scharmoin. Immaculate mountain, went during a break in the rain but got dumped on after 45 minutes. I was all by my lonesome because Thomas didn’t need to practice the long mountainside legs, so I got to hang out at my own pace and watch the clouds roll in from above and eventually cover the map in its entirety. It was everything I loved about the sport, I felt like a rugged adventurer tearing apart a wild, untraversed, killer mountain.”
Izzy: “My favorite model map was Salums, which was relevant for the Relay and the Long. The terrain was so beautiful with areas of grassy, open woods and steep alpine slopes. Evalin and I did this training together and it was great to talk out loud about what were were observing and how to approach each leg.”
Joe: “The model at the test race 1. It was technical, but not so demoralizing like Crestasee area.”
Evalin: “My favorite training map was Bot Fiena Trin. The terrain was so gorgeous and easy to run through.”
Describe your favorite control / best moment during your races.
Ali: “Much of my middle final was in a really good flow state. I made plans, correctly identified map with features and found the controls where I wanted them to be. It was great!”
Thomas: “Sprinting to the finish of the relay race. I never had so many people cheering for me.”
Danny: “Control 5 on the long was pretty well executed. I think I made all the right choices except for the very end attack (climbed slightly too much). Finding the most runnable sections on the steep hillsides was a bit of luck but a good amount of deliberate choice too. I hopped a fence next to a remote Swiss hut with an old couple in it who cheered me on when I hopped, and I was smiling for the next 20ish minutes.”
Joe: [In the relay] “Briefly thinking I was catching Canada, cuz they were wearing red and white, so charging fast. But turned out to be Croatia or something….”
Evalin: “During the middle qualifier I felt like I had pretty good flow and navigation.”
What was the most challenging leg you had?
Ali: “Finding a cliff coming in from the top on an extremely steep section in the long (#10) I didn’t find it on my first pass and had to relocate and come back to it from the far side. Two other runners were close to me here and I think I let my distance judgement get lazy, I really should have realized earlier I had gone too far.”
Thomas: “First leg in the middle qualification. Not only technical, but also difficult to keep the focus. Gustav Bergman caught up to me and instead of following him (as I should have done) I took a slightly other route choice to the second control and lost his back.”
Danny: “Control 14 on the long; my map was slightly ripped over the out-of-bounds area, so I couldn’t quite tell that the road itself was OOB. I was pushed into awful, awful woods: rocky as hell, incredibly slippery, and started swearing and fighting hard to maintain my height. Scraped my eye on a thorn, bashed both my knees, at one point started sliding really fast downhill….ugh. If I knew that the road was OOB then I definitely would’ve gone SW of the whole thing to get the ride through the undergrowth.”
Izzy: “I found control 8 on the relay to be the most challenging leg. It took me a long time to make a route choice decision, and I ended up picking a slow option. A better route would’ve been to stay further east where the incline was more gradual.”
Joe: “A few different legs on the middle (like #9) where I knew where I was, but saw one thing that didn’t look right, and it really slowed me down with second guessing.”
Evalin: “The most challenging leg was during the relay on the long leg over the hills [#8]. I wasn’t sure about the route choice and also struggled with the hills. I made a small mistake by going down the wrong side of a spur and having to climb back up.”
What did you do on your rest day(s)? Generally, how did you spend your down time?
Ali: “Downtime was going on adventures with or otherwise hanging out with my husband and two kids. We went swimming in Caumasee before it was fully embargoed and we spent a lot of time at the Kids Freestyle Academy Flims where there was an indoor mini pump track for bikes, scooters and skateboards, some fun slides me lots of trampolines!”
Thomas: “Just chillin‘, watching the other races, Wimbledon and Tour de France.”
Danny: “Some ankle strength and mobility stuff here and there, a healthy amount of map reading, lots and lots of Tour De France and Wimbledon, and, of course, teaching an online course.”
Izzy: “We spent some evenings playing card games including Hearts, Under 10, and Poker. Playing cards is one of my favorite ways to pass time and hang out with the team. On two different days we went to the nearby river and soaked our tired legs in the cool running water – it was dreamy!”
Joe: “Watching Wimbledon and the Tour. Never followed either of those sports before, but got kinda into it.”
Evalin: “On the rest days I spectated the long and middle final, as well as going on another map and going for a dip in a river!”
For those that attended the banquet, which team had the best outfit?
Thomas: “Definitely the Lithuanians (as nuns and monks)”
Danny: “The Czech team, who dressed up as Wimbledon players. A whatever outfit by itself, but with the addition of bringing a tennis racket each to the party…that’s like our entire budget.”
Izzy: “France and New Zealand both dressed up as cows, the Kiwis even had functioning bells around their necks! Great choice considering the location.”
Joe: “Tennis people. Czech I think?”
Evalin: “The best outfit in my opinion was the Spanish team- they were dressed as ladybugs and bumble bees!”
For those attending NAOC, what are your goals for the races? Which race are you looking forward to most and why?
Ali: “Not even sure! But I’m really looking forward to running in nice open Ponderosa forest with not-as-steep slopes!!”
Danny: “Hang within a minute of the leaders in the sprint, win a few splits on the middle, and podium on the long. Definitely looking forward to the long the most, I think it’s going to be deceptively difficult to maintain contact at speed.”
Izzy: “I’m looking forward to the middle the most! The middle is my favorite discipline I’m excited to test my skills in tricky terrain.”
Joe: “Goal to win one of the 3 days. And beat Canada overall of course. Really hoping to do well on middle, want to redeem myself with being able to push more in this terrain.”
Evalin: “I am most looking forward to the sprint because I prefer them over forest. I’m aiming to make the podium :)”
Live GPS Tracking and Results
Racing Photo Dump
(Photo creds: Evalin Brautigam, Thomi Studhalter, and Remy Steinegger)
Random Photo Dump
US National Orienteering Team 