My first World Cup points
At the beginning of the week, I happily returned from Borås, Sweden. As a newcomer in the experienced Swiss World Cup team, I was really looking forward to this adventure. It was difficult to estimate what I would be able to achieve in the races in this densely packed field full of world-class athletes. The fact that I reached the top 40 in both the individual and knockout sprint and thus even score some World Cup points was a great success for me. Especially because the terrain and the type of sprint orienteering was not exactly suited for us Swiss. I am particularly happy about the knockout qualification, where I came in 6th, only 16 seconds behind, and was able to secure a spot in the quarterfinal. In the end, however, I was beaten in this quarterfinal. In the final sprint relay, I was a substitute runner for Switzerland, and since they didn't need me, I was able to run in a mixed team with Sweden and finish in 16th place.
I learnt a lot this week and took away many positive experiences. My debut in the World Cup was very solid and I will continue to work hard to be a bit further up the result list next time.
Next weekend's sprint championships will be the end of my sprint focus and from then on, I will focus forest orienteering again. Ideally, the European Championships in Estonia and the Student World Championships in Switzerland in August will be the next international competitions on my schedule. Together with the exams at ETH, that will make for a busy summer.
Tino Polsini, 3 June 2022