In late 2021 / early 2022 sprint WOC, specifically WOC2024, was named as an event that ONZ could target to really make a mark on the world stage. WOC2022 was thought of as a stage on the way to that goal, although visa and covid problems rather upset the apple cart for that one. Even in 2024, injuries, illness and simple unavailability of some athletes made things look quite tenuous for the first part of the year. That being the case the overall result of 3 top 10 places, 1 top twenty, 2 Knock-out quarter-finals and 1 semi-final has to be regarded a success.

Individual sprint
WOC2024 started with the individual sprint and qualification and results can probably be said to be as expected. Whereas Tim, Laura, Joseph and Lizzie were comfortable qualifiers, it was always going to be a hard ask for Ronan, Nathan and Zara, all at their first sprint WOC, to make the cut, and so it proved. The sprint final, later in the day, was, however, generally a resounding success for NZL, with the highly complex and hilly maze of streets, alleyways, graveyards etc in old Edinburgh suiting the technical sprinters over the fast runners. Pick of the results was Joseph, who stormed in to the finish off a relatively early start time and sat in the top 6 until Tim, with almost the last start time, nudged him off the podium. With Yvette Baker presenting the medals it would have been wonderful to see 2 Kiwis on the podium. Lizzie, in 19th, was also only about 20 seconds off the top 10 (in 19th), missing largely due to a slower long route choice near the end of the course. Laura’s 37th is still an excellent result although she will rue a costly error immediately after the map flip.

Sprint relay
The sprint relay 2 days later saw NZL achieve its best ever placing of 10th at the finish in the Hearts Football Academy’s indoor stadium on the edge of Heriot-Watt University campus.. Laura took the first leg – always difficult to predict as many teams have only 1 strong woman runner and put them on the first leg – and came in in 22nd place. Joseph then put in another stunner of a run, catching up 7 places to put NZL in 15th place. Although Tim, on leg 3, did not improve the placing he caught up a lot of time, putting Lizzie, on the anchor leg, in a position to pass another 5, albeit aided by the disqualification of Sweden and Denmark.

Knock-out Sprint
Another day’s rest/recovery, and then the KO sprint. Wester Hailes housing estate, venue for the qualification, finishing in the picturesquely named, if not located, Canal View Primary School, reminded me of an area of old Soviet style blocks that NZL trained on in Estonia in 2017! Notwithstanding the location, Tim and Laura sailed through qualification. After a heavy collision with a Canadian runner Lizzie squeaked through in 12th place in her group, but sadly, planning ahead, Joseph inadvertently missed a control and lost his chance at the KO rounds. Ronan, Nathan and Zara, this time joined in qualifying by Briana, again were well off qualification. The KO rounds again returned to old Edinburgh with more complex alleys etc. made even harder by multiple artificial barriers. Lizzie and Laura both went out at the QF stage, lacking enough finishing speed, after 4 tough races already, to progress in mass start races with no forking. Tim made it comfortably to the SF stage but, in a race that saw a major route choice split in the field, failed to repeat his final place from 2022. One interesting feature of the KO rounds was the number of complaints (8) lodged by various teams to have their runners promoted or rivals disqualified. Many of these complaints originated from pushing and shoving as athletes approached a 90 degree corner just before the last control, with one actually asking for the Women’s Final to be completely invalidated. Looking at the written report It’s certainly not clear how consistent the decisions made by the referees were.

So, all in all, a successful WOC. Congratulations in particular to Tim, Joseph, Lizzie and Laura but an amazing team effort all round and, hopefully, Ronan, Nathan, Zara and Briana will come back stronger for the experience. Thanks also to the Bengtsson and Robertson clans for their support as well as Nick, Annie, Sarah, Neil and all the other Kiwis who were in the crowd supporting. 

by Malcolm Ingham