Date: 2018-08-04

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After I had participated in my first competition at Kronvalda Park in Riga, I went to the World Orienteering Championship Sprint Finals on the main square in old town in Riga. There was start and finish of the race for each runner. It was really impressive to see how focussed the elite runners are. And a lot of runners do have their own fan club, so there were a lot of spectators from Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, etc. They really rocked the square and made a good atmosphere.

The first highlight was then to see the start and tremendous finish of Maja Alm. She won the women’s race.

Afterwards heavy rain started, which made the course even more challenging for the men’s race, because the cobblestone pavement got really slippery.

Finally, Daniel Hubmann was the best and the swiss spectators celebrated him. It was really great to see all the famous orienteering elite runners there. It was really an awesome event – well with a lot of rain, but who bothers.