Carter-Davies, who grabbed his first medal at the Danish World Championships, ended up in a Finnish orienteering club by chance.
– I’m a navigator, a British national team navigator Megan Carter-Davies pronounces fairly fluently in Finnish on the phone.
How does one of Britain’s top navigators know our language? The answer can be found in Nurmijärvi. Carter-Davies has been representing the local club Rajamäki Regiment in major orienteering messages since 2015. The Welshman ended up in the company by chance.
– My boyfriend Ben Mitchell (also a national team navigator) wanted to run in Jukola. An Estonian navigator from Rajamäki who studied at a nearby university in Wales Sander Vaher suggested we could run in the team ranks.
The couple has represented the Regiment in message competitions ever since.
– The club is great, we like it in a relaxed atmosphere. They give us a lot of opportunities to practice and compete with the team. The arrangement is perfect for us, the navigator tells Urheilu.
Carter-Davies ended up in orienteering at the age of eight when his mother took him to a local club for rehearsals. From there, the road took them first to the junior teams in Wales and then to the UK. Race trips to the Nordic countries began to accumulate.
– It gave me a lot of experience in orienteering and international competitions since I was young. I have learned a lot. That has led to this point.
Only Tove Alexandersson above
Carter-Davies, 26, has a tough balance on the ongoing World Championship sprint sprints: two races and two silver. He has no previous medals in the adult championships.
He anchored his team’s sprint post to second on Sunday and fought his way to the podium in the knock-out sprint on Tuesday. On both occasions, only the overwhelming star of the species remained ahead Tove Alexandersson. The same set-up was also at the World Cup knock-out in May.
However, a successful sprinter does not consider himself a pure sprinter.
– I love forest orienteering the most. The sprint trips are really nice too, I trained them more this year to succeed at the World Championships.
Team leader of the Rajamäki Regiment Seppo Varmavuon according to Carter-Davies, who is making his breakthrough, has seen a trajectory.
– It was known in advance that Megan is in good shape and has just invested in sprinting.
Running power and speed have been reflected in the performance of British navigators.
– There, pace training is quite different than in Finland. In my opinion, Finland is, to put it bluntly, used to twitching in technical and detailed navigation instead of speed. Orienteering has become a sport. In Sprint, it is emphasized, Varmavuo reflects.
Active member
Carter-Davies’s comrades-in-arms have been eagerly following the success of their number one cannon.
– There has been a lot of message traffic and congratulations to Megan in our group chat. The whole club has followed what he did closely, Varmavuo said.
– Megan has worked hard to get into that condition. Confidently, but also with excitement, we have watched the races.
Varmavuo describes Carter-Davies, who mainly lives and trains in Wales, as a social and bright person who keeps in touch, especially with the club’s young people, and is eager to attend events remotely if he can’t get there.
– The Finnish language seems to be important to him, he has learned it systematically.
With their own strengths to the final race
Carter-Davies, the runner-up in the Knock-out, was the first British to win silver in a sprint at the World Championships. In the year 2005 Heather Monroe reached for a sprint bronze. Yvette Baker brought silver in 1995 and gold in 1999 from a pre – average express trip.
Repeating Baker’s trick would even require luck. Alexandersson, the number one star in the sport, left it all alone in the final of the knock-out sprint. The final trip to the World Cup, a traditional sprint with a start, will take place on Thursday.
– Alexandersson is incredibly fast. He has to make a mistake in order to win him. It is possible. I do my best to be in a situation where I can strike.
Carter-Davies will not take the pressure off the final race.
– I haven’t been very successful in the traditional sprint this year, but let’s see what happens. I keep my orienteering in my glove and I run as hard as I can.