The world’s top orienteers are currently gathered in Nilsiä in Kuopio for the World Cup finals. Next year, Kuopio’s Suunnistai have a bigger effort ahead of them, the World Championships.
Helmi Nykänen,
Jukka Eskanen
The final competitions of this season’s Orienteering World Cup have started on Thursday in Nilsiä, Lastukoski, Kuopio.
At the same time, the competition organizer Kuopio Suunnitajat is practicing for the orienteering world championships to be held next July in Kuopio Tahko.
The general secretary of Kuopio Suunnitatije will participate in the World Cup final Sakari Hyvönen including practically all the world’s top orienteers. There are about 250 of them competing.
– The top athletes are already training with the World Championships in mind. On the final tour of the World Cup, initial arrangements are made for next year.
In Hyvönen’s opinion, the Lastokoski area is very good and demanding orienteering terrain, even though the ascents are small compared to Tahko’s terrain.
The Lastokoski competitions are part of a three-year project in which Kuopio Suunnitajat prepares for the World Championships.
– The three-year competitions require different terrains. We left Vehmersalmi last year and are approaching Tahko, which is the so-called Olympic village in 2025, says Hyvönen.
A nine-day construction job
There are well over 200 people from Talkoo. An audience of 500–1000 is expected.
Aarne Keurulainen has been responsible for the construction work of the Nilsiä Games, which lasted nine days. According to Keurulainen, the job has been a good lesson for next year’s world championships.
In the finals of the Nilsiä World Cup, all competitions will be held in the same area, while next year the competition venues will be in Kuopio, in addition to Tahko, Neulaniemi and Puijo.
– It’s a much harder effort, Keurulainen states.
The message ends the World Cup
Nilsiä’s Lastukoski will host a long-distance race on Thursday, which is 12 kilometers for women and 14 kilometers for men. ‘s TV broadcast started at 12:30. You can watch it live on Areena and TV2.
On Saturday it’s the middle distance and on Sunday the relay.
Audience competitions are also held in connection with the World Cup. At the weekend, the fitness orienteers get to compete in the same scenery as the world’s best.