Stormy Lagonegro Blown Up by Danish Dynamite and Swedish Ignition
Precise and technical orienteering was necessary on a tricky 2.3 km course through the historical town of Lagonegro, which hosted the second stage of the Park World Tour. Still, the winners were the same as in the first event of the season in Palermo: Denmark's Christian Nielsen and Sweden's Kajsa Nilsson mastered the challenges of curvy narrow labyrinths in the historical part of the town – and the weather.
Second straight for Nielsen
Nielsen, who won in Palermo last week, took the lead early on in the course and kept building the gap to his rivals. Even the heavy rain which started half way through the men's race could not stop him from taking a second consecutive PWT victory.
- You had to handle the constant changing of the pace perfectly. In the narrow lanes you almost had to walk not to make a fatal mistake. Then there were relatively easy areas where you had to run full speed. But then again you always had to slow down in more challenging parts of the course and make sure you stayed on the map, said the 27-year old Dane about the race.
Nielsen needed 17:17,5 to complete the course, which was 20 seconds faster than the runner-up Baptiste Rollier of Switzerland. British David Brickhill-Jones finished another 21 seconds down and took bronze.
Nilsson makes it two out of two
Exciting fights were also seen in the women's class. The defending PWT Champion Dana Brozkova did a good race, but the highest place on the podium was once again reserved for Kajsa Nilsson. As in Palermo one week earlier, Nilsson left no chance to anybody and stormed through the course in 19:48,7 to be the only woman to break the 20-minute time.
- It wasn't a perfect race for me, I still made a few mistakes, but again it was probably my speed which helped me to win the race. I think it was the most challenging sprint course I have ever run and it wasn't easy at all to find the right routes to every control, smiled the young Swede in the finish.
Czech Dana Brozkova in second place was 35 seconds behind with her team mate Zuzana Macuchova another 36 seconds down in third.
The Park World Tour will continue.
www.pwt.org
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