Nilsson and Brickhill-Jones Rockets in Ficuzza
Kajsa Nilsson (SWE) and the David Brickhill-Jones (GBR) were the fastest runners of the Park World Tour prologue at the village of Ficuzza near Corleone today. In the first international orienteering race on the island of Sicily no other runners could match the pace of the Swede and Brit, who are both runners on the Halden Skikklubb in Norway.
Detailed report about the PWT races in Sicily in Orienteering Today 1/2006
On the tough 2.5 km race with 17 controls and nearly 130 metres of climb Brickhill-Jones used just over a 12 and a half minutes to get through and set a clear best time of the day, 11 seconds ahead of the Czech Jan Prochazka.
- I was really careful about reading the map today and I took a lot of time to make sure I didn't make any stupid mistakes. I hesitated a couple of times on some of the legs and lost maybe 30 seconds altogether, but my speed seemed to have been good enough for the victory. It's the race tomorrow that matters much more though, Brickhill-Jones commented about his performance in his first big international event for the Brittish national team.
Denmark's Christian Nielsen finished 3rd, just two seconds behind the silver Czech Prochazka, who astonished the world two years ago in spring, after he won the PWT Qualification race in Santa Agatha in Puglia in Italy.
Among women most of the attention was directed at the defending PWT champion from the previous year Dana Brozkova of the Czech Republic. But this time the strong Czech had to settle for a second place after she was unable to match the speed of the strong Swede Kajsa Nilsson. A few years back Nilsson was considered one of the biggest talents and promises of the Swedish women orienteering, but series of injuries which have plagued her for the past five years meant a heavy setback to all the hopes. However, this year again the young nice Swede seems to be running back on the track, which her race in the Prologue today only confirmed. Tomorrow in the La Favoritta park in Palermo Nilsson will surely belong among the strong favourites for the race victory.
- I felt really strong going through the terrain today, I just wasn't 100% certain my speed was good enough since this was the first race for me in the season. Perhaps I was even too fast in some places out on the course and made a few small mistakes, Nilsson smiled after the race was over.
The Czech defending Champion Dana Brozkova, who started one minute ahead of Nilsson, was finally 26 seconds behind. The bronze position in the Prologue was taken by Seline Stalder of Switzerland who finished another minute down on Brozkova.
The first PWT race of the season starts tomorrow in La Favoritta Park in Palermo at 12 o'clock.
Jan Skricka
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