British knock out sprint champs

[Arnold]

Many countries now have knock-out sprint champs, some only for Elites but some for all age classes.

Britain doesn't (although we do have Sprint Q and Sprint F, which many other countries don't).

Seems a shame as it would be a fun format to compete in + give elites a chance to practice (although I guess they can do that elsewhere).

Has it ever been discussed? Is it because of a lack of interested applicants? I can see how it would be rather a lot of effort to organise, although I can also imagine a lighter touch version perhaps with only Finals initially as we learn.

[gg]

Masterplan Adventure have organised two at Sprint Scotland. It is certainly more complicated to organise than other sprint disciplines. It would certainly be great if more clubs would be willing to have a go!

[graeme]

Fun to watch, but they are a brute to organise even with only M and W classes. We can't even get the regular sprint organisation sorted.

Also, not that much fun for most entrants who get KO'ed early: I think its a mistake to just take the formats IOF think will work well for TV and assume they're what the average orienteer wants.

However, we're doing one as a WOC test race next month...
https://www.woc2024.org/for-teams/test-races/

[Homer]

...and there's a Knock out Sprint going on today in Switzerland. Not that you'd know it from the lack of interest here.

But it's not really orienteering is it?

[SJC]

But it's not really orienteering is it?

More like "Follow the Leader", then outsprint them at the end.

[King Penguin]

More practical I think would be to reintroduce what used to be the Elite sprints which everyone could enter, qualifying for A, B, C, D finals.

[pete.owens]

I can also imagine a lighter touch version perhaps with only Finals initially as we learn.

You would still need some method to select who gets to qualify for the final.

Also, not that much fun for most entrants who get KO'ed early

The promotion/relegation format, rather than KO, overcomes that. Also it means that early rounds are more equally matched.

[buzz]

But it's not really orienteering is it?

More like "Follow the Leader", then outsprint them at the end.

Well that wasn't the case at the recent world cup in either the men's or women's finals.

It really is a technically and tactically challenging format, but you need well planned courses and pretty even fields. You should get that in international finals.

I thought it could have been better planned at the word cup - the route choices were too even (1 or 2 sec differences), except for control 12 which was too obvious (5 sec difference). I think it needs to be about 3 secs (12ish metres) to be significant (especially near the end) and hard to spot.

[Silva Surfer]

Urban Relay (best in a Uni Campus?) with full length 30-35 minute legs anyone?? Open M & W classes, 3 to run.... could be fun??

[ryeland of doom]

Definitely fun to watch, today's Women's WOC2024 final was very exciting. Good to see Orienteering having a spectator friendly format. The gasps at Megan's Calton Hill route choice and groans when the leaders got outroutechoiced at 8. Where else do you get collisions, steps, offices, an arena atmosphere and a sheep? Oh well back to running around in circles and chucking stuff on TV.

[buzz]

But it's not really orienteering is it?

More like "Follow the Leader", then outsprint them at the end.

Well that wasn't the case at the recent world cup in either the men's or women's finals.

It really is a technically and tactically challenging format, but you need well planned courses and pretty even fields. You should get that in international finals.

If anyone thinks knockout sprint is 'follow the leader and then outsprint them at the end' take a look at the WOC KO sprint finals. Worth watching if you didn't catch it live..

https://eurovisionsport.com/mediacard/EVS_240716__20240712IOFEdinburgh_10A

and if you have two screens sync the GPS tracking with the TV coverage to get the whole story... https://results.woc2024.org/woc/#Day3