I want to write my first O-related article about my recent WOC:

This year's World Orienteering Championships held in the end of August in Kiev, Ukraine, didn't bring any good results for me. I was not even able to qualify for a single final, while trying on all three qualifiers.

In each qualification race I did one mistake that detained me from qualifying for the final with a place around place 13-15 of my qualification head. But I think, the problem is hidden somewhere else. I didn't go to Kiev just to qualify for the final. I wanted to perform well in the finals! The reasons for my poor performance are two: first I wasn't prepared for the terrains that awaited me in Kiev (especially the green areas in middle distance was something I didn't expect). Moreover was my physical preparation was not timed in the right way. I was doing really well too early in the spring this year and wasn't able to preserve my shape. But I learned some lesions from this experience and for sure I will be prepared much better for next years big appointments!

Finally the performance at relay wasn't that bad. I was running first leg for the Italian team, and with a technically perfect performance I managed to stay within the leading pack for a good part of the race. In the end I lost some two minutes from the fastest in the last really fast part of the course. We were happy with our result after a good race also from Misha and Marco.

A good performance for the Italian team at the party as well ...