Rasmus showed already at last year’s Junior World Championships that he was a big talent. He lead the sprint distance in Italy for a long time, but made a mistake at the end. On the long distance he finished as number five.

Before the championships this year Rasmus trained a lot of sprint orienteering.
–I have ran intervals on sprint maps, he says.

He comes from Sillerød, about 20 kilometre from Copenhagen, and unlike many other leading juniors, he does not come from an orienteering family.
–I like to run, and a friend of mine took me into the sport of orienteering in November 2003. I fell for it, he tells.

Andreas Konring, his friend, is also doing very well. He will take part in Junior World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships in Portugal.

Kristian Jones from Great Britain took silver in the sprint, 19 seconds after Rasmus Thrane Hansen. Third place was shared between Jonas Leandersson, Sweden, and Vegard Danielsen, Norway. The sprint was organised at Aalborg University. A lot of paths and buildings made it very tricky.

 

Photo: Erik Borg

Rasmus Thrane Hansen, a very glad Dane.

Leading results
Men 20

1) Rasmus Thrane Hansen DEN 13:04
2) Kristian Jones GBR 13:23
3) Vegard Danielsen NOR 13:25
3) Jonas Leandersson SWE 13:25
5) Johan Runesson SWE 13:32
6) Gustav Bergman SWE 13:35