Until Pavel Kubat was 14 years old, football was his number one sport. Four years ago he changed his focus on orienteering, and now he is world champion on long distance.
–It was a good choice, Pavel smiles.

Pavel Kubat is 18 years old and has one more year left as a junior. He has orienteered every now and then since he was seven, but until four years ago, most of his time went to football. For four years he has concentrated fully on orienteering in his home town, Hradec Kralove, in Bohemia about 100 kilometer East of Prague.

Almost perfect race

–It was a surprise to me that I won. I didn’t feel that strong during the race, but I did not make many mistakes, Pavel says.
During the competition he thought he maybe could finish among the ten best. Only when he finished the race he really understood how well he had done.

The long distance at the Junior World Championships was incredible challenging. There was a lot of green on the map, and the open land areas at the ocean beach were technically very demanding with a lot of knolls and slopes. A lot of runners made a lot of mistakes, but looking at Pavel’s running on the map is incredible. There is almost nothing that he could have done better. His first mistake was only at the 22th control and it was only half a minute.
–I tried to use the paths in the terrain and ran also a bit around to get to use them. I focused on the map all the time, he says.

Well prepared for the races

Some places in Czech Republic have a similar kind of terrain with contours, but the vegetation is totally different.
–I have been on two training camps in Denmark with the national team. It was about two and a half week earlier in the year and one week just a couple a weeks ago. Now I feel comfortable with what to do in the terrain, he says.
Czech Republic has very often good juniors. Pavel thinks that it is a result of tough competition at home.
–There aren’t as many athletes as in the Nordic countries, but still quite a few. That gives good competitions, he says.

 

Photo: Erik Borg

Pavel Kuban shows his happiness on the podium in front of Johan Runesson (left), Sweden, Matthias Kyburz, Switzerland, Eskil Kinneberg, Norway, Rasmus Thrane Hansen, Denmark, and Olle Boström, Sweden.