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24/02/2007 door Jan Delobel 
Johan Modig about his World Title in 1997 in Belgium
 In 1997, the Junior World Championships were held in Belgium. Johan Modig won the classic distance in Gruitrode, the same area which will be used for the first 2 days of this event.
We asked Johan about his feelings back in 1997, after his World Title, and about the Gruitrode-area, the map and the terrain.
Today I can still remember the course and the race, almost ten years ago, as it was yesterday. Of course it's such a moment in life, with the goldmedal hanging around the neck that easilly can be played again and again without getting tired of it.
The year before (1996) I had taken a silvermedal in Romania, so of course I had big hopes with my last JWOC in Belgium. The fact that the terrain also was very similar to my hometerrain in Åhus, south Sweden, was of course no disadvantage for me and therefore I also knew that I was very well prepared for this JWOC.
I remember especially the feeling two days before the goldmedal race. The shortdistance had taken place, and I was disappointed after one big mistake, which had cost me a medal. But some hours later this race actually made me stronger, because now I really understood how good my shape was at this time. Therefore I was full of self confidence two days later, when I stood at the startline for the classic distance, with 12 kilometers fast orienteering waiting for me.
The race went almost perfect. Physically I felt very strong and I had no problems at all with nor the heat (about 30 degrees) neither the distance this day. Technically I had a fantastic flow that I think every orienteer dream of to experience some time. What I mean with "flow" is that everything just happened by itself this day, - I was very cool in my mind, - I was very systematic and managed to follow my orienteering tactic completely and last but not least, there were only positive thoughts circulating in my head during the whole race. Quite simply I felt unbeatable that day.
I can really recommend these competitions in this nice area. As competitor you are going to meet an easy runnable terrain, with partly very much details on the map. There are a lot of technical challenges waiting for you in that forest. It's a matter of predicting the difficulties and changing speed at the exactly right moment. As always: easier said than done... :)
I wish you all: - Good Luck!
Old Routes from 1997 from Thierry Gueorgiou (43th place) can be found here: Part 1 Part 2
Results 1997
24/02/2007 door Jan Delobel
-- categorie: 5daagse
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5-D van België 15-19/8/2007
