okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Head to head against peer nations
How has the U.S. done against each of the peer nations?
U.S. orienteers have faced Belgians in 9 races at the WOC, winning twice and losing 7 times (for a .222 winning percentage). Here are the records after the qualifying races against each of the peer nations:
Belgium (.222,2-7) New Zealand (.250,3-9) Portugal (.583,7-5) Canada (.667,12-6) Ireland (.750,9-3) Japan (.786,11-3)
A few things stand out. First, Belgium has dominated the U.S., but have had few head-to-head races. That's because doesn't send a full team to the WOC. Second, the closest match (i.e. the nation that is closest to even in head-to-head races) is Portugal. But, Portugal, like Belgium doesn't have a full team. Third, it is nice to see the U.S. dominating the friendly rivalry with Canada.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the U.S. matches up against the peer nations in the relays.
It'd also be interesting to see how the US did in those 3 seasons against the next group up. Sure, we're starting to beat our peers more, but are we gaining any on the nations ahead of us?