Forth Valley Orienteers' Grace Molloy aids GB's strong showing at World Championships

Forth Valley Orienteers' Grace Molloy in action for Team GB (Photo: Submitted)

A local athlete turned in a pair of world class performances to help Great Britain to a strong overall showing in the World Orienteering Championships on the streets of Edinburgh.

Grace Molloy enjoyed a stellar junior career, with a string of international medals, but has found the going tougher since moving into the senior ranks four years ago. After the Scotland-based World Championships were postponed by two years due to COVID, there were raised eyebrows when she announced she would be leaving her studies at Oxford University and enrolling on a track scholarship in the United States in order to inject some pace into her running.

Despite missing nearly two years of competition, and only recovering her national ranking in the last month, she was in good form in qualification for the final of the Sprint event, with the second quickest time (13.02) in her heat, to claim a prime berth for the final. However, with 15 athletes qualifying from each pool, a number of the leading contenders for the medals eased off in the latter stages to save something for the big race.

After a steady start in the final, Grace was able to kick on in the middle stage, with one leg split that involved a legal detour through the bar of a local hotel proving that she can certainly make key decisions at high speed, and a finish time of 17.00 was good enough for sixth place overall, and her first-ever podium finish in a World Ranking race.

Having won the final place in the Mixed Sprint Relay team after the trials in June, Grace was able to open up for a GB team that had a genuine medal prospect.

Favourites Sweden came into the event defending an unbeaten record that stretched back to 2017, but incredibly, as the field emerged back into the finish straight, it was the blue and white of GB and Grace who was in the lead, and she touched home one second behind the Netherlands.

GB was still in the silver medal position going into the final lap, but two uncharacteristic errors from 2022 world champion Megan Carter-Davies cost them more than a minute, and they ended up seventh, after Sweden sensationally mispunched within sight of the finish.

There was one more medal to be had, in the Knockout Sprint, but after successfully qualifying for the final in eighth place (10.12) Grace found herself in a talent-filled quarter final, alongside four of the world's top 10 on paper, and finished fifth (7.55) in a bunch finish.