Today Olav Lundanes made Norway look good on their National Day. He also made any given route choice look good. Mastering orienteering at very high speed in abrupt terrain was the key to success.

(Click on the map to get it larger.)

Right away to the first control the Norwegian’s demonstrated that they meant business today. Carl Waaler Kaas and Anders Nordberg took the lead choosing the optimal left route choice, but with fire on all engines Olav was only a few seconds behind on the route choice to the right.

To control no. 3 Carl Waaler Kaas was fasted and took the lead closely followed by Nordberg, Lundanes, Hubmann and the young Swede Gustav Bergman. At this point another Swedish youngster and last starter of the day Johan Runesson did not have the required speed and had already lost some 38 seconds. Valentin Novikov, Russia, trailed a little behind 10 seconds ahead of Runesson.

Waaler Kaas was in the lead until control no. 5, but then Lundanes took the course setter, Eva Jurenikova’s, advice and ran to the right to control no. 6.

And actually this article should end right here. From the sixth control Lundanes took the lead never to give it away again. Great balls of fire.

At control no. 7 Hubmann, Merz, Novikov and Nordberg were virtually punching within seconds of each other, but on his way to control no. 8 Nordberg made a 50 second mistake and took himself out of the medal race.

On the long leg to control no. 9 the defending European Champion Novikov gave his legs a good stretch and closed in on Waaler Kaas. On this leg Daniel Hubmann opted for the straight route choice through the green and lost more than 30 seconds on the leg. Worth noticing here is early starter Olexander Kratov, Ukraine, fighting just 15 seconds behind Novikov. In the end Kratov took 4. place 14 seconds ahead of Merz and Bergman who shared 5. place.

And just to spite all of us who know better, Lundanes took the “slow” left route choice on the long leg to control no. 17 and turned it into the fastest. A jet engine yes indeed. And one who doesn’t seem to need wings to fly.

Gold medal: Olav Lundanes, Norway

Silver medal: Valentin Novikov, Russia

Bronze medal: Carl Waaler Kaas, Norway

Happy 17th of May to all of you. Where ever you are.

World of O/O-training.net has prepared the GPS-analysis of the EOC Middle distance Final. You can find the complete article here.

Simone Niggli (Switzerland) and Olav Lundanes (Norway) became the new European Middle distance Champions in Skattungbyn today, both of them with a wide margin ahead of other competitors.

(Pictures by Stefan Jonsson.)

Men Middle Final

Norwegian athletes celebrated the Norwegian National Day by two medals today. Olav Lundanes masterfully won the 6,2 km race, 1:19 ahead of the defending European Champion Valentin Novikov from Russia. Lundanes’ compatriot Carl Waaler Kaas took bronze, 1:34 behind the winner.

(Picture by Jan Kocbach.)

“It was almost as expected – maybe a bit more green and yellow, but the course was as we made it yesterday,” Lundanes said after the race. “There was a small route choice were I lost some time, at least to Carl. But except for that it was a very good race for me.”

“I have never seen the same terrain before,” the silver medalists Novikov described. “And it was sometimes very hard to understand the map for me. With 10 days more training it could have been better,” the Russian athlete said.

Oleksandr Kratov from Ukraine was in lead for a long time during the race. At the end, he was shifted to unrewarding 4^th place. Swedish Gustav Bergman and Swiss Matthias Merz shared the 5^th place.

The reigning World Champion Thierry Gueorgiou from France did not start due to a shin inflammation.

Women Middle Final

Simone Niggli made an impressive comeback after her second maternity break last year. She defeated the second Minna Kauppi from Finland by 1:25 and Tatiana Ryabkina from Russia by 1:39 minute on 5,2 km course.

(Picture by Jan Kocbach.)

“I am happy about the race. It’s great to be back in such a good shape. And it was beautiful terrain with a nice course,” Niggli commended the EOC race and her performance.

The silver medalist Minna Kauppi admitted she was quite nervous before the race. “Everything was not as I had wanted it to be so I was more nervous than usually. But otherwise I was quite ready to fight for the medals,” the Finnish star said. “I am very happy to be back here and competing, because it could have been I would have not even been here, because of some stuff (heart muscle inflammation) I was suffering from during the winter, but now I am happy to be here and happy to be on the podium.”

Also the bronze medalist Tatiana Ryabkina was content with her race: “I did a good race without any mistakes, just maybe some route choices which were not the best but overall it was not so bad. So I am very satisfied with my race today.”

The non-medal places on the podium belong to the Swedish athletes – Helena Jansson was the 4^th, Tove Alexandersson the 5^th and Annika Billstam the 6^th.

Swiss favourite and now 23 times gold medal winner at EOC and WOC Simone Niggli lost 29 seconds straight out of the gate to the first control by running down into a big depression and then up again instead on running around on the edge of it. Was this just a cautious start or the indication of a new regime?

Helena Jansson also had a shaky start with a little hook at control no. 2 and another seemingly unnecessary swing at control no. 4.

To control no. 6 Simone took the course setters preferred route choice and closed the gap to Minna Kauppi. However Minna was still in the lead and managed to be almost as fast to control no. 6 by opting for the long way around running down through a green and onto the road. Helena ran straight, which turned out to be the slowest route choice.

Minna was indeed the fastest all the way to control no. 7, but made a big 48 seconds mistake at control no. 8. From here Simone took the lead and never looked back. Minna was also momentarily overtaken by Tatiana Ryabkina and Helena Jansson, but she was clearly stronger than both of them up hill and came back on the long leg to control no. 10.

From here on in there no mistakes or changes in the position between them and so the strongest Swedish favourite for a medal, Helena Jansson had to settle with 4. place. She was joined on the podium by her team mates Tove Alexandersson in 5. place and Annika Bilstam in 6. place.

Gold medal: Simone Niggli, Switzerland

Silver medal: Minna Kauppi, Finland

Bronze medal: Tatiana Ryabkina, Russia

(Click on the map to see it larger.)

After the race at the press conference there were questions to Simone and Tatiana about the possible positive contribution from the mama effect. Both have given birth last season. Tatiana was very clear when she expressed that becoming a mother had changed her priorities and that the sport was now only an important second. It didn’t seem to take anything away from the pleasure of standing there with a medal around her neck after a strong and technically perfect race.

After a serious heart sickness this winter Minna Kauppi (Finland) has returned into the international o-scene in the top shape and she took the silver medal, 1:25 minute behind Niggli.
(Picture by Anders Öberg.)

Tatiana Ryabkina (Russia) on the third place lost 1:39 minute to the winner.
(Picture by Anders Öberg.)

Russian Valentin Novikov defending the gold medal from the 2010 EOC finished as the second, 1:19 behind Lundanes.

The bronze medal goes to to Norway thanks to Carl Waaler Kaas. He lost to his compatriot Lundanes 1:34 minute.

All pictures taken by Anders Öberg.

Sprinten i Stadsparken och på Regementsområdet i Falun blev unik på ett sätt. Kanske för första gången i sprintens historia genomfördes ett internationellt mästerskap utan några efterföljande protester och regeldiskussioner. Ett gott betyg till EM-arrangörerna OK Kåre och IFK Mora.

– Det var en riktigt snabb sprint. Sjukdomen som jag haft känns, en veckas feber är knappast återhämtning för kroppen. Men det känns lite bättre för varje lopp, och nu hoppas jag att kroppen vill vara med och leka på medeldistansfinalen. I morgon torsdag börjar äntligen EM-festen på allvar, säger en nöjd Helena Jansson.

Sverige hade två juniorer som gjorde debut i seniorsammanhang, och både Elin Månsson och Michaela Hallqvist tog sig vidare till final.

På herrsidan gjorde svenskarna ett mycket imponerande kval, där alla var bland de sju bästa i sina respektive kvalheat, och hela fem av de blågula var bland de fyra främsta.