World of O News
5 of 8 gold medals went to Switzerland in Nordic Open Championships 2007 at Bornholm, Denmark – thanks mostly to excellent performances by Matthias Merz with three gold medals and Simone Niggli with two gold medals and one silver medal. Both of them also finished the championships with victories at the final long distance – and at the sprint distance Simone Niggli was on her way to a third gold medal when she forgot a control. Switzerland had never previously won any gold medals in the Nordic Open Championships in the Mens category – Merz’s gold medal at the sprint distance Thursday being a premiere for Switzerland! For Merz, the two NOC golds were also his first international gold medals since his Junior World Championships gold medals in 2003 and 2004.
The rest of the senior medals were divided between Sweden and Finland – with Sweden being the best of the Nordic countries in the senior classes, with 2 gold medals, 3 silver and 3 bronze. Finland got a total of 9 senior medals. For the Norwegian seniors, this was a very depressing championships – with no medals at all – the 4th places of Audun Weltzien and Carl Waaler Kaas being the best results. This is the first time since 1955 (when there was only one discipline in NOC) that Norway is without medals at NOC. The only upside for the Norwegian team is that there are good juniors coming up – and that a Norwegian team hungry for success will travel to Ukraine this August…
For the Danish team, the Nordic Open Championships at home ground was a success, even if they got no runners within the six best in the senior categories. Instead, the Danish juniors gave the Danish spectators a lot to applaud!
Senior Medals – NOC 2007
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Switzerland | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Sweden | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Finland | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Norway | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Denmark | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Results
Sprint Men
1 158 Matthias Merz Switzerland 15:31
2 140 Jonas Pilblad Sweden 15:38
3 164 Matthias Müller Switzerland 15:40
4 162 Audun Hultgren Weltzien Norway 16:03
5 131 Marius Bjugan Norway 16:05
6 151 Jarkko Huovila Finland 16:07
Sprint Women
1 52 Helena Jansson Sweden 17:19
2 51 Minna Kauppi Finland 17:27
3 42 Heli Jukkola Finland 17:32
4 43 Martina Fritschy Switzerland 17:34
5 44 Marianne Andersen Norway 17:45
6 47 Elise Egseth Norway 17:53
Middle Men
1 160 Jarkko Huovila Finland 31:02
2 162 David Andersson Sweden 31:50
3 150 Mats Haldin Finland 32:12
4 156 Carl Waaler Kaas Norway 32:15
5 157 Peter Öberg Sweden 32:27
6 159 Holger Hott Johansen Norway 32:32
Middle Women
1 50 Simone Niggli Switzerland 29:28
2 52 Minna Kauppi Finland 29:31
3 58 Paula Iso-Markku Finland 31:17
4 51 Helena Jansson Sweden 31:28
5 38 Annika Billstam Sweden 31:55
6 28 Dana Brozkova Czech Republic 32:00
Long Men
1 166 Matthias Merz Switzerland 1:19:52
2 163 David Andersson Sweden 1:20:38
3 165 Jonas Pilblad Sweden 1:22:54
4 164 Jani Lakanen Finland 1:23:22
5 121 Baptiste Rollier Switzerland 1:23:33
6 154 Mats Haldin Finland 1:24:18
Long Women
1 51 Simone Niggli Switzerland 1:02:28
2 45 Minna Kauppi Finland 1:02:53
3 55 Lena Eliasson Sweden 1:04:34
4 47 Heli Jukkola Finland 1:05:44
5 46 Helena Jansson Sweden 1:06:25
6 33 Dana Brozkova Czech Republic 1:06:39
Relay Men
1 40 Switzerland 1 2:29:06
Matthias Müller 51:27 9 BACB 2 51:27 9
Baptiste Rollier 49:09 1 CBAA 1 1:40:36 3
Matthias Merz 48:30 1 ACBC 1 2:29:06
2 26 Finland 2 2:29:21
Jonne Lakanen 51:35 12 BBBB 1 51:35 12
Pasi Ikonen 49:14 3 CCCC 1 1:40:49 5
Jani Lakanen 48:32 2 AAAA 1 2:29:21
3 23 Sweden 1 2:29:23
Jonas Pilblad 51:02 8 BCCC 1 51:02 8
Johan Modig 49:49 4 CABB 1 1:40:51 6
Peter Öberg 48:32 2 ABAA 1 2:29:23
4 22 Finland 1 2:30:16
Tero Föhr 51:30 11 CCBA 1 51:30 11
Jarkko Huovila 49:52 5 ABAC 1 1:41:22 8
Mats Haldin 48:54 4 BACB 1 2:30:16
5 24 Finland 3 2:31:37
Vesa Taanila 50:54 6 ACCB 2 50:54 6
Jörgen Wickholm 49:53 6 BABA 1 1:40:47 4
Tuomas Tervo 50:50 5 CBAC 2 2:31:37
6 30 Great Britain 1 2:31:54
Graham Gristwood 50:33 2 CBAC 1 50:33 2
Jon Duncan 50:20 8 AACA 1 1:40:53 7
Jamie Stevenson 51:01 6 BCBB 1 2:31:54
Relay Women
1 4 Sweden 1 2:16:24
Emma Engstrand 48:10 8 BBA 1 48:10 8
Kajsa Nilsson 44:57 1 CCB 1 1:33:07 1
Helena Jansson 43:17 2 AAC 1 2:16:24
2 3 Switzerland 1 2:18:09
Sara Gemperle 50:08 14 BCA 2 50:08 14
Martina Fritschy 47:30 5 CAC 2 1:37:38 10
Simone Niggli 40:31 1 ABB 1 2:18:09
3 1 Finland 1 2:18:37
Heli Jukkola 46:06 2 AAA 1 46:06 2
Bodil Holmström 49:08 7 BBB 3 1:35:14 5
Minna Kauppi 43:23 3 CCC 1 2:18:37
4 13 Czech Republic 1 2:19:29
Zdenka Stara 46:39 4 CCC 2 46:39 4
Eva Jurenikova 49:16 8 ABB 3 1:35:55 6
Dana Brozkova 43:34 5 BAA 1 2:19:29
5 17 Switzerland 2 2:19:32
Franziska Wolleb 47:44 7 ABB 2 47:44 7
Lea Müller 46:34 3 BCC 1 1:34:18 2
Seline Stalder 45:14 6 CAA 1 2:19:32
6 2 Norway 1 2:19:48
Anne Margrethe Hausken 45:51 1 CBC 1 45:51 1
Lene Moe 50:29 11 AAB 1 1:36:20 8
Marianne Andersen 43:28 4 BCA 1 2:19:48
Hello Jan!
You are right, the three gold medals of Matthias Merz (one with the relay team) are the first gold medals for the Swiss men. But in the womens class we have already four (!) Swiss girls winning a individual gold medal at NOC:
1997 Sabrina Meister-Fesseler (long)
2003 Marie-Luce Romanens (sprint)
2005 Vroni König-Salmi (long)
2007 Simone Niggli (sprint and long)
Thanks for all your work you are doing for orienteering!
Fritz
Thanks Fritz. I updated the text accordingly.