Gueorgiou is still the King of Middle Distance – and Finland took the Triple in the womens class with Heli Jukkola, Merja Rantanen and Minna Kauppi. A very popular silver medal in the mens class to home runner Martin Sirmais. Bronze in the mens class went to Pasi Ikonen – former World Champion on the short distance.

Statements

Baptiste Rollier: - The middle distance final took place today in a very swampy and green terrain and it was a real challenge to find the controls without doing any mistake.Yesterday, the qualification was more hilly and it was important to have a good understanding of the curves in order to avoid hesitations in the control area. My race wasnt very good and I made several small errors which cost me some time. During … [read more] Emma Engstrand: Arrangörerna hade verkligen lyckats med banor och val av terrängområden under mästerskapet, och trots att samtliga distanser genomfördes i liknande terrängtyp så blev det en helt annan typ av orientering på medeldistansen. Det var mycket mer mossar, mycket mer diffust och mycket mindre höjder där det var väldigt svårt att avgöra vilka höjder som var med på kartan och vilka som inte var det. De kontroller som föll avgörande var just de kontroller som var satta i de diffusa mosspartierna. … [read more] Jørn Sundby: - On a very technical and marshy day in Latvia Thierry Gueorgiou took his third EOC gold medal on the middle distance. His margin only 26 seconds to Martins Sirmais. The latvian runner was for the second EOC in a row very close to beating Thierry. Two years ago in Estonia Sirmais was ahead of Gueorgiou until the very last controls. The terrain with low visibility in the large marshes proved tricky and maybe also unusual for many runners. A lot of athletes had direction problems and lost a lot of time. [...] In the womens class Anne Margrethe Hausken was too careful and too slow in todays race, and ended seventh after being caught by Merja Rantanen who took a surprise silver medal. A great finnish day with a complete blue and hvite podium. Jukkola gold and Kauppi bronze- no surprise. [read more] Celine Dodin: - In the end, I finish 29th, I still mark points, but I have not really made a good race with a feeling of being passed along. This will be the next time… I hope the WOC! [read more (French)] Kristiansand OK Elite: - Daniel Hubmann showed again a world class performance and ended on 4th place at the middle distance final, only 28 sec down the podium. Hubmann said that it was a very challenging race where he had one bigger mistake already at the 3th control. Baptiste Rollier ended up on a 13 spot. He did several smaller mistakes in the beginning of the race. Anyway, this result shows that Baptiste is not o … [read more] Alternativet.nu: - Den sista individuella distansen på årets EM blev ett finskt medaljregn. De svenska löparna hamnade … … [read more] European Orienteering Champs: - A great day for Finland! The Finnish girls took all the three medals in womens class and Pasi Ikonen was the 3rd in mens class in the middle distance final today in Jaunupe. Read more » … [read more] Norwegian O-Federation / Anne Margrethe Hausken: - I could have run a lot faster, and got me a real wakeup … [read more (Norwegian)] Anders Nordberg: - Two and a half hour ago I started in the middle… … [read more (Norwegian)] Swedish O-Federation: - Finland dominerade totalt när EM i orientering på lördagen fortsatte med final på medeldistansen. Guld, silver och två brons blev utdelningen. Svenskarna fick inte riktigt till det. Bäst placerade sig Emil Wingstedt, som slutade femma.Läs mer … [read more] Karin Leonhardt: - Das Middle-Gelände war in der Quali und im Finale extremst schwierig. Viel zu offensiv startete ich in die Quali – er … [read more] OPN.no: - Heli Jukkola fra Finland og franske Thierry Gueorgiou ble begge europamestere på mellomdistansen med 26 sekunders margin lørdag ettermiddag. For Finland ble det en knalldag med Merja Rantanen og Minna Kauppi på sølv- og bronseplass. Blant herrene ble det en gledelig 2. plass til arrangørnasjonens Martins Sirmais, mens finske Pasi Ikonen løp inn til 3. plass … [read more] Halden SK Elite: - Emil Wingstedt løp inn til en 5. plass på dagens mellom-finale, kun 1.37 bak vinner Thierry Gueorgiou som igjen tok mellom-tronen. Anne Margrethe Hausken ble nr 7 etter en hel-finsk pall med Heli Jukkola på toppen. Begge våre som har løpt alle distanser, leverte med andre ord en sterk innsats også i dag. … [read more] French Orienteering Federation: - THIERRY CHAMPION DEUROPE POUR LA 3ème FOIS CONSECUTIVE! The "middle king" Thierry Guéorgiou vient dêtre sacré Champion dEurope de la moyenne distance. Pour la 3ème fois consécutive (2004 – 2006 et désormais 2008 (les championnats dEurope de Course dOrientation ont lieu tous les 2 ans)) Thierry décroche la … [read more] Olle Kärner: - Soine ja tihe mets. Pisikeste küngaste rägastik. Ideaalne maastik Olle jaoks. Suunamuutused, tempovahetus – ideaalne rada Olle jaoks… Loe edasi … [read more] Emiliano Corona: - Oggi è andata in scena un’appassionante finale middle: purtroppo senza alcun italiano a prendervi parte. Ci siamo dovuti accontentare di fare da spettatori alla gara vera e propria, dopo qualcuno è partito per la finale B, qualcuno ha fatto una corsetta più stretching e altri hanno deciso di riposare in vista della staffetta di domani. Io sono partito nella finale B e dopo circa 28’, arrivato al … [read more]

Results

Men EOC Middle Final 2008 1 Gueorgiou,Thierry FRA 35:41 2 Sirmais,Martins LAT 36:07 3 Ikonen,Pasi FIN 36:31 4 Hubmann,Daniel SUI 36:59 5 Wingstedt,Emil SWE 37:18 6 Novikov,Valentin RUS 37:34 6 Troeng,Mats SWE 37:34

Women EOC Middle Final 2008 1 Jukkola,Heli FIN 31:05 2 Rantanen,Merja FIN 31:31 3 Kauppi,Minna FIN 31:55 4 Ryabkina,Tatiana RUS 32:12 5 Soes,Signe DEN 32:27 6 Brozkova,Radka CZE 33:23 7 Hausken,Anne Margrethe NOR 33:24

• Official results

Map

Map is available at Baptiste Rollier’s webpage.

Matthias Müller (SUI), Valentin Novikov (RUS), Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA), Helena Jansson (SWE), Minna Kauppi (FIN) and Emma Engstrand (SWE) were the heat winners in todays EOC Middle Qualification in Latvia. Again several of the outsiders went out already in the qualification – among them the reigning World Champion over the Long Distance Matthias Merz (SUI). After a “quiet” championship for Thierry Gueorgiou so far, he is back on the top in the Qualification in his favourite discipline, the Middle distance.

Statements

Some statements about the race today:

David Andersson: - I did one small mistake, and was unsecure a few times. It was an interesting course, and I have got more within… [Read more (Swedish)] Alternativet.nu: - Already at the start of the race, the Achilles of Finish Jani Lakanen was torn off … [read more (Swedish)] European Orienteering Champs: - A lot of big surprises after the qualification races of the middle distance. Damien Renard, Matthias Merz, Olav Lundanes, Edgars Bertuks, Ingunn Hultgreen Weltzien, Ines Brodmann – they all have missed the final. Read more » … [read more] Norwegian O-Federation: - Anne Margrethe Hausken (32) blir definitivt å regne med i lørdagens mellomdistansefinale. På dagens kvalifisering ble hun nest best i sitt heat, og seier opp som en av flere favoritter. … [read more] Kristiansand OK Elite: - With Daniel Hubmann, Baptiste Rollier and Christian Bobach, KOK is represented with 3 runners in the Middle Distance final tomorrow.Our youngster Christian Bobach reached his first final at the senior level. He was placed on the last spot for the final (only 2:27 down the lead!). In his qualification field, big names like the swiss world champion Matthias Merz were out of a final place!Daniel Hubm … [read more] German O-Federation: - Keiner der deutschen Starter erreichte das A-Finale bei der Mitteldistanz am heutigen Freitag. Dabei zeigte sich ein zweigeteiltes Bild im Damen- und im Herrenvorlauf. Während es bei den Herren einmal mehr sehr eng zuging und bereits 2 ½ min Rückstand auf die Spitze zu viel waren, konnten sich die Damen bis zu über 7 Minuten Rückstand erlauben. … [read more] Danish O-Federation: - 9 ud af 10 danskere videre til lørdagens finaler … [read more] Swedish O-Federation: - Alla svenskar gick i dag utan större problem vidare till morgondagens medeldistansfinal i EM i Lettland. Mest imponerade Helena Jansson och Emma Engstrand (bilden) som vann sina heat. Wingstedt blev tvåa och blir definitivt att räkna med i morgon.Läs mer … [read more] Finnish O-Federation: - Minna Kauppi oli mainiossa vireessä EM-keskimatkan karsinnassa. Hän voitti oman karsintaeränsä selvällä erolla. Suomen naiset selviytyivät Karoliina Sundbergiä lukuunottamatta lauantaina juostaviin finaaleihin. Miehissä kolme suomalaista selviytyi finaaliin. … [read more] Kondis.no: - Dagen kvalifiseringsløp til mellomdistansefinalen i EM i orientering i Latvia var en skuffelse sett med norske øyne. Anne Margrethe Hausken var det eneste lyspunktet med 2. plass i sitt heat. 9 av totalt 12 norske løpere kom seg videre til morgendagens finale. … [read more]

Results

Men Heat A 1 Muller,Matthias SUI 27:37 2 Wingstedt,Emil SWE 27:52 3 Detkov,Sergey RUS 28:17 [18 Renard,Damien FRA + 02:39 / NQ] Men Heat B 1 Novikov,Valentin RUS 28:23 2 Gonon,Francois FRA 28:24 2 Kostylev,Egor RUS 28:24 [ 18 Casal,Roger ESP + 02:42 / NQ] Men Heat C 1 Gueorgiou,Thierry FRA 26:33 2 Karner,Olle EST 26:54 3 Hubmann,Daniel SUI 27:36 [ 18 Lundanes,Olav NOR + 04:17/NQ]

Women Heat A 1 Jansson,Helena SWE 27:20 2 Holmstrom,Bodil FIN 28:28 3 Korzhova,Natalia RUS 28:35 [ 18 Razaityte,Gabija LTU + 07:25/NQ] Women Heat B 1 Kauppi,Minna FIN 25:13 2 Hausken,Anne Margrethe NOR 26:38 3 Novikova,Yulia RUS 27:20 [ 18 Brodmann,Ines SUI 33:10 /NQ] Women Heat C 1 Engstrand,Emma SWE 27:06 + 00:00 2 Rantanen,Merja FIN 27:33 + 00:27 3 Ryabkina,Tatiana RUS 27:56 + 00:50 [ 18 Elder,Rachael GBR + 06:17 / NQ]

Some who did not make it who normally should have been in the A-final:

• 18 Renard,Damien FRA 30:16 + 02:39
• 19 Gristwood,Graham GBR 30:26 + 02:49
• 20 Aadli,Erkki EST 30:33 + 02:56
• 24 Ruedlinger,Andreas SUI 31:46 + 04:09
• DNF Lakanen,Jani FIN
• DSQ Nikolov,Kiril BUL
• 20 Merz,Matthias SUI 31:30 + 03:07
• 24 Vaher,Sander EST 31:39 + 03:16
• 27 Dlabaja,Tomas CZE 32:48 + 04:25
• 18 Lundanes,Olav NOR 30:50 + 04:17
• 19 Mukhidinov,Vyacheslav UKR 31:03 + 04:30
• 27 Duncan,Jon GBR 34:40 + 08:07
• 28 Weltzien,Ingunn Hultgreen NOR 37:52 + 10:32
• 18 Elder,Rachael GBR 33:23 + 06:17
• 19 Stalder,Seline SUI 33:37 + 06:31

• Full results at the organizers webpage (see also live results)

Maps

Note! No maps today because tomorrow will be partly the same terrain!

Would you do the same choices as the best orienteers in Europe? The routechoice comparison for the EOC 2008 Long Final is done in a way which gives you the possibility to think through each leg before seeing how the World Elite did it – similar to the popular Route to Christmas series here at World of O. This means that it takes a long time to load the page (many big graphics files), but for the interested orienteer, this should be worth it.

I have included even the short (rather uninteresting?) legs as well – but just scroll down past them it you are not interested. Click on a map extract to view a larger map with more details.

Updated! Note that split-times in the butterfly are wrong! Tanks Mike.

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- The long final yesterday was one of the technically most demanding long distance races I have ever run, Eva Jurenika writes at her homepage. Several of the runners have analyzed their races and written about it in their Blogs. Below many of the statements are collected.

Statements

Some statements and personal Blog entries from the Long Final (will be updated):

Eva Jurenikova: - The long final yesterday was one of the technically most demanding long distance races I have ever run. I had big respect for the terrain but I was also looking forward to the challenge. I was not able to avoid mistakes, unfortunately I lost ca 1-2 minutes at couple of controls, all together more than 5 minutes. This season I have been struggling with direction keeping. I started to use thumb … [read more] Baptiste Rollier: - After a bad start in the sprint qualification where I missed the final for 1 second, I needed to get the self confidence back for the long distance. Therefore my tactic in the long qualification was to have full control of my orienteering during the all course and especially at the beginning. That was the right tactic and with a 2nd place in my heat I saw that my technic was ok and my physical shape [...] Then the concentration level was a little bit up and down which provoke a 1 minute mistake at control 25. At the spectator control, I heard that I had the 3rd time and was in the battle for a final 6th place. This gave me extra energy and I could rise my focus for the last 1.5km. … [read more] Anne Margrethe Hausken: - What shall I say? I am flying! I have taken my first victory in an international long distance race – and that in a European Champs. I started with respect for the mission, because I anticipated that it would be a technically very difficult course. Today I have read the map accurately all the way, because I did not dare to simplify so much. Those of you who are orienteers know what line orienteering is, and when you do that for 68 minutes you get very tired in the head .… [read more (Norwegian)] Celine Dodin: - After the qualification of the long distance which took place on the seafront, the organization we had reserved a former “military” on land still virgin any mapping! To prepare ourselves, only a few lines of description on the latest newsletter of the competition: it is not uncommon to have a look on old maps before, but things change and it is good from time to time! [read more (French - with map and nice analysis of competition)] Øystein Kvaal Østerbø: - Yesterday’s Long distance Final was a really tough challenge. In the beginning and end of the course the ground was sandy, while most of the course was in green forest with bad runability and a lot of very wet and muddy marches.I did a really bad performance, and destroyed my chances for a good result early. To the 4th control I did a parallel mistake, and lost 4 minutes. I also lost 2 minutes … [read more] Anders Nordberg: - Jeg vet jeg tapte en del på vei til 4.post i går, men ellers var åpningen helt ok. Jeg måtte jobbe for å holde farten oppe i starten, men fikk en bedre og bedre følelse etter hvert som postene satt bra. På 14.post kom jeg litt for langt til venstre, jeg ble veldig usikker om jeg var helt feil, minutter gikk, så ønsker jeg vel egentlig bare å glemme resten av løpet som var hodeløst … [read more] Christian Teich: - Gestern war ein sehr anstregender Tag für mich. Das Langfinale in Irbene bot eine wirklich orientierungstechnisch und physisch anspruchsvolle Langdistanz. Am Start fühlten sich meine Beine noch sehr schwer an vom Vorlauf. Ich hätte nicht gedacht, das ich diese Belastung so schlecht verkrafte. Nach einer kurzen Warmup Zeitging es anden Startder Langdistanz. Sümpfe, … [read more] Jørn Sundby: - I think the only thing that is 100% clear about following is that the longer and more technical the more runners will get together. Easy technical courses with long legs and routechioces at WOC 2006 and 2007 proved to very effective against runners grouping. But do we r … [read more] Swedish O-Federation (web-TV): - Anne Margrethe Hausken har efter två finaler på EM två guld. En skadefri säsong och flytten till Halden är delar av framgångsfaktorerna säger Hausken när orientering.se sökte audiens för en träff med EM-drottningen.Se inslaget här. … [read more] Jørn Sundby: - Tsvetkov was a surprise five years ago in quite similar terrain in Estonia when he took the JWOC gold on long distance, fighting with Merz and Hubmann there as well. And we haven’t seen him much since then. As far as I remember Tsvetkov comes from the area around St.Petersburg, so he should be used to flat and fast terrains … [read more] Thea Lillehov: - Yesterday's long distance b-final was much better than the qualification race. I worked really hard on some mental things the evening after the quali and the morning before the b-final, so in good time before the start I started looking forward to do orienteering again. My goal was to do basic orienteering again, not focusing on runnning speed. Due to this I was preparing and concentrating bef … [read more] IOF World Cup News: - The 24-year-old Russian is not at all on the IOF World Rankings list, but he is actually not so new among the very best. Five years ago he won a gold medal at the Junior World Championships in Estonia, also at long distance. “But this here is much bigger”, he smiles. He was very focused on the tough long distance course today, which went through many different types of terrain, and he made only some very small mistakes. [...] The Russian is from St. Petersburg and he has been orienteering for 17 years. His biggest goal for the season is the World Championships in the Czech Republic. “There I want to win again”, he smiles. [read more] IOF World Cup News: - Anne Margrethe Hausken had never won an international event in the long distance format before coming to EOC in Latvia. [...] “It’s more special for me to win the long than the sprint, because I have won sprints before. And it’s another gold medal!” she says. Anne Margrethe showed again that she has become an orienteer on a higher level. Now she has got great self-confidence in her running. “I was focusing on doing the right things during the race”, she says. [read more] Karin Leonhardt: - …kein Streich :o)heute fand das Langfinale in wirklich coolem Gelände statt, skandinavisch, sumpfig, interessant und recht schwierig! [...] Als ich dann jedoch den 10 Posten in einem kleinen Grüppchen laufend auslies und auch den 11. noch lange suchte beschloss ich den Rest des B-Finales nur mehr fertig zu joggen … [read more] EOC 2008 webpage: The course-setters had made good work to prepare nice courses for the long distance finals. The terrain was very unuusal and it was changing all the time through the course. Runners had the possibility to run in the very fast, but also hilly places, there were place where they had to cross the big sand field that looked almost like Sahara, there were a lot of marshes full of water and at there were even parts with very green areas. [read more] IOF World Cup News: - Dmitry Tsvetkov, Russia ran the race of his life, in only his fourth season in the senior ranks, to take the men’s title by 33 seconds ahead of the vastly more experienced Daniel Hubmann, Switzerland. Emil Wingstedt, Sweden, took the bronze to add to his gold medal in the sprint on Monday. Switzerland demonstrated their strength in depth with three finishers in the top six. Local favourite Edgars Bertuks just missed out on a podium place, finishing seventh. [read more] Olle Kärner: - Eile joostud EMi tavarajal olin 37. Nii viletsat kohta pole ma tiitlivõistlustel ammu saanud. Lühirada ja teatejooks on veel ees. Kui needki distantsid joostud on, siis on ehk pilt selgem, miks eile nii läks. Krahh… Loe edasi … [read more] Emiliano Corona: - Durante il quinto giorno qui in Lettonia è andata in scena la finale sulla lunga distanza. Tra gli uomini ha vinto non proprio uno sconosciuto, il russo Dmitriy Tsvetkov che nel 2003 (su terreni paludosi e verdi come questi) aveva vinto loro nella long e in staffetta ai Campionati del Mondo Junior… Tra le donne grande prova della norvegese Anne Margrethe Hausken che ribadisce la sua supremazia … [read more] See also statements, results and maps from EOC Long Qualification. See also statements, results and maps from EOC Sprint Final See also statements, results and maps from EOC Sprint Qualification.

Results

Men EOC Long 2008 1 Tsvetkov,Dmitriy RUS 1:29:12 2 Hubmann,Daniel SUI 1:29:45 3 Wingstedt,Emil SWE 1:29:46 4 Merz,Matthias SUI 1:31:00 5 Johansson,Martin Per SWE 1:31:42 6 Rollier,Baptiste SUI 1:32:31

Women EOC Long 2008 1 Hausken,Anne Margrethe NOR 1:08:55 2 Ryabkina,Tatiana RUS 1:09:48 3 Engstrand,Emma SWE 1:10:33 4 Novikova,Yulia RUS 1:11:19 5 Johansson,Sofie SWE 1:11:48 6 Rantanen,Merja FIN 1:13:16

Video

At the EOC Long Final yesterday, runners running together in packs was a big discussion due to the fact that most of the men within the top 10 probably had some use of other runners to keep up the speed and lower their errors. The below analysis of the results regarding runners running in packs from the WOC Long Final is done by Henning Spjelkavik as a part of a work done on separation methods in orienteering (read more about the work here) – and the way to display the material is inspired by methods shown by Martin Lerjen for WOC 2007 results.

Note! Colored boxes in the below figures show that two runners have been within 15 seconds of each other at a control. Boxed in the same color show that two runners are together. In each box, the position the runner has at this control is shown.

Updated 2008-02-06: Now the runner who is first in the pack is marked with bold. Also, a tooltip is shown which shows how much a runner is behind.

Being within 15 seconds of each other does not necessarily mean that the runners get help from each other for the orienteering or to keep up higher speed – but if two runners are within 15 seconds of each other in a large part of the course, it indicated that at least one of the runners has gained time due to the grouping. These types of graphs are especially interesting in order to find out how effective separation methods are in orienteering.

Please add your comments below! There is a lot of material for discussion here!

EOC Long Final Men

Name	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Anjala Topi	48	16	39	39	19	15	17	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	17	17	18	19	24	22	21	21	22	22	28	34	35	35	34	34	36	37	36	36
Dlabaja Tomas	48	31	27	22	24	21	20	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	41	42	42	44	44	44	44	44	44	44	42	42	42	43	42	42	42	42	42	42
Breitschadel Felix	48	45	44	42	44	45	45	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	46	46	46	46	46	46	46	46	46	46	46	46	45	45	44	44	44	44	44	44
Bortnik Alexey	48	42	30	24	16	29	27	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	28	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	26	24	28	28	29	30	30	30	30	30	30
Mrazek Jan	48	43	45	44	43	43	43	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	45	43	41	37	36	36	37	37	37	37	35	31	32	32	32	31	31	31	31	31
Prochazka Jan	48	11	13	18	15	14	14	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	13	12	12	11	13	13	16	17	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	15	18	18	18
Skjeset Lars	48	35	27	30	32	30	28	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	34	33	34	38	37	42	40	38	40	40	38	39	38	38	38	38	38	38	38	38
Tervo Tuomas	48	29	17	11	6	6	6	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	8	8	8	11	14	15	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	16	15	15	15
Lind William	48	44	46	37	42	38	36	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	21	20	19	40	39	35	35	35	35	36	41	40	39	39	40	40	40	40	40	40
Lehto Jonne	48	30	29	25	36	40	40	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	33	30	31	31	31	38	38	39	39	39	44	44	46	46	46	46	45	45	45	45
Kerschbaumer Gernot	48	21	33	28	28	25	25	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	23	21	22	23	23	23	24	27	27	25	37	37	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	41
Osterbo Oystein Kvaal	48	18	16	22	47	47	47	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	47	47	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48	48
Teich Christian	48	42	34	38	29	29	29	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	36	34	35	42	43	43	41	40	38	38	36	35	34	33	33	32	32	32	32	32
Smola Michal	48	23	21	12	46	46	46	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	40	39	40	35	33	30	27	26	24	24	22	22	23	23	22	22	22	22	22	21
Sadeckas Darius	48	38	43	43	37	35	33	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	35	37	36	36	38	40	42	43	42	42	39	41	40	40	39	39	39	39	39	39
Millinger Mattias	48	11	43	32	26	24	21	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	11	13	13	12	11	10	11	11	10	11	9	10	11	11	13	12	10	11	11	11
Karner Olle	48	47	47	47	45	44	44	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	37	41	38	33	35	31	31	30	30	30	30	36	36	36	36	37	37	36	37	37
Olsen Rune	48	20	22	48	48	48	48	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	48	48	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	47	46
Zinca Ionut	48	29	21	17	14	34	32	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	39	40	37	39	41	41	39	41	43	43	45	45	44	44	45	45	46	46	46	47
Haldin Mats	48	8	6	5	23	20	22	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	43	45	44	41	40	39	43	42	41	41	40	38	37	37	37	36	35	35	35	35
Krumins Janis	48	16	43	36	34	33	34	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	30	32	30	26	26	24	29	29	31	32	34	30	29	28	28	28	29	28	27	26
Mihalkin Dmitry	48	8	48	45	39	37	39	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	31	29	32	32	33	32	33	33	29	29	25	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23	23
Nikolov Kiril	48	38	36	34	31	29	41	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	38	36	33	27	28	21	22	22	21	21	20	19	19	19	19	18	18	16	16	16
Efimov Roman	48	35	28	26	19	36	37	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	22	22	21	15	16	16	15	14	13	12	12	13	12	13	12	10	11	10	10	10
Mukhidinov Vyacheslav	48	36	32	41	35	32	31	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	24	27	27	30	30	29	30	31	36	34	33	32	31	31	31	34	33	33	33	33
Tsvetkov Dmitriy	48	9	6	6	3	3	3	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	2	2	2	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Gristwood Graham	48	26	24	16	14	17	15	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	29	31	29	28	27	26	23	24	23	23	26	24	24	24	26	26	26	26	27	27
Kostylev Egor	48	6	10	14	9	13	12	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	18	15	15	16	15	17	18	18	17	18	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	22
Schneider David	48	46	39	35	22	31	30	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	26	35	39	34	34	33	32	28	28	29	27	29	30	30	29	29	29	29	29	29
Johnson Oli	48	42	36	32	25	23	26	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	27	24	24	21	20	19	17	16	18	17	17	17	17	18	17	17	17	17	17	18
Krepsta Simonas	48	24	24	19	20	19	19	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	20	18	20	18	18	18	19	20	20	20	19	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20
Bertuks Edgars	48	23	12	10	8	9	8	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	6	6	6	6	5	6	6	5	4	5	5	6	7	8	7	7	7	7	7	7
Nomm Marek	48	42	40	41	38	42	42	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	44	44	43	43	42	37	34	34	34	33	31	33	33	34	35	35	34	34	34	34
Stevenson Jamie	48	33	25	24	17	17	17	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	25	23	23	22	22	28	26	23	26	27	23	25	26	26	25	25	25	25	25	25
Lucan Vladimir	48	32	32	29	21	22	23	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	15	19	17	17	17	15	13	13	12	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14
Wickholm Jorgen	48	13	15	13	12	12	14	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	10	28	28	29	29	27	28	32	32	31	29	27	27	27	27	27	27	27	28	28
Wingstedt Emil	48	2	1	1	1	1	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3
Lundanes Olav	48	4	2	7	10	11	11	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	19	17	16	24	22	20	20	19	19	19	18	18	18	18	18	19	19	19	19	19
Lakanen Jani	48	20	18	34	40	39	35	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	16	14	14	14	12	11	10	10	11	10	11	8	9	9	9	9	10	12	12	12
Troeng Mats	48	48	37	27	33	26	25	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	12	10	10	13	10	12	12	12	14	14	13	11	13	11	11	13	13	13	13	13
Weltzien Audun Hultgreen	48	3	9	15	5	3	2	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	5	3	3	5	4	5	5	6	7	6	6	12	10	12	10	12	12	9	9	8
Rollier Baptiste	48	1	4	3	31	5	4	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	5	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	8	10	9	8	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
Johansson Martin Per	48	26	9	8	4	4	5	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	14	11	11	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	7	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Hubmann Daniel	48	6	7	4	7	8	9	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	7	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2
Nordberg Anders	48	12	3	2	27	18	18	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	42	38	45	45	45	45	45	45	45	45	44	43	43	42	43	43	43	43	43	43
Merz Matthias	48	27	11	9	2	8	7	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	3	6	5	4	6	4	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Ohlund Erik	48	14	15	46	41	41	38	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	32	26	27	20	19	34	36	36	33	35	32	26	25	25	24	24	24	24	24	24
Ikonen Pasi	48	18	19	20	11	10	10	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	7	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	9

EOC Long Final Women

Name	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Rantanen Merja	44	11	16	12	8	8	.	.	6	.	.	4	4	5	6	6	6	6	7	6	6	6	7	6	6	6
Voskoboynikova Tatiana	44	42	38	44	43	43	.	.	41	.	.	38	38	43	43	43	43	42	42	42	42	42	42	41	41	41
Rebane Kirti	44	34	35	43	42	42	.	.	40	.	.	37	36	36	37	35	35	37	36	36	35	35	35	34	34	34
Kokina Kristine	44	41	36	31	32	32	.	.	35	.	.	34	32	31	33	29	30	32	29	30	30	30	30	31	31	31
Muller Lea	44	33	30	23	20	15	.	.	15	.	.	15	16	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15
Shandurkova Iliana	44	35	43	39	39	39	.	.	42	.	.	40	41	41	40	40	40	40	40	40	41	41	41	42	42	42
Jurenikova Eva	44	29	22	21	21	14	.	.	17	.	.	17	17	18	19	16	16	19	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20
Rollins Sarah	44	15	18	15	14	33	.	.	31	.	.	26	25	23	23	20	20	17	18	18	18	18	18	19	19	19
Johanson Liis	44	43	41	32	34	34	.	.	32	.	.	36	43	42	41	42	42	41	41	41	40	40	40	40	40	40
Vinogradova Galina	44	28	40	40	40	41	.	.	43	.	.	43	42	38	38	38	38	38	37	37	37	37	37	37	37	37
Vanjuk Merike	44	31	31	41	41	40	.	.	38	.	.	35	34	35	35	36	37	36	35	34	33	33	33	33	33	33
Vercellotti Capucine	44	44	44	42	44	44	.	.	44	.	.	41	37	37	36	37	36	34	31	32	32	32	32	32	32	32
Depta Monika	44	26	33	30	29	30	.	.	29	.	.	24	23	22	21	21	21	23	21	21	21	21	21	22	21	21
Hagman Line	44	38	39	36	38	38	.	.	36	.	.	33	39	39	39	41	39	39	38	38	38	38	38	39	39	39
Palmer Helen	44	30	20	17	20	27	.	.	39	.	.	44	44	44	44	44	44	44	44	44	44	44	44	44	44	44
Gyurko Fanni	44	38	42	38	37	37	.	.	34	.	.	42	40	40	42	39	41	43	43	43	43	43	43	43	43	43
Stara Zdenka	44	7	10	28	28	26	.	.	22	.	.	21	22	18	19	25	24	25	24	25	25	25	25	26	26	26
Elder Rachael	44	18	18	17	17	12	.	.	20	.	.	22	21	20	22	19	19	24	25	24	24	24	24	24	24	24
Gil Esther	44	27	26	33	31	29	.	.	28	.	.	25	24	24	24	23	26	27	39	39	39	39	39	38	38	38
Stanchenko Larysa	44	40	34	26	24	22	.	.	27	.	.	31	29	29	29	31	32	28	26	27	27	27	27	27	27	27
Dockalova Martina	44	36	32	24	23	23	.	.	37	.	.	33	30	32	31	32	33	31	28	28	28	28	28	29	29	29
Cejka Caroline	44	32	27	22	27	25	.	.	21	.	.	23	20	21	20	24	23	22	22	23	22	22	23	21	22	22
Sundberg Karoliina	44	16	14	9	12	11	.	.	18	.	.	16	12	12	14	18	17	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16
Luscher Sara	44	13	19	18	15	13	.	.	10	.	.	27	26	25	25	26	25	21	23	22	23	23	23	23	23	23
Pauzaite Sandra	44	18	13	35	36	36	.	.	33	.	.	29	27	27	27	22	22	20	19	19	19	19	19	18	18	18
Stalder Seline	44	24	24	25	33	31	.	.	26	.	.	28	28	28	28	27	28	26	33	32	31	31	31	30	30	30
Kazlauskaite Inga	44	24	23	20	18	20	.	.	23	.	.	19	18	16	16	14	14	14	13	12	12	12	12	12	12	12
Billstam Annika	44	22	7	8	9	7	.	.	14	.	.	13	11	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	9
Valaite Indre	44	22	16	13	16	17	.	.	16	.	.	20	19	19	17	17	18	18	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17
Gustafsson Linnea	44	20	11	37	35	35	.	.	30	.	.	39	35	34	34	30	29	33	30	29	29	29	29	29	28	28
Elson Grace	44	26	38	27	25	24	.	.	25	.	.	30	31	30	30	34	34	35	33	35	36	36	36	36	36	36
Holmstrom Bodil	44	9	9	14	13	16	.	.	12	.	.	11	14	10	10	10	8	7	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7
Novikova Yulia	44	2	2	6	6	4	.	.	4	.	.	5	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	4
Dodin Celine	44	20	28	19	22	19	.	.	13	.	.	12	13	11	12	12	12	13	12	13	13	13	13	13	13	13
Brozkova Radka	44	1	3	4	7	5	.	.	5	.	.	9	33	33	32	33	31	30	27	26	26	26	26	25	25	25
Riddervold Marianne	44	9	21	12	11	18	.	.	11	.	.	10	7	8	8	8	10	12	11	10	10	10	10	11	11	11
Brozkova Dana	44	11	9	7	4	6	.	.	9	.	.	7	9	13	11	11	11	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	8
Johansson Sofie	44	12	5	4	5	9	.	.	7	.	.	6	5	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5
Korzhova Natalia	44	15	25	29	26	21	.	.	19	.	.	14	10	7	7	7	7	8	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14
Persson Lina	44	6	12	10	10	10	.	.	8	.	.	8	8	15	13	13	13	11	10	11	11	11	11	10	10	10
Weltzien Ingunn Hultgreen	44	39	29	34	30	28	.	.	24	.	.	18	15	26	26	28	27	29	34	33	34	34	34	35	35	35
Ryabkina Tatiana	44	3	1	1	1	1	.	.	1	.	.	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Hausken Anne Margrethe	44	5	5	5	3	3	.	.	3	.	.	3	3	2	2	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Engstrand Emma	44	4	6	2	2	2	.	.	2	.	.	2	2	3	3	2	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3

Percent of runners in packs

The following curve shows how many runners (in percent) run in pack at each control. As you can see, at the controls after the butterflies, the runners got together in packs.

• Map EOC Long Final at Mats Troeng webpage

The following analysis by Martin Lerjen posted as a comment in the World of O article “Grouping at EOC Long Qualification” is very interesting in this regard:

At the Mens Top Ten today… (me looking at the results) 1. Tsvetkov: Together with Efimov (10.) since 11th control, together with Nikolov since 15th control, with Mihalkin since 22nd Control. 2. Hubmann: First contact with Johannson (5.) at the 8th control, running togehter with Johannson from the 16th control 3. Wingstedt: Some not very cooperative contacts with Wickholm. Together with Lucan (14.) from the 13th control (but Lucan always behind) 4. Merz: Ran the whole thing alone 5. Johannson: catched up by Hubmann at 16th 6. Rollier: Ran the whole thing alone 7. Bertuks: Together with Schneider (23.) from the 19th 8. Weltzien: Contacts with Troeng from the 12th, together with Troeng from 16th to 25th 9. Ikonen: with Öhlund (23.) 3rd to 6th control, and 16th to 19th, else alone. 10. Efimov, see Tsvetkov (1.) Some comments to this: 1) 16th control is at the middle of the race, if two runners catch up there, they are running half the race together 2) I doubt that the competition is fair. See the case of Merz, Rollier and Wingsted (somehow) all considered running alone: Tsvetkov makes the difference from the moment he runs with Efimov. Hubmann and Johannson make the difference from the moment they run together. So.I have nothing against Tsvetkov, he is the winner. Let’s just put some effort in avoiding that amount of mutual influencing among the top ten of a Championchip. ————— Second comment – also by Martin Lerjen ——————— The Ranking of Longest mutual influence* during todays long distance final: 1. Olson & Haldin 84 Min. 2. Smola & Millinger 64 Min. 3. Kerschbaumer & Letho 63.5 Min. 4. Tsvetkov & Efimov 53 Min. 5. Wingstedt & Lucan 51 Min. 6. Teich & Karklins 46 Min. 7. Tsvetkov & Efimov & Nikolov 45 Min. 8. Hubmann & Johansson 42 Min. 9. Prochazka & Mrazek & Breitschädel 37 Min. 10.Osterbo & Teich & Karklins 36 Min. 11.Lakanen & Lundanes 35 Min. 12.Schneider & Bertuks 34 Min. 13.Bortnik & Dlabaja 32 Min. 13.Gristwood & Kostylev 32 Min. 13.Troeng & Weltzien 32 Min. 16.Smola & Osterbo & Teich & Millinger & Karklins 31 Min. 17. Tsetkov & Efimov & Nikolov & Mihalkin 20 Min. 18.Krumins & Haldin & Olsen 10 Min. 19.Johnson & Schneider 8 Min. … … No Ranked: Skjeset, Tervo, Lind, Sadeckas, Merz, Rollier, Ikonen, Norberg, Kärner and others. *Punching every control not more than 15 seconds apart

- One of the best and most varied Long distance courses I have run. Nice terrain and interesting orienteering all the way, is Mats Troeng’s comment about this years EOC Long Distance Final. Above you see a map extract of the butterfly part of the course.

From a spreading point of view, it seems like the spreading method (butterfly) came too early in the course. Another matter is that butterflies have proven to not be the most effective spreading method in the past.

• Map EOC Long Final at Mats Troeng webpage
• Summary with results and statements from EOC Long Final

We will come back with routechoice analysis of the single legs of the course later – for now enjoy the map of Mats Troeng – and the statements of runners here.

Gold medals went to Anne Margrethe Hausken (NOR) and Dmitriy Tsvetkov (RUS) in todays EOC over the Long distance. Today Hausken impressed everybody by taking her second Gold medal in this years EOC at the Long Distance in Ventspils, Latvia. Dmitriy Tsvetkov’s Gold medal was a very surprising one – as he has no previous top 20 positions in the senior category in WOC, EOC or World Cup races – although he has a Gold medal in JWOC in 2003.

Strong finish

Hausken (Photo: ) secured her second Gold medal at this years EOC through a very strong finish. After around 50 minutes running she was in third spot – nearly a minute behind Tatiana Riabkina (RUS), with also Emma Engstrand (SWE) a few seconds faster. However, nobody could keep up with Hausken’s speed in the last part of the course – and thus Hausken could celebrate a new Gold medal!

Gold for Tsvetkov!

Many packs in the mens class

From the splits, it is clear that Tsvetkov caught up with Roman Efimov (RUS) starting 4 minutes ahead of Tsvetkov at control number 11 – and that the two were together at most of the rest of the course. However, at that point Tsvetkov had run a very good race – Tsvetkov was actually in 2nd position already at control number 10! The two Russions later caught up with Nikolov (control 15) and Mihalkin (control 22).

The following analysis by Martin Lerjen posted as a comment in the World of O article “Grouping at EOC Long Qualification” is very interesting in this regard:

At the Mens Top Ten today… (me looking at the results) 1. Tsvetkov: Together with Efimov (10.) since 11th control, together with Nikolov since 15th control, with Mihalkin since 22nd Control. 2. Hubmann: First contact with Johannson (5.) at the 8th control, running togehter with Johannson from the 16th control 3. Wingstedt: Some not very cooperative contacts with Wickholm. Together with Lucan (14.) from the 13th control (but Lucan always behind) 4. Merz: Ran the whole thing alone 5. Johannson: catched up by Hubmann at 16th 6. Rollier: Ran the whole thing alone 7. Bertuks: Together with Schneider (23.) from the 19th 8. Weltzien: Contacts with Troeng from the 12th, together with Troeng from 16th to 25th 9. Ikonen: with Öhlund (23.) 3rd to 6th control, and 16th to 19th, else alone. 10. Efimov, see Tsvetkov (1.) Some comments to this: 1) 16th control is at the middle of the race, if two runners catch up there, they are running half the race together 2) I doubt that the competition is fair. See the case of Merz, Rollier and Wingsted (somehow) all considered running alone: Tsvetkov makes the difference from the moment he runs with Efimov. Hubmann and Johannson make the difference from the moment they run together. So.I have nothing against Tsvetkov, he is the winner. Let’s just put some effort in avoiding that amount of mutual influencing among the top ten of a Championchip. ————— Second comment – also by Martin Lerjen ——————— The Ranking of Longest mutual influence* during todays long distance final: 1. Olson & Haldin 84 Min. 2. Smola & Millinger 64 Min. 3. Kerschbaumer & Letho 63.5 Min. 4. Tsvetkov & Efimov 53 Min. 5. Wingstedt & Lucan 51 Min. 6. Teich & Karklins 46 Min. 7. Tsvetkov & Efimov & Nikolov 45 Min. 8. Hubmann & Johansson 42 Min. 9. Prochazka & Mrazek & Breitschädel 37 Min. 10.Osterbo & Teich & Karklins 36 Min. 11.Lakanen & Lundanes 35 Min. 12.Schneider & Bertuks 34 Min. 13.Bortnik & Dlabaja 32 Min. 13.Gristwood & Kostylev 32 Min. 13.Troeng & Weltzien 32 Min. 16.Smola & Osterbo & Teich & Millinger & Karklins 31 Min. 17. Tsetkov & Efimov & Nikolov & Mihalkin 20 Min. 18.Krumins & Haldin & Olsen 10 Min. 19.Johnson & Schneider 8 Min. … … No Ranked: Skjeset, Tervo, Lind, Sadeckas, Merz, Rollier, Ikonen, Norberg, Kärner and others. *Punching every control not more than 15 seconds apart

Statements

Some statements and personal Blog entries from the Long Final (will be updated):

Eva Jurenikova: - The long final yesterday was one of the technically most demanding long distance races I have ever run. I had big respect for the terrain but I was also looking forward to the challenge. I was not able to avoid mistakes, unfortunately I lost ca 1-2 minutes at couple of controls, all together more than 5 minutes. This season I have been struggling with direction keeping. I started to use thumb … [read more] Baptiste Rollier: - After a bad start in the sprint qualification where I missed the final for 1 second, I needed to get the self confidence back for the long distance.Therefore my tactic in the long qualification was to have full control of my orienteering during the all course and especially at the beginning. That was the right tactic and with a 2nd place in my heat I saw that my technic was ok and my physical shape [...] Then the concentration level was a little bit up and down which provoke a 1 minute mistake at control 25. At the spectator control, I heard that I had the 3rd time and was in the battle for a final 6th place. This gave me extra energy and I could rise my focus for the last 1.5km. … [read more] Anne Margrethe Hausken: - What shall I say? I am flying! I have taken my first victory in an international long distance race – and that in a European Champs. I started with respect for the mission, because I anticipated that it would be a technically very difficult course. Today I have read the map accurately all the way, because I did not dare to simplify so much. Those of you who are orienteers know what line orienteering is, and when you do that for 68 minutes you get very tired in the head .… [read more (Norwegian)] Celine Dodin: - After the qualification of the long distance which took place on the seafront, the organization we had reserved a former “military” on land still virgin any mapping! To prepare ourselves, only a few lines of description on the latest newsletter of the competition: it is not uncommon to have a look on old maps before, but things change and it is good from time to time! [read more (French - with map and nice analysis of competition)] Øystein Kvaal Østerbø: - Yesterday’s Long distance Final was a really tough challenge. In the beginning and end of the course the ground was sandy, while most of the course was in green forest with bad runability and a lot of very wet and muddy marches.I did a really bad performance, and destroyed my chances for a good result early. To the 4th control I did a parallel mistake, and lost 4 minutes. I also lost 2 minutes … [read more] Anders Nordberg: - Jeg vet jeg tapte en del på vei til 4.post i går, men ellers var åpningen helt ok. Jeg måtte jobbe for å holde farten oppe i starten, men fikk en bedre og bedre følelse etter hvert som postene satt bra. På 14.post kom jeg litt for langt til venstre, jeg ble veldig usikker om jeg var helt feil, minutter gikk, så ønsker jeg vel egentlig bare å glemme resten av løpet som var hodeløst … [read more] Christian Teich: - Gestern war ein sehr anstregender Tag für mich. Das Langfinale in Irbene bot eine wirklich orientierungstechnisch und physisch anspruchsvolle Langdistanz. Am Start fühlten sich meine Beine noch sehr schwer an vom Vorlauf. Ich hätte nicht gedacht, das ich diese Belastung so schlecht verkrafte. Nach einer kurzen Warmup Zeitging es anden Startder Langdistanz. Sümpfe, … [read more] Jørn Sundby: - I think the only thing that is 100% clear about following is that the longer and more technical the more runners will get together. Easy technical courses with long legs and routechioces at WOC 2006 and 2007 proved to very effective against runners grouping. But do we r … [read more] Swedish O-Federation (web-TV): - Anne Margrethe Hausken har efter två finaler på EM två guld. En skadefri säsong och flytten till Halden är delar av framgångsfaktorerna säger Hausken när orientering.se sökte audiens för en träff med EM-drottningen.Se inslaget här. … [read more] Jørn Sundby: - Tsvetkov was a surprise five years ago in quite similar terrain in Estonia when he took the JWOC gold on long distance, fighting with Merz and Hubmann there as well. And we haven’t seen him much since then. As far as I remember Tsvetkov comes from the area around St.Petersburg, so he should be used to flat and fast terrains … [read more] Thea Lillehov: - Yesterday's long distance b-final was much better than the qualification race. I worked really hard on some mental things the evening after the quali and the morning before the b-final, so in good time before the start I started looking forward to do orienteering again. My goal was to do basic orienteering again, not focusing on runnning speed. Due to this I was preparing and concentrating bef … [read more] IOF World Cup News: - The 24-year-old Russian is not at all on the IOF World Rankings list, but he is actually not so new among the very best. Five years ago he won a gold medal at the Junior World Championships in Estonia, also at long distance. “But this here is much bigger”, he smiles. He was very focused on the tough long distance course today, which went through many different types of terrain, and he made only some very small mistakes. [...] The Russian is from St. Petersburg and he has been orienteering for 17 years. His biggest goal for the season is the World Championships in the Czech Republic. “There I want to win again”, he smiles. [read more] IOF World Cup News: - Anne Margrethe Hausken had never won an international event in the long distance format before coming to EOC in Latvia. [...] “It’s more special for me to win the long than the sprint, because I have won sprints before. And it’s another gold medal!” she says. Anne Margrethe showed again that she has become an orienteer on a higher level. Now she has got great self-confidence in her running. “I was focusing on doing the right things during the race”, she says. [read more] Karin Leonhardt: - …kein Streich :o)heute fand das Langfinale in wirklich coolem Gelände statt, skandinavisch, sumpfig, interessant und recht schwierig! [...] Als ich dann jedoch den 10 Posten in einem kleinen Grüppchen laufend auslies und auch den 11. noch lange suchte beschloss ich den Rest des B-Finales nur mehr fertig zu joggen … [read more] EOC 2008 webpage: The course-setters had made good work to prepare nice courses for the long distance finals. The terrain was very unuusal and it was changing all the time through the course. Runners had the possibility to run in the very fast, but also hilly places, there were place where they had to cross the big sand field that looked almost like Sahara, there were a lot of marshes full of water and at there were even parts with very green areas. [read more] IOF World Cup News: - Dmitry Tsvetkov, Russia ran the race of his life, in only his fourth season in the senior ranks, to take the men’s title by 33 seconds ahead of the vastly more experienced Daniel Hubmann, Switzerland. Emil Wingstedt, Sweden, took the bronze to add to his gold medal in the sprint on Monday. Switzerland demonstrated their strength in depth with three finishers in the top six. Local favourite Edgars Bertuks just missed out on a podium place, finishing seventh. [read more] Olle Kärner: - Eile joostud EMi tavarajal olin 37. Nii viletsat kohta pole ma tiitlivõistlustel ammu saanud. Lühirada ja teatejooks on veel ees. Kui needki distantsid joostud on, siis on ehk pilt selgem, miks eile nii läks. Krahh… Loe edasi … [read more] Emiliano Corona: - Durante il quinto giorno qui in Lettonia è andata in scena la finale sulla lunga distanza. Tra gli uomini ha vinto non proprio uno sconosciuto, il russo Dmitriy Tsvetkov che nel 2003 (su terreni paludosi e verdi come questi) aveva vinto loro nella long e in staffetta ai Campionati del Mondo Junior… Tra le donne grande prova della norvegese Anne Margrethe Hausken che ribadisce la sua supremazia … [read more] See also statements, results and maps from EOC Long Qualification. See also statements, results and maps from EOC Sprint Final See also statements, results and maps from EOC Sprint Qualification.

Results

Men EOC Long 2008 1 Tsvetkov,Dmitriy RUS 1:29:12 2 Hubmann,Daniel SUI 1:29:45 3 Wingstedt,Emil SWE 1:29:46 4 Merz,Matthias SUI 1:31:00 5 Johansson,Martin Per SWE 1:31:42 6 Rollier,Baptiste SUI 1:32:31

Women EOC Long 2008 1 Hausken,Anne Margrethe NOR 1:08:55 2 Ryabkina,Tatiana RUS 1:09:48 3 Engstrand,Emma SWE 1:10:33 4 Novikova,Yulia RUS 1:11:19 5 Johansson,Sofie SWE 1:11:48 6 Rantanen,Merja FIN 1:13:16

• Official results

Map with course

- One of the best and most varied Long distance courses I have run. Nice terrain and interesting orienteering all the way, is Mats Troeng’s comment about this years EOC Long Distance Final. Above you see a map extract of the butterfly part of the course.

• Map EOC Long Final at Mats Troeng webpage

We will come back with routechoice analysis of the single legs of the course later – for now enjoy the map of Mats Troeng.

Video

Video provided by the organizers will be included here when it is available.

Photo: Jānis Urtāns and Daiga Brakmane” – Official EOC2008 photographers.

Anne Margrethe Hausken (NOR) is working hard on replacing Simone Niggli (SUI) as the queen of orienteering – today Hausken took her second Gold medal in this years EOC at the Long Distance in Ventspils, Latvia.

Strong finish

Hausken secured her second Gold medal at this years EOC through a very strong finish. After around 50 minutes running she was in third spot – nearly a minute behind Tatiana Riabkina (RUS), with also Emma Engstrand (SWE) a few seconds faster. However, nobody could keep up with Hausken’s speed in the last part of the course – and thus Hausken could celebrate a new Gold medal! Before todays long distance race, Hausken reported that she was in the shape of her life – and that was more than enough for victory today.

Results

1 Hausken,Anne Margrethe NOR 1:08:55 + 00:00 0

2 Ryabkina,Tatiana RUS 1:09:48 + 00:53 0

3 Engstrand,Emma SWE 1:10:33 + 01:38 0

4 Novikova,Yulia RUS 1:11:19 + 02:24 0

5 Johansson,Sofie SWE 1:11:48 + 02:53 0

6 Rantanen,Merja FIN 1:13:16 + 04:21 0

• Results (live results)

(Updated) In the EOC Long Final today we got one of the biggest surprises we have had for many years in Orienteering Championships. Surprise winner was Dimitry Tsvetkov (RUS) – who beat Daniel Hubmann (SUI) and Emil Wingstedt (SWE) with 33 and 34 seconds, respectively.

Note! Big apologies to Dmitriy Tsvetkov, Sergey Detkov and all reader of World of O. We got up the wrong picture of Tsvetkov, which was up for more than 2 hours. The article is now updated with a correct picture.

Results

1 Tsvetkov,Dmitriy RUS 1:29:12 + 00:00 0

2 Hubmann,Daniel SUI 1:29:45 + 00:33 0

3 Wingstedt,Emil SWE 1:29:46 + 00:34 0

4 Merz,Matthias SUI 1:31:00 + 01:48 0

5 Johansson,Martin Per SWE 1:31:42 + 02:30 0

6 Rollier,Baptiste SUI 1:32:31 + 03:19 0

From the splits, it is clear that Tsvetkov caught up with Roman Efimov (RUS) starting 4 minutes ahead of Tsvetkov at control number 11 – and that the two were together at most of the rest of the course.

Tsvetkov has no previous top 20 results in any senior WOC, EOC or World Cup race – you can see his World of O Runner Profile here. He has both individual and relay Gold medals from JWOC 2003 – but there is a long step from a JWOC Gold medal 5 years ago to a EOC Gold medal in the senior class.

• Results (live results)

Photo: Träningsbloggen

There were some legs where the runners had to decide between different routechoice options in the EOC Long Qualification 2008. However, the differences in running time for the different routechoices do not seem to be very significant based on routechoices of the best runners. It seems like the most important thing is to take a choice, and follow your choice with fast and good orienteering. The time differences between the best runners are mostly due to orienteering mistakes.

The lack of real routechoice problems is quite typical for these qualification runs in the championships – the courses are typically also a lot easier than the runners experience in the finals. Hopefully we will see some bigger challenges in the finals!

Selected legs

We start with a few legs were there were significant differences in routechoices – and conclude with more legs below.

More legs – for completeness

Below, routechoices for more legs are compared. Most of these legs are not that interesting from a routechoice comparison viewpoint – but it may still be interesting to see what kind of choices the World Orienteering Elite took for these legs.

• Source: Routegadget at Orientansas.lv