Tight World Cup Final coming up – Fantasy WC also

Daniel Hubmann and Minna Kauppi are in the lead – but Kauppi is not starting. It is tight in the top ahead of the World Cup finals in Switzerland this year, so it looks like we are going to get a real fight for the win in both the mens and womens classes in this years overall World Cup. In the Fantasy World Cup it is also tight in the top – with at least all the top 10 teams having a chance to take the final victory in the 2009 Fantasy World Cup.

As the last years, the World Cup finals are organized at the Postfinance Sprint in Switzerland. This year the venue is in Zürich – and startlists will be available here.

• Saturday September 26th: First start women 13:15 CET, men 13:35 CET
• Sunday September 27th: First start women 13:31 CET, men 14:35 CET
• Old map (PDF)
• Post Finance Sprint webpage

World Cup Top 15 ahead of finals – Men

See full World Cup standings men here

In the mens class Daniel Hubmann has 380 points – a 15 points lead ahead of Thierry Gueorgiou. Thus the two big profiles in the orienteering world are again ready for a fight. The question is if the terrain is technical enough for Gueorgiou.

Peter Öberg – the man of the spring – with 304 points is also in the fight for the overall World Cup victory in the in the mens class, whereas it will be difficult for the others to fight for the overall victory.

The overall World Cup points are calculated as the 5 best points from the 7 first competitions added to the World Cup points from the two races in the finals. Note that the number of points are doubled in the last race, i.e. 200 points for the winner.

World Cup Top 15 ahead of finals – Women

See full World Cup standings women here

In the womens class, Minna Kauppi has the lead 20 points ahead of Marianne Andersen. Kauppi is however not starting due to a foot injury, and thus Andersen is the favorite ahead of the finals. Behind Andersen, Helena Jansson (55 points down from Andersen) and Simone Niggli (70 points dows for Andersen) are the rivals for the overall World Cup victory. Anne Margrethe Hausken with 202 points has probably only theoretical chances to take the overall World Cup victory, but with two victories she will be at 502 points…

Special rules for World Cup finals

The World Cup finals consists of two races.

• Day one: Middle distance, individual interval start. There is no prior qualification. The 40 runners with the highest World Cup standings start last in reverse order (leader starts last) – the rest of field start earlier and their start order is determined by the reverse standing of the World Rankings as at the beginning of 1st September 2009. The start interval is 2 minutes.
• Day two: Sprint, individual time trial. The competition consists of one Final only, with 40
  competitors. These 40 competitors are the 40 highest placed competitors in the World Cup
  Standings (5 out of first 7 plus score from competition 8) out of those entered for competition
  9. The start order is reverse World Cup current standings (leader starts last). The start
  interval is 1 minute.

Fantasy WC Top 10 ahead of World Cup Finals

Fantasy World Cup Information

The last chance to change your team ahead of the middle distance is Saturday morning at 13:00 CET. The last chance to change your team ahead of the sprint is Sunday morning at 13:00 CET (open from Saturday evening 20:00 CET). Log in here to change your Team:

• http://runners.worldofo.com/fantasywc/

Note that the standings in the Fantasy World Cup will not be updated between the two races in the finals.

• Fantasy World Cup overall standings
• Team results Fantasy World Cup race 7
• Team results Fantasy World Cup race 6
• Team results Fantasy World Cup race 5
• Team results Fantasy World Cup race 4
• Team results Fantasy World Cup race 3
• Team results Fantasy World Cup race 2
• Team results Fantasy World Cup race 1