This years EOC in Bulgaria was hopefully the last international championships without live GPS-tracking. As a spectator at home in front of the computer/big screen, I have got used to live GPS-tracking from all the big national events in Finland, Sweden and Norway, several smaller national/regional events in both Finland and Norway, and even on some training camps.

Let us hope GPS-tracking is set as a requirement for the organizers in the future. I think this was the last EOC/WOC without live GPS-tracking – time will tell if we are there yet…

The remainder of 2010 looks good for the international races: The World Champs in Trondheim will have GPS-tracking, Jukola, most of the Nordic Orienteering Tour, EYOC in Spain will also, and so on (for JWOC in Denmark I have found no information yet – please add a comment below if you know any details there will be no GPS-tracking – see comment below).

Barely good enough for the core community

During the last week, I have followed the European Championships closely. The organizers had some problems with live results / live speaker sound in some of the competitions, but overall either results or speaker sound worked for most of the time – making it possible to follow most of the excitement from all around the world. This was nearly good enough for the core of the orienteering community, but some probably turned their attention to other matters when the coverage stopped working.

Required coverage in the future

In my opinion, this is what is required for the core orienteering community to be interested in following the competitions in a championships:

• Live results which work all the time (including removing DSQ, fixing other errors in the live results – at the EOC the live results had several errors for some of the competitions – and these being the only results available for hours after the competitions, it was not easy to know what had really happened if you hadn’t listened to the speaker)
• Live speaker sound

If you want to attract a broader range of the orienteering community, you have to add:

• Live GPS-tracking – to really get to feel the excitement

To get out to all of the orienteering community – and also people outside the orienteering community:

• Live or recorded video feed/TV is the only way. And the live video feed/TV must include graphics with running time, GPS-tracking, etc. More professional broadcasts = better chance to get outside the orienteering community.

The future looks bright for the orienteering community who wants to follow their heroes – watching their every step from far away. It also looks like we are getting closer to the productions which can get viewers outside the orienteering community: The plans of the World Champs in Trondheim this year seems very promising – and with World Champs in France, Switzerland and Finland coming up the next years – and EOC in Sweden in 2012 – there should be good chances for a lot of high quality productions. The plans for coverage of the Nordic Tour and most of the remaining World Cup competitions this year also looks good. However – the downside is that this evolution in technology makes it more difficult for less developed orienteering nations to organize the important races in the future…

EOC maps and courses

After co-authoring a report on separating runners in orienteering, I was very curious about how the organizers/route planners had solved the problem of separating the runners. It is difficult to make a real conclusion before seeing splits in a form which makes it possible to make a proper analysis – and before seeing route choices of more runners – but here is a preliminary conclusion:

• There were quite a few groups, some of them probably affecting the overall results also well inside the top 10.
• The separating method used (butterflies), is the method which it was advised against in the report (Ref: Short butterflies do not split packs – they only put constraints on the planning which again may lead to more packs due to less long legs and nothing gained by the butterflies)
• There were few long legs with many different route choice options (as far as I can judge without seeing the routes of several runners) – see map men here – map women here.
• Using 3 minutes start interval saved the competition (but I’ll have to see a detailed following analysis to say this 100%). For example, Hubmann and Khramov were together for large parts of the course, and Khramov would have finished 4th if he had not missed a punch. With 2 minutes start interval, who knows what would have happened.

Without being in the terrain, it is difficult to say too much else about the maps and courses. From the comments I have seen, some were disappointed by parts of the terrain being “only typical continental” and not really interesting – others were happy with varied orienteering.

Twitter coming to elite orienteering?

Is Twitter finally coming to elite orienteering? During EOC, the World of O frontpage has featured the latest tweets from “Elite Orienteering related Twitter users”. I have tried to get the top runners to use Twitter before, but still only a very few have taken it up. During EOC, Eva Jurenikova (Czech Republic) and Christian Bobach (Denmark) gave us some insight into what was happening “behind the scenes”. I hope more will follow – please let me know if there are some missing on my list. And if you are a Top Elite Orienteer: Twitter is a good and little time-consuming way to share your thoughts with the community.

EOC coverage at WorldofO.com

Finally a few words about the EOC coverage at WorldofO.com. The coverage has been quite extensive. Several articles have been published each day – and the Fantasy World Cup has been updated after each final. Total pageviews at WorldofO.com during the EOC-week has been more than 110.000. In addition I had a LiveBlog open at WorldofO.com at the Sprint Finals and the Long Finals – each attracting about 5-600 viewers live – and many more in replay mode. A fun week – with a lot of interesting orienteering!

Maps from EOC 2010

As I know most of the readers of WorldofO.com are crazy for maps – here are the maps from EOC 2010 again:

• Map Long Final men – Webroute for the mens long leg (6-7)
• Map Long Final women – with route of Simone Niggli
• Map Middle Final women (Simone Niggli)
• Map Middle Final men (Daniel Hubmann)
• Map Middle Final men / women without course
• Map Relay women (Simone Niggli)
• Map EOC Middle Qual Men (Zinca Iounut)
• Map EOC Middle Qual Women (Simone Niggli)
• Maps EOC Middle Qual without route: Women A, Women B, Women C, Men A, Men B, Men C
• Map Long Qual, Women (Simone Niggli)
• Map Long Qual, Men (Jörgen Wickholm)
• Map Sprint Final, Men (Daniel Hubmann)
• Map Sprint Final, Women (Simone Niggli)
• Map Sprint Qual, Men (Tue Lassen)
• Map Sprint Qual, Women (Simone Niggli)
• More maps from EOC 2010 – including maps without routes from all qualification heats
• Webroute – Long Qualification, leg 6-7 in heat A for the men

Last years winners – the Bushmen – impressed us all after the first round of the Fantasy World Cup, but after three races Kristoffer Fiane Pedersen’s team is pushed down to third spot. The new overall leader is the RLD-observer team with manager Sveinung. Now the Fantasy World Cup has a break for nearly two weeks – coming back at the opening of the Nordic Tour in Finland at the 17th of June.

Note! These Fantasy World Cup results are still unofficial – please check the calculations for your team, and let me know in case of errors.

• Overall results Fantasy World Cup 2010
• Fantasy World Cup 2010 Race 3: Results
• Fantasy World Cup 2010 Race 2: Results
• Fantasy World Cup 2010 Race 1: Results
• Fantasy World Cup webpage

Fixtures Fantasy World Cup 2010

All times given below are CET.

Overall standing: Fantasy World Cup 2010 after three races

Two more Swiss Gold medals in todays demanding EOC Long distance – 5 out of 8 Gold medals went to Switzerland in this years European Champs. Nobody could beat the time early starter Daniel Hubmann set – in the end Phillipe Adamski was the closest. In the womens class, Dana Brozkova had a very strong race, but  it was not good enough to beat the “impossible” Simone Niggli.

Andrey Khramov was caught by Hubmann early with 6 minutes, and they were together for most of the race. Khramov was DSQ’ed, but the time would have been good enough for a 4th spot.

Some comments from the runners:

Hubmann: – I had also mistake – maybe one minute in the butterflies. Something I was wondering if I was fast enough, but then I thought it was long and hot. I thought it was good to be able to push at the last loop.
Adamski: – My legs were quite good this morning. Maybe I slowed down a little in the last loop, but I didn’t make any mistakes. I just followed the red line. It doesn’t feel like a medal race, but like a good race.
Nikolov: – OK race. Stops, not mistake. The beginning and end of the course was typical Bulgarian terrain. But in the middle of the course it was not typical – I didn’t know how to orienteer – what to look for and so on.
Niggli: – It feels great. Long distance is always very special. After yesterday very motivated for today. I did make two big mistakes in the beginning, but I knew I could still make a medal.
Brozkova: – I didn’t make any big mistake, but some small ones. But that usually happens on these long courses in this weather. I heard that I was running well, but not that it was that well. I was surprised that it was this good race. In some parts it was really warm, but I like this terrain very much.
Jansson: – I’ve made 5 great races and 2 OK. In the beginning my legs felt too good – I made some mistakes. Simone caught me after the long leg, but I still thought I could make a good race.
Jurenikova: – 5th. For the first time among 6 best at big champs. Would not believe my performance is enough for it. Many small mistakes.

Minna Kauppi did not start the race. Thierry Gueorgiou DNF’ed due to back or stomach problem (some problems with translations from the Bulgarian speaker by the participants of the LiveBlog).

Maps

• Webroute for the mens long leg (6-7)
• Map men (missing last loop)
• Map women (missing last loop)

Comment: A good thing with the 3 minute start interval – if not grouping would have been even more important for the final results. Looking at the courses it looks like the spreading method was not optimal. There is one interesting long leg, for which there is a webroute. Hubmann was fantastic in the butterflies, despite his claimed 1 minute mistake he was very fast in this part of the course. It will be interesting to get the splits.

Results women (unofficial)

1	Simone Niggli		150:00		36:09	61:28	68:19	79:12	80:31
2	Dana Brozkova		126:00		35:24	62:54	70:07	80:39	81:53
3	Helena Jansson		147:00			66:31	73:29	84:59	86:22
4	Lina Persson		96:00		38:30	67:34	75:15	87:05	88:22
5	Eva Jurenikova		132:00		38:47	67:49	75:40	87:36	88:56
6	Maria Rantala		111:00		39:10	68:11	75:35	87:42	89:00
7	Lena Eliasson		138:00		37:03	67:34	74:45	87:55	89:24
8	Vendula Klechova		120:00		37:10	66:41	74:47	88:10	89:37
9	Vroni Koenig-Salmi		141:00		39:34	68:09	76:20	88:29	89:56
10	Anni-Maija Fincke		105:00		40:07	71:51	79:11	90:23	91:46
10	Emma Andersson		129:00		39:05	67:49	76:06	90:24	91:46

• Live results – Official results will be published at the EOC 2010 page later on.

Results men (unofficial)

1	Daniel Hubmann		87:00		33:08	62:26	68:41	103:23	104:29
2	Philippe Adamski		150:00		32:09	63:33	70:06	106:56	108:00
3	Fabian Hertner		138:00		33:01	65:15	72:46	107:43	108:43
4	Carl Waaler Kaas		132:00		36:03	67:02	74:02	109:44	110:50
5	Marc Lauenstein		126:00		34:03	66:03	72:46	109:52	110:56
6	Kiril Nikolov		102:00			67:52	74:38	110:06	111:09
7	Emil Wingstedt		135:00		34:08	65:59	72:29	110:45	111:56
8	Hans Gunnar Omdal		114:00		33:51	66:23	73:12	111:03	112:10
9	Matthias Mueller		153:00		33:13	66:35	73:28		112:53
10	Valentin Novikov

• Live results – Official results will be published at the EOC 2010 page later on.

LiveBlog: Replay it below

It is time to set up your team ahead of the EOC Long – starting tomorrow morning at 08:00 CET. Results from the second round in the Fantasy World Cup will be updated when official World Cup results are available at the IOF website.

Here is all the information you need ahead of the Long final:

• The Long final is organized at June 5th – 08:01 CET (Women), 08:15 CET (Men)
• Set up your team at the Fantasy World Cup page – last chance to change the team is at June 5th 09:00 CET (when the first runners have been out for about an hour).
• Check the startlists to make sure your favorites are starting: Startlist Long Final men - Startlist Long Final women
• Check the World of O Ranking for Long distance to see who performs best on the Middle distance. World of O Ranking Long men – World of O Ranking Long women
• EOC 2010 webpage
• Live results center - Live speaker sound

Fantasy World Cup Race 2-2010: Results

• Overall results after two races

1. Hull city Tigers – 705.00 points

Manager: Black Mamba

Points: 705.00

1.   Simone Niggli – 150.00 points	2.   Valentin Novikov – 125.00 points
3.   Thierry Gueorgiou – 33.00 points	4.   Dana Brožková – 37.00 points
5.   Daniel Hubmann – 60.00 points	6.   Signe Søes – 80.00 points
7.   Alexei Bortnik – 45.00 points	8.   Helena Jansson – 50.00 points
9.   Matthias Merz – 80.00 points	10.   Minna Kauppi – 45.00 points

2. Melis = sugar – 685.50 points

Manager: Toon Melis

Points: 685.50

1.   Simone Niggli – 150.00 points	2.   Thierry Gueorgiou – 37.50 points
3.   Daniel Hubmann – 66.00 points	4.   Minna Kauppi – 45.00 points
5.   Matthias Merz – 80.00 points	6.   Signe Søes – 80.00 points
7.   Helena Jansson – 50.00 points	8.   Peter Öberg – 37.00 points
9.   Vroni König-Salmi – 40.00 points	10.   Valentin Novikov – 100.00 points

3. Klingenberg – 685.00 points

Manager: Emma Klingenberg

Points: 685.00

1.   Simone Niggli – 150.00 points	2.   Daniel Hubmann – 75.00 points
3.   Thierry Gueorgiou – 33.00 points	4.   Matthias Merz – 80.00 points
5.   Signe Søes – 80.00 points	6.   Merja Rantanen – 35.00 points
7.   Peter Öberg – 37.00 points	8.   Helena Jansson – 50.00 points
9.   Minna Kauppi – 45.00 points	10.   Valentin Novikov – 100.00 points

4. Togges team – 684.50 points

Manager: Torgny Lindström

Points: 684.50

1.   Simone Niggli – 150.00 points	2.   Thierry Gueorgiou – 37.50 points
3.   Helena Jansson – 55.00 points	4.   Daniel Hubmann – 60.00 points
5.   Minna Kauppi – 45.00 points	6.   Dana Brožková – 37.00 points
7.   Valentin Novikov – 100.00 points	8.   Matthias Merz – 80.00 points
9.   Vroni König-Salmi – 40.00 points	10.   Signe Søes – 80.00 points

5. Team meaT – 678.00 points

Manager: Eirik

Points: 678.00

1.   Thierry Gueorgiou – 45.00 points	2.   Simone Niggli – 125.00 points
3.   Daniel Hubmann – 66.00 points	4.   Vroni König-Salmi – 40.00 points
5.   Valentin Novikov – 100.00 points	6.   Signe Søes – 80.00 points
7.   Matthias Merz – 80.00 points	8.   Lena Eliasson – 60.00 points
9.   Peter Öberg – 37.00 points	10.   Minna Kauppi – 45.00 points

6. Spartacus røde fane Århus lag 1 – 661.00 points

Manager: Rasmus Oscar

Points: 661.00

1.   Simone Niggli – 150.00 points	2.   Thierry Gueorgiou – 37.50 points
3.   Minna Kauppi – 49.50 points	4.   Daniel Hubmann – 60.00 points
5.   Helena Jansson – 50.00 points	6.   Signe Søes – 80.00 points
7.   Valentin Novikov – 100.00 points	8.   Matthias Merz – 80.00 points
9.   Baptiste Rollier – 17.00 points	10.   Dana Brožková – 37.00 points

7. ggg – 660.50 points

Manager: Eda

Points: 660.50

1.   Simone Niggli – 150.00 points	2.   Thierry Gueorgiou – 37.50 points
3.   Daniel Hubmann – 66.00 points	4.   Vroni König-Salmi – 40.00 points
5.   Valentin Novikov – 100.00 points	6.   Minna Kauppi – 45.00 points
7.   Peter Öberg – 37.00 points	8.   Lena Eliasson – 60.00 points
9.   Matthias Merz – 80.00 points	10.   Alexei Bortnik – 45.00 points

8. Rafael Miguel – 654.50 points

Manager: Rafael Miguel

Points: 654.50

1.   Simone Niggli – 150.00 points	2.   Daniel Hubmann – 75.00 points
3.   Minna Kauppi – 49.50 points	4.   Helena Jansson – 50.00 points
5.   Thierry Gueorgiou – 30.00 points	6.   Emil Wingstedt – 50.00 points
7.   Matthias Merz – 80.00 points	8.   Peter Öberg – 37.00 points
9.   Natalia Vinogradova – 33.00 points	10.   Valentin Novikov – 100.00 points

9. New Haven Turtles – 654.00 points

Manager: Boris

Points: 654.00

1.   Simone Niggli – 150.00 points	2.   Thierry Gueorgiou – 37.50 points
3.   Minna Kauppi – 49.50 points	4.   Daniel Hubmann – 60.00 points
5.   Emil Wingstedt – 50.00 points	6.   Helena Jansson – 50.00 points
7.   Valentin Novikov – 100.00 points	8.   Matthias Merz – 80.00 points
9.   Vroni König-Salmi – 40.00 points	10.   Dana Brožková – 37.00 points

10. VM – 653.00 points

Manager: william

Points: 653.00

1.   Thierry Gueorgiou – 45.00 points	2.   Simone Niggli – 125.00 points
3.   Helena Jansson – 55.00 points	4.   Daniel Hubmann – 60.00 points
5.   Emil Wingstedt – 50.00 points	6.   Lena Eliasson – 60.00 points
7.   Minna Kauppi – 45.00 points	8.   Valentin Novikov – 100.00 points
9.   Natalia Vinogradova – 33.00 points	10.   Matthias Merz – 80.00 points

Tricky orienteering – especially due to many green areas – met the runners in todays middle distance final at the European Championships in Bulgaria. See below for maps and official results.

See story and runners comments here:

• Women (Gold: Simone Niggli)
• Men (Gold: Valentin Novikov)

Maps

• Map Middle Final Men
• Map Middle Final Women

Some decisive controls in the mens class (see map above):

• Control 10: Thierry Gueorgiou’s mistake costing him about 1.30
• Control 15: Daniel Hubmann’s mistake

Results Men

Full results Men

1	Valentin Novikov		206:00	10:24	17:22	25:58	32:30	34:09
2	Matthias Merz		188:00	10:30	18:00	27:11	33:50	35:30
3	Daniel Hubmann		174:00	10:11	17:28	26:22	33:59	35:36
4	Emil Wingstedt		178:00	10:43	17:59	27:05	34:05	35:47
5	Alexey Bortnik		210:00	10:26	18:01	27:34	34:37	36:17
6	Tero Fцhr		154:00	10:47	18:56	27:55	34:40	36:21
7	Peter berg		204:00	10:43	19:09	27:56	34:34	36:22
8	Carl Waaler Kaas		186:00	10:36	18:41	28:08	34:41	36:27
9	Kiril Nikolov		168:00	11:00	18:19	27:44	34:52	36:28
10	Matthias Mueller		192:00	10:38	18:18	27:50	34:51	36:31
11	Thierry Gueorgiou		202:00	10:48	18:02	28:05	34:56	36:38

Results – Women

Full results Women

1	Simone Niggli		98:00	04:35	13:13	22:59	31:12	33:07
2	Signe Soes		90:00	05:05	14:17	24:18	33:05	35:06
3	Lena Eliasson		92:00	04:34	13:47	23:29	33:21	35:19
4	Helena Jansson		82:00	04:50	13:59	24:43	33:29	35:24
5	Minna Kauppi		100:00	05:31	14:26	23:50	33:40	35:49
6	Vroni Koenig-Salmi		94:00	05:00	14:50	24:31	33:52	36:04
7	Dana Brozkova		88:00	07:00	16:14	26:19	35:06	37:08
8	Merja Rantanen		84:00	04:54	14:47	25:31	34:56	37:10
9	Natalia Vinogradova		96:00	05:40	15:40	25:43	35:31	37:38
10	Aija Skrastina		76:00	06:04	15:42	26:23	35:33	37:41

After 3 times Thierry Gueorgiou it was now time for Valentin Novikov again! 10 years ago Valentin Novikov won the European Champs over the short and long distance in Ukraine, now the Russian was back with another EOC gold medal! Novikov’s winning strategy: A change in focus from running to orienteering.

Again a very good Swiss day – silver for Matthias Merz and bronze for Daniel Hubmann gives one medal of each kind when adding the gold medal of Simone Niggli from earlier today. The big favourite Thierry Gueorgiou did a mistake of around a minute – and evidently slowed down due to a loss of motivation. – In middle distance I am only happy with the gold – so it is either winning or loosing. This time it was loosing.

See also womens Middle distance results.

Comments from the runners

Vaneltin Novikov: – I remember I won one EOC Middle distance earlier, but it was so long ago (Editor: 2000 in Ukraine). This year I made some changes in my preparations. I now made more focus on my orienteering than on my running. The forest is so green sometimes.
Matthias Merz: – It was a good race. I took it a bit easy in the beginning to get a good map contact – and then pushed hard in the last part. I pushed a bit harder on the last loop after hearing that I had a good position.
Daniel Hubmann: – It feels really good except this mistake after control 15 in the last loop. Right now I really don’t know. It was quite a big timeloss there, so let us see what the others will do.
Emil Wingstedt: – I had a plan before the race to go straight everywhere. I did that everywhere – also on the last loop. On the last loop I should have gone a bit right at one leg – I lost some time there.
Thierry Gueorgiou: – On the way to the 10th control I did a big mistake. Then I could not relocate on the slope with the green. It was also a bit confusing with all the rocks. Then I also lost my motivation because I lost one minute, maybe one and a half minute. You know, then it is difficult to keep the motivation. In middle distance I am only happy with the gold – so it is either winning or loosing. This time it was loosing. I think I still have a very good chance in Trondheim, and I will prepare for this.

Results (unofficial)

1	Valentin Novikov		206:00	10:24	17:22	25:58	32:30	34:09
2	Matthias Merz		188:00	10:30	18:00	27:11	33:50	35:30
3	Daniel Hubmann		174:00	10:11	17:28	26:22	33:59	35:36
4	Emil Wingstedt		178:00	10:43	17:59	27:05	34:05	35:47
5	Alexey Bortnik		210:00	10:26	18:01	27:34	34:37	36:17
6	Tero Fцhr		154:00	10:47	18:56	27:55	34:40	36:21
7	Peter berg		204:00	10:43	19:09	27:56	34:34	36:22
8	Carl Waaler Kaas		186:00	10:36	18:41	28:08	34:41	36:27
9	Kiril Nikolov		168:00	11:00	18:19	27:44	34:52	36:28
10	Matthias Mueller		192:00	10:38	18:18	27:50	34:51	36:31
11	Thierry Gueorgiou		202:00	10:48	18:02	28:05	34:56	36:38

• EOC 2010 webpage
• Live results center (Note! Internet Explorer does not work well with the Live Center – please use Chrome or Firefox!)- Live speaker sound

Simone Niggli took the gold medal in todays EOC Middle – but Signe Søes was probably even more happy for her Silver medal. In third Lena Eliasson.

Danish Signe Søes has been getting closer and closer to the medals in WOC and EOC the last years – and this season was supposed to be Signe Søes season where she should take the step up to the medals. However, a long-lasting injury made the expectations ahead of the EOC a lot lower – and therefore Søes is probably the one of the happiest women in the start field today…

Comments from the runners

Simone Niggli, 6th EOC Gold medal: – I am very happy. I know that I have the speed for the medal, but today it was a though race. It was very hot. I didn’t feel that well while running. But I just thought “never give up”. I heard from my coach that I had a lead of one minute, but I knew that Minna Kauppi started one minute behind me, but I hadn’t heard anything about it. This is my 6th gold medal in the European Champs.

Signe Søes, Silver (first championships medal): – It is unbelievable. I was really, really tired in the last start. I had a really good technical race, and I had control over the race. I do not have the same speed, but I knew that if I had a good race, I good fight with the best.

Lena Eliasson, Bronze: – I really feel like a winner today. I felt very calm before start. All the way to the spectator control I felt like I could really fight for the gold. Then I did some mistakes in the end. I was caught in the green. And I made a 30 second mistake in the end. I made a really good race, and today I was a bit lucky that the others did not make a perfect race.

Karolina A Höjsgaard ruptured her Achilles tendon during the race, and her career may be over.

Results – Women (unofficial)

1	Simone Niggli		98:00	04:35	13:13	22:59	31:12	33:07
2	Signe Soes		90:00	05:05	14:17	24:18	33:05	35:06
3	Lena Eliasson		92:00	04:34	13:47	23:29	33:21	35:19
4	Helena Jansson		82:00	04:50	13:59	24:43	33:29	35:24
5	Minna Kauppi		100:00	05:31	14:26	23:50	33:40	35:49
6	Vroni Koenig-Salmi		94:00	05:00	14:50	24:31	33:52	36:04
7	Dana Brozkova		88:00	07:00	16:14	26:19	35:06	37:08
8	Merja Rantanen		84:00	04:54	14:47	25:31	34:56	37:10
9	Natalia Vinogradova		96:00	05:40	15:40	25:43	35:31	37:38
10	Aija Skrastina		76:00	06:04	15:42	26:23	35:33	37:41

• EOC 2010 webpage
• Live results center (Note! Internet Explorer does not work well with the Live Center – please use Chrome or Firefox!)- Live speaker sound

Rest day for the runners in Bulgaria today – but all Fantasy World Cup participants should use the day to check that they have all the middle distance stars in their team ahead of tomorrows EOC Middle Final – which is also the second World Cup race of the season. If you haven’t yet set up a team, you still have chances in the overall as only 10 of the best 13 races count in the overall!

Here is all the information you need ahead of the middle final:

• The Middle final is organized at June 4th – 08:30 CET (Women), 10:20 CET (Men)
• Set up your team at the Fantasy World Cup page – last chance to change the team is at June 4th 08:00 CET.
• Check the startlists to make sure your favorites are starting: Startlist Middle Final men - Startlist Middle Final women
• Check the World of O Ranking for Middle distance to see who performs best on the Middle distance. World of O Ranking Middle men – World of O Ranking Middle women
• EOC 2010 webpage
• Live results center - Live speaker sound

Fantasy World Cup Race 1-2010: Results

• Fantasy World Cup 2010 Race 1: Results
• Overall results Fantasy World Cup 2010
• Below you see the top 10 teams in the first race.

1. Bushmen – 684.00 points

Manager: Kristoffer Fiane Pedersen

Points: 684.00

1.   Simone Niggli – 120.00 points	2.   Daniel Hubmann – 100.00 points
3.   Helena Jansson – 110.00 points	4.   Matthias Merz – 50.00 points
5.   Matthias Müller – 45.00 points	6.   Signe Søes – 40.00 points
7.   Andrey Khramov – 30.00 points	8.   Minna Kauppi – 29.00 points
9.   Emil Wingstedt – 60.00 points	10.   Fabian Hertner – 100.00 points

2. RLD-observer – 664.00 points

Manager: Sveinung

Points: 664.00

1.   Simone Niggli – 120.00 points	2.   Daniel Hubmann – 100.00 points
3.   Emil Wingstedt – 66.00 points	4.   Kiril Nikolov – 29.00 points
5.   Fabian Hertner – 100.00 points	6.   Matthias Merz – 50.00 points
7.   Andrey Khramov – 30.00 points	8.   Helena Jansson – 100.00 points
9.   Minna Kauppi – 29.00 points	10.   Dana Brožková – 40.00 points

3. go 4 gold – 661.50 points

Manager: Matthias

Points: 661.50

1.   Simone Niggli – 120.00 points	2.   Daniel Hubmann – 100.00 points
3.   Matthias Müller – 49.50 points	4.   Fabian Hertner – 100.00 points
5.   Karolina Arewång-Höjsgaard – 33.00 points	6.   Helena Jansson – 100.00 points
7.   Dana Brožková – 40.00 points	8.   Andrey Khramov – 30.00 points
9.   Emil Wingstedt – 60.00 points	10.   Kiril Nikolov – 29.00 points

4. Die Förschtar fi Sarnthein – 660.00 points

Manager: Thomas Widmann

Points: 660.00

1.   Daniel Hubmann – 120.00 points	2.   Simone Niggli – 100.00 points
3.   Andrey Khramov – 33.00 points	4.   Helena Jansson – 100.00 points
5.   Fabian Hertner – 100.00 points	6.   Minna Kauppi – 29.00 points
7.   Matthias Merz – 50.00 points	8.   Signe Søes – 40.00 points
9.   Emil Wingstedt – 60.00 points	10.   Anni-Maija Fincke – 28.00 points

5. BennyB-team – 657.00 points

Manager: Benny B

Points: 657.00

1.   Simone Niggli – 120.00 points	2.   Fabian Hertner – 125.00 points
3.   Daniel Hubmann – 88.00 points	4.   Matthias Merz – 50.00 points
5.   Helena Jansson – 100.00 points	6.   Minna Kauppi – 29.00 points
7.   Emil Wingstedt – 60.00 points	8.   Andrey Khramov – 30.00 points
9.   Dana Brožková – 40.00 points	10.   Scott Fraser – 15.00 points

6. Togges team – 656.00 points

Manager: Torgny Lindström

Points: 656.00

1.   Daniel Hubmann – 120.00 points	2.   Simone Niggli – 100.00 points
3.   Fabian Hertner – 110.00 points	4.   Matthias Merz – 50.00 points
5.   Helena Jansson – 100.00 points	6.   Emil Wingstedt – 60.00 points
7.   Minna Kauppi – 29.00 points	8.   Dana Brožková – 40.00 points
9.   Øystein Kvaal Østerbø – 19.00 points	10.   Anni-Maija Fincke – 28.00 points

7. schtiifi – 653.80 points

Manager: it\’s a mee – KingPong

Points: 653.80

1.   Daniel Hubmann – 120.00 points	2.   Simone Niggli – 100.00 points
3.   Anders Holmberg – 19.80 points	4.   Fabian Hertner – 100.00 points
5.   Matthias Müller – 45.00 points	6.   Øystein Kvaal Østerbø – 19.00 points
7.   Elise Egseth – 50.00 points	8.   Emil Wingstedt – 60.00 points
9.   Helena Jansson – 100.00 points	10.   Signe Søes – 40.00 points

8. Stjärntorps OK – 651.00 points

Manager: Erik Ivarsson Sandberg

Points: 651.00

1.   Simone Niggli – 120.00 points	2.   Fabian Hertner – 125.00 points
3.   Daniel Hubmann – 88.00 points	4.   Olav Lundanes – 4.00 points
5.   Emil Wingstedt – 60.00 points	6.   Helena Jansson – 100.00 points
7.   Minna Kauppi – 29.00 points	8.   Andrey Khramov – 30.00 points
9.   Matthias Merz – 50.00 points	10.   Matthias Müller – 45.00 points

9. The Great Bananas – 651.00 points

Manager: Martin Hoset

Points: 651.00

1.   Simone Niggli – 120.00 points	2.   Daniel Hubmann – 100.00 points
3.   Andrey Khramov – 33.00 points	4.   Emil Wingstedt – 60.00 points
5.   Helena Jansson – 100.00 points	6.   Minna Kauppi – 29.00 points
7.   Fabian Hertner – 100.00 points	8.   Øystein Kvaal Østerbø – 19.00 points
9.   Signe Søes – 40.00 points	10.   Matthias Merz – 50.00 points

10. Team Power – 649.90 points

Manager: Ruairi

Points: 649.90

1.   Simone Niggli – 120.00 points	2.   Daniel Hubmann – 100.00 points
3.   Øystein Kvaal Østerbø – 20.90 points	4.   Helena Jansson – 100.00 points
5.   Emil Wingstedt – 60.00 points	6.   Minna Kauppi – 29.00 points
7.   Dana Brožková – 40.00 points	8.   Andrey Khramov – 30.00 points
9.   Matthias Merz – 50.00 points	10.   Fabian Hertner – 100.00 points

Fabian Hertner and Helena Jansson both took their second gold medal in todays EOC relay – and stand as the big winners after the two first sets of medals have been delivered out. Switzerland managed to take the victory in the mens relay even without Daniel Hubmann in the team – Hubmann could not run due to an eye injury from the middle qualification (the injury is not serious, though). The Swedish women took the victory in the womens class – after Helena Jansson and Minna Kauppi had a close fight on the last leg.

In the mens class, France took silver in a team where neither Francois Gonon or Damien Renard was on the start line – look out for France at the World Champs in Trondheim. Bronze in the mens class went to Norway – also among the big favourites in Norway on home ground.

In the womens class, the fight was between Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Czech Republic on the last leg – Simone Niggli (Switzerland) starting out last of the four womein. Simone Niggli caught the others already at the first control being able to catch up the lead of Helena Jansson, Minna Kauppi and Eva Jurenikova – and even managed to get a gap to the others. However, two rather big mistakes by Niggli made her loose the fight for gold and silver. Czech Republic was in the lead after two legs, but Eva Jurenikova did not manage to keep the speed of the medalists in the end of the course.

Map

• Map women (Simone Niggli)

Results

Women: Victory for Sweden
Sweden took the gold medal with a smashing final sprint from Helena Jansson, second are Finland with Minna Kauppi and third are Switzerland with Simone Niggli on third Leg.

1	Sweden		00:00	81:15	93:26	111:11	112:37
2	Finland		00:00	82:25	93:14	111:10	112:49
3	Switzerland		00:00	83:09	93:14	111:51	113:35
4	Czech Republic		00:00	81:39	93:27	113:48	115:38
5	Russia		00:00	86:04	99:47	119:13	121:18
(6)	Czech Republic II		00:00	88:27	99:45	119:45	121:40

• Final official results women

Men: Victory for Switzerland

Switzerland took the gold medal in the Men Relays. France are second and Norway came third.

1	Switzerland		00:00	89:27	97:52	113:08	114:44
2	France		00:00	89:22	98:08	113:30	115:20
3	Norway		00:00	90:01	99:12	114:51	116:36
4	Sweden		00:00	90:00	99:14	115:20	116:57
(5)	Sweden		00:00	91:54	100:59	116:38	118:03
(6)	Switzerland		140:00	92:34	101:03	116:36	118:08

• Final official results men

Other links

• EOC 2010 webpage
• Live results center - Live speaker sound

Update: Now with map! Baptiste Rollier, Valentin Novikov, Alexey Bortnik, Natalia Vinogradova, Simone Niggli and Minna Kauppi won the qualification heats in todays EOC Middle Qualification according to unofficial results. The article is updated with official results.

• Results Middle Qual Women
• Results Middle Qual Men
• Map EOC Middle Qual Men (Zinca Iounut)
• Map EOC Middle Qual Women (Simone Niggli)
• Maps EOC Middle Qual without route: Women A, Women B, Women C, Men A, Men B, Men C
• EOC 2010 webpage (for official results when available)
• Live results center
• Maps from all previous EOC 2010 competitions

Results

Men Heat 1

1	Baptiste Rollier		126:00	05:23	20:27		27:01
2	Mats Haldin		114:00	05:12	20:19	25:12	27:12
3	Leonid Novikov		132:00	05:26	20:39		27:16
4	Philippe Adamski		140:00	05:39	20:24		27:17
5	Jan Mrazek		82:00	05:41	20:43	25:52	27:52
6	Hans Gunnar Omdal		104:00	05:38	20:49	25:50	27:54
7	Anders Holmberg		98:00	05:15	20:45	26:05	28:09
8	Soren Bobach		74:00	05:14	21:27	26:18	28:17
9	Jцrgen Wickholm		80:00	05:28	21:26	26:18	28:25
10	Dmitry Mihalkin		94:00	06:35	22:07	26:49	28:57
11	Christian Bobach		116:00	05:44	21:48		29:02
12	Scott Fraser		130:00	05:56	22:54		29:08
13	Fabian Hertner		78:00	05:26	22:03	27:11	29:27
14	Christian Wartbichler		102:00	06:09	22:27	27:39	29:33
15	Jonn Are Myhren		138:00	05:39	21:45		29:41
16	David Andersson		146:00	05:22	21:16		29:56
17	Edgars Bertuks		144:00	05:39	22:47		29:57

Men Heat 2

1	Valentin Novikov		128:00	16:50		27:47
2	Thierry Gueorgiou		130:00	16:58		27:52
3	Mikhail Mamleev		134:00	17:01		28:03
4	Matthias Merz		144:00	17:17		28:13
5	Emil Wingstedt		112:00	17:06	26:17	28:32
6	Topi Anjala		122:00	17:31		28:32
7	Mikkel Lund		146:00	17:27		28:43
8	Graham Gristwood		138:00	17:41		28:47
9	Lars Skjeset		84:00	17:28	26:35	28:51
10	Gernot Kerschbaumer		124:00	18:07		29:19
11	Andreas Kyburz		108:00	18:27	27:10	29:23
12	Holger Hott		140:00	18:12		29:44
13	Rasmus Djurhuus		70:00	18:40	27:33	29:45
14	Jan Prochazka		132:00	18:14		29:47
15	Stepan Kodeda		90:00	18:47	27:48	29:59
16	Oliver Johnson		74:00	18:36	27:39	30:04
17	Marian Davidik		120:00	17:41		30:30

Men Heat 3

1	Alexey Bortnik		80:00	05:07	20:51	23:52	26:04
2	Peter Цberg		142:00	05:17	21:37		26:58
3	Anders Tiltnes		106:00	05:23	21:36	24:42	27:03
4	Matthias Mueller		86:00	05:20	21:39	24:39	27:06
5	Carl Waaler Kaas		146:00	05:13	21:37		27:06
6	Ionut Zinca		126:00	05:36	21:59		27:11
7	Daniel Hubmann		112:00	05:22	21:59	24:57	27:16
8	Kiril Nikolov		144:00	05:21	21:58		27:23
9	Tue Lassen		140:00	05:41	22:03		27:38
10	Tero Fцhr		132:00	05:14	21:35		27:46
11	Adam Chromy		114:00	05:17	22:22	25:33	28:04
12	Hannu Airila		102:00	05:35	22:29	25:49	28:17
13	Martins Sirmais		128:00	05:37	22:49		28:23
14	Dmitry Tsvetkov		116:00	06:29	22:46		28:29
15	Klaus Schgaguler		136:00	06:05	23:04		28:42
16	Christian Christensen		104:00	06:29	23:45	26:49	29:09
17	Vilius AleliÑŒnas		124:00	06:23	24:04		29:10

Women Heat 1

1	Natalia Vinogradova		44:00	06:41	19:41	24:18	27:17
2	Signe Soes		56:00	06:26	18:28	25:02	27:40
3	Merja Rantanen		50:00	06:28	20:04	24:59	27:52
4	Sarka Svobodna		00:00	07:36	20:32	25:15	27:58
5	Sara Luescher		12:00	06:59	19:30	25:06	28:03
6	Maria Rantala		16:00	08:01	20:31	25:31	28:13
7	Rahel Friederich		30:00	06:35	19:51	25:37	28:31
8	Lina Persson		06:00	07:43	20:44	25:40	28:34
9	Cйline Dodin		42:00	08:43	21:34	26:20	29:18
10	Karolina A-Hцjsgaard		26:00	06:42	21:11	26:27	29:27
11	Merike Vanjuk		54:00	07:24	21:10	26:40	29:49
12	Silje Ekroll Jahren		32:00	07:39	21:52	27:08	30:11
13	Rachael Elder		52:00	06:40	21:25	27:26	30:20
14	Radka Brozkova		20:00	07:06	22:12	27:29	30:32
15	Heidi Bagstevold		36:00	08:57	22:19	27:26	30:41
16	Liis Johanson		24:00	07:56		27:52	30:45
17	Bernadett Kelemen		08:00	07:54	21:36	27:27	30:51

Women Heat 2

1	Simone Niggli		50:00	05:57	18:32	22:31	25:01
2	Lena Eliasson		40:00	06:19	18:42	24:47	27:21
3	Maria Magnusson		02:00	06:46	20:13	25:16	28:10
4	Annika Rihma		34:00	07:27	20:27	25:41	28:22
5	Bodil Holmstrцm		12:00	06:59	20:44	25:39	28:30
6	Karoliina Sundberg		36:00	06:45	20:28	26:07	28:45
7	Nataliya Dimitrova		42:00	06:47	20:59	26:15	28:54
8	Tone Wigemyr		14:00	07:29	21:06	26:13	28:59
9	Tatiana Yaksanova		08:00	07:24	21:10	26:07	29:01
10	Maja Alm		18:00	06:26	21:05	26:19	29:04
11	Evgeniya Ryapolova		24:00	07:45	21:31	26:42	29:31
12	Pippa Archer		00:00	07:35	22:20	27:15	29:59
13	Michela Guizzardi		46:00	07:38	21:54	27:36	30:26
14	Monika Topinkova		10:00	07:12	21:14	27:51	30:31
15	Vendula Klechova		52:00	06:46	23:30	28:12	30:47
16	Sarah Rollins		44:00	07:07	22:28	27:44	30:53
17	Kristine Kokina		32:00	08:31	22:44	28:07	31:15

Women Heat 3

1	Minna Kauppi		58:00	05:48	18:11	22:38	25:08
2	Vroni Koenig-Salmi		54:00	05:38	18:56	23:22	26:06
3	Dana Brozkova		48:00	05:49	18:52		26:12
4	Helena Jansson		44:00	05:57	19:12	24:13	26:43
5	Aija Skrastina		40:00	06:14	19:01	24:28	26:55
6	Martina Dockalova		26:00	06:00	19:48	24:39	27:11
7	Jenny Lцnnkvist		18:00	06:16	19:45	25:09	27:49
8	Fanni Gyurkу		50:00	06:23	20:03	25:28	27:54
9	Julia Novikova		38:00	06:07	20:28	25:19	27:59
10	Amйlie Chataing		30:00	06:11	20:18	25:38	28:08
11	Zenia Hejlskov Mogensen		12:00	06:48	20:22	26:18	28:42
12	Helen Bridle		32:00	06:38	21:10	26:27	29:16
13	Ida Marie Bjшrgul		56:00	06:25	20:42	26:45	29:34
14	Sofia Haajanen		02:00	05:46	21:08	26:59	29:40
15	Nina Temyakova		04:00	08:18	22:22	27:54	30:19
16	Ona Rafols Perramуn		42:00	07:05	22:06	27:26	30:41
17	Angela Wild		24:00	06:00	22:11	28:44	30:59