NORT Chasing Start: Decision Time!

[Live from 12.40 CET] A double for Switzerland? Or can Lundanes and Gueorgiou chase down Kyburz and snatch the overall NORT victory AND the overall World Cup from the young Swiss runner? Or can Helena Jansson chase down Swiss superstar Simone Niggli on the last NORT stage in Vukatti, Finland?

From the start lists with Kyburz  3:21 ahead of Lundanes with Gueorgiou another 12 seconds behind in the mens class – everything looks set for the Nordic Orienteering Tour 2012 with a Swiss Champion. But now the  Tour finally goes into deep, Finnish forests, and with some pressure on the leader nothing is 100% decided… Behind there will be a Swedish “train” – with Peter Öberg, Jonas Leandersson and William Lind all going out between 4:49 and 5:11. Merz, Hertner and Bergman follow close behind again.

The overall World Cup is a similar story ; if Kyburz beats Lundanes in the chasing start, he will win the overall World Cup – if Lundanes beats Kyburz he will take the overall World Cup (as long as Lundanes is Top 3, as Kyburz’s lead on Lundanes is now 16 points. The first 40 runners past the finish line (i.e. the NORT overall positions) get “double” World Cup points ; the winner gets 200 points down to 2 points for the 40th place.  If Lundanes in number 4 [= 100 points] and Kyburz number 5 [= 90 points], Kyburz will take the title.).

In the women’s class, Simone Niggli has already decided the overall World Cup. In the Nordic Orienteering Tour, Helena Jansson is closest to the Swiss superstar – 3:13 behind. Niggli is big favourite – but she has made big mistakes before…

Illustration: Current World Cup standing after NORT Stage 4.

Men NORT Standings

Name	Stage 1	Bonus 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Bonus 2	Stage 4	Bonus 3	Stage5	Tour time	Diff
1  Matthias Kyburz	13:32(2)	1:30	30:06(3)	18:23(1)	2:00	12:19(1)	1:30		01:09:20
2  Olav Lundanes	13:16(1)	2:00	30:15(5)	19:22(22)	0:55	12:44(11)	0:01		01:12:41	3:21
3  Thierry Gueorgiou	13:41(3)	0:36	29:00(1)	18:41(5)	0:16	12:38(7)	0:15		01:12:53	3:33
4  Jonas Leandersson	13:53(6)	0:17	31:12(16)	18:36(4)	0:12	12:57(18)	2:00		01:14:09	4:49
4  Peter Öberg	14:28(20)	0:15	29:42(2)	18:26(2)	1:10	13:10(29)	0:12		01:14:09	4:49
6  William Lind	14:20(14)	1:10	30:33(7)	18:29(3)	0:10	12:36(5)	0:07		01:14:31	5:11
7  Matthias Merz	14:09(10)	0:55	30:29(6)	18:54(9)	0:11	12:49(13)	0:40		01:14:35	5:15
8  Fabian Hertner	14:03(9)	0:15	31:06(15)	18:43(6)	0:15	12:35(4)	1:10		01:14:47	5:27
9  Gustav Bergman	13:47(4)	0:50	30:37(9)	19:11(15)	0:38	12:55(17)	0:09		01:14:53	5:33
10  Frédéric Tranchand	14:49(30)	0:40	32:11(25)	19:14(17)	1:30	12:22(2)	0:50		01:15:36	6:16

Women NORT Standings

Name	Stage 1	Bonus 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Bonus 2	Stage 4	Bonus 3	Stage5	Tour time	Diff
1  Simone Niggli	13:26(3)	2:00	29:09(1)	14:59(3)	0:11	12:40(3)	2:00		01:06:03
2  Helena Jansson	13:20(2)	0:50	31:44(8)	14:55(1)	1:00	12:37(2)	1:30		01:09:16	3:13
3  Judith Wyder	14:03(8)	0:16	30:28(2)	15:32(7)	1:10	12:43(4)	0:18		01:11:02	4:59
4  Ida Bobach	14:19(12)	1:00	31:36(6)	15:10(4)	0:13	12:32(1)	0:40		01:11:44	5:41
5  Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg	13:56(7)	1:10	32:34(13)	14:56(2)	0:36	13:10(11)	0:55		01:11:55	5:52
6  Minna Kauppi	13:33(4)	0:18	31:33(5)	15:53(14)	0:55	13:03(6)	0:38		01:12:11	6:08
7  Tatyana Ryabkina	15:04(30)	0:13	31:00(3)	16:13(22)	1:30	13:06(8)	0:36		01:13:04	7:01
8  Lina Strand	13:49(5)	0:34	31:05(4)	15:58(16)	0:10	13:26(20)	0:13		01:13:21	7:18
9  Tove Alexandersson	13:19(1)	0:50	32:39(18)	16:01(18)	0:38	13:04(7)	0:11		01:13:24	7:21
10  Merja Rantanen	14:41(20)	0:34	31:42(7)	15:25(5)	0:50	13:34(25)	0:32		01:13:26	7:23

• Full standings