Pictures from todays qualification of the heat-winners. From the top: Thierry Gueorgiou, Audun Hultgreen Weltzien, Mats Haldin, Simone Niggli-Luder, Lena Eliasson and Paula Iso-Markku.
The maps from the World Cup Qualification in Lapua, Finland for Men-1 and Women-1 are given below.
Men
Many runners had problems with a control in the area around control 2 and control 3.
Women
At the Jukola site here in Lapua, Finland, nearly everybody is working very hard to make the site ready for the more than 13.000 runners turning up during the coming days to run the Jukola and Venla relays. In contrast to this was the World Cup Qualification this morning. When I turned up at the finish area for the Qualification this morning at 0830 - half an hour before the first start - there were only a few officials and a tractor (see picture) in a small football field. However, the runners got what they wanted: An interesting and though competition with good maps and courses - where many good runners will have to do with the B-final. But nothing extra here…
The site for the final of this World Cup race is a completely different story. It is dimensioned for 15.000 people - and I guess we will all feel small here this evening during the final… But it will surely make interesting TV, as all the 51 runners(!) in the mens final will wear a GPS unit for the live TV broadcast at YLE. I have seen nowhere that there will be live streaming to the internet, but we will see…
Say welcome to Lena Eliassons new blog - now to be found here at World of O. Lena is ranked 13th in IOF ranking, and got a 4th spot at the WOC Sprint distance in Denmark last year. Her blog is Swedish language, but includes some maps which others can also get something out of.
The deadline for the Jukola video competition has been extended until May 30th. Voting for the videos will be started in the beginning of June.
As announced earlier, clips will be shown as they are submitted - and the best clips will be rewarded with Virkiä Jukola merchandise. The clips will be broadcast between June 14-June 17 in the two giant tv screens in the Jukola competition center. In addition, the winning clips will be broadcast on woO-TV Prime from June 18th.
There are two categories:
Show the world your orienteering videos!
The Jukola video competition is open for submissions! Deadline for submissions is May 25th. Clips will be shown as they are submitted - and the best clips will as previously announced be rewarded with Virkiä Jukola merchandise. The clips will be broadcast between June 14-June 17 in the two giant tv screens in the Jukola competition center. In addition, the winning clips will be broadcast on woO-TV Prime from June 18th.
There are two categories:
Show the world your orienteering videos!
5 of 8 gold medals went to Switzerland in Nordic Open Championships 2007 at Bornholm, Denmark - thanks mostly to excellent performances by Matthias Merz with three gold medals and Simone Niggli with two gold medals and one silver medal. Both of them also finished the championships with victories at the final long distance - and at the sprint distance Simone Niggli was on her way to a third gold medal when she forgot a control. Switzerland had never previously won any gold medals in the Nordic Open Championships in the Mens category - Merz’s gold medal at the sprint distance Thursday being a premiere for Switzerland! For Merz, the two NOC golds were also his first international gold medals since his Junior World Championships gold medals in 2003 and 2004.
The rest of the senior medals were divided between Sweden and Finland - with Sweden being the best of the Nordic countries in the senior classes, with 2 gold medals, 3 silver and 3 bronze. Finland got a total of 9 senior medals. For the Norwegian seniors, this was a very depressing championships - with no medals at all - the 4th places of Audun Weltzien and Carl Waaler Kaas being the best results. This is the first time since 1955 (when there was only one discipline in NOC) that Norway is without medals at NOC. The only upside for the Norwegian team is that there are good juniors coming up - and that a Norwegian team hungry for success will travel to Ukraine this August…
For the Danish team, the Nordic Open Championships at home ground was a success, even if they got no runners within the six best in the senior categories. Instead, the Danish juniors gave the Danish spectators a lot to applaud!
| Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Switzerland | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Sweden | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Finland | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Norway | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Denmark | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Sprint Men
1 158 Matthias Merz Switzerland 15:31
2 140 Jonas Pilblad Sweden 15:38
3 164 Matthias Müller Switzerland 15:40
4 162 Audun Hultgren Weltzien Norway 16:03
5 131 Marius Bjugan Norway 16:05
6 151 Jarkko Huovila Finland 16:07
Sprint Women
1 52 Helena Jansson Sweden 17:19
2 51 Minna Kauppi Finland 17:27
3 42 Heli Jukkola Finland 17:32
4 43 Martina Fritschy Switzerland 17:34
5 44 Marianne Andersen Norway 17:45
6 47 Elise Egseth Norway 17:53
Middle Men
1 160 Jarkko Huovila Finland 31:02
2 162 David Andersson Sweden 31:50
3 150 Mats Haldin Finland 32:12
4 156 Carl Waaler Kaas Norway 32:15
5 157 Peter Öberg Sweden 32:27
6 159 Holger Hott Johansen Norway 32:32
Middle Women
1 50 Simone Niggli Switzerland 29:28
2 52 Minna Kauppi Finland 29:31
3 58 Paula Iso-Markku Finland 31:17
4 51 Helena Jansson Sweden 31:28
5 38 Annika Billstam Sweden 31:55
6 28 Dana Brozkova Czech Republic 32:00
Long Men
1 166 Matthias Merz Switzerland 1:19:52
2 163 David Andersson Sweden 1:20:38
3 165 Jonas Pilblad Sweden 1:22:54
4 164 Jani Lakanen Finland 1:23:22
5 121 Baptiste Rollier Switzerland 1:23:33
6 154 Mats Haldin Finland 1:24:18
Long Women
1 51 Simone Niggli Switzerland 1:02:28
2 45 Minna Kauppi Finland 1:02:53
3 55 Lena Eliasson Sweden 1:04:34
4 47 Heli Jukkola Finland 1:05:44
5 46 Helena Jansson Sweden 1:06:25
6 33 Dana Brozkova Czech Republic 1:06:39
Relay Men
1 40 Switzerland 1 2:29:06
Matthias Müller 51:27 9 BACB 2 51:27 9
Baptiste Rollier 49:09 1 CBAA 1 1:40:36 3
Matthias Merz 48:30 1 ACBC 1 2:29:06
2 26 Finland 2 2:29:21
Jonne Lakanen 51:35 12 BBBB 1 51:35 12
Pasi Ikonen 49:14 3 CCCC 1 1:40:49 5
Jani Lakanen 48:32 2 AAAA 1 2:29:21
3 23 Sweden 1 2:29:23
Jonas Pilblad 51:02 8 BCCC 1 51:02 8
Johan Modig 49:49 4 CABB 1 1:40:51 6
Peter Öberg 48:32 2 ABAA 1 2:29:23
4 22 Finland 1 2:30:16
Tero Föhr 51:30 11 CCBA 1 51:30 11
Jarkko Huovila 49:52 5 ABAC 1 1:41:22 8
Mats Haldin 48:54 4 BACB 1 2:30:16
5 24 Finland 3 2:31:37
Vesa Taanila 50:54 6 ACCB 2 50:54 6
Jörgen Wickholm 49:53 6 BABA 1 1:40:47 4
Tuomas Tervo 50:50 5 CBAC 2 2:31:37
6 30 Great Britain 1 2:31:54
Graham Gristwood 50:33 2 CBAC 1 50:33 2
Jon Duncan 50:20 8 AACA 1 1:40:53 7
Jamie Stevenson 51:01 6 BCBB 1 2:31:54
Relay Women
1 4 Sweden 1 2:16:24
Emma Engstrand 48:10 8 BBA 1 48:10 8
Kajsa Nilsson 44:57 1 CCB 1 1:33:07 1
Helena Jansson 43:17 2 AAC 1 2:16:24
2 3 Switzerland 1 2:18:09
Sara Gemperle 50:08 14 BCA 2 50:08 14
Martina Fritschy 47:30 5 CAC 2 1:37:38 10
Simone Niggli 40:31 1 ABB 1 2:18:09
3 1 Finland 1 2:18:37
Heli Jukkola 46:06 2 AAA 1 46:06 2
Bodil Holmström 49:08 7 BBB 3 1:35:14 5
Minna Kauppi 43:23 3 CCC 1 2:18:37
4 13 Czech Republic 1 2:19:29
Zdenka Stara 46:39 4 CCC 2 46:39 4
Eva Jurenikova 49:16 8 ABB 3 1:35:55 6
Dana Brozkova 43:34 5 BAA 1 2:19:29
5 17 Switzerland 2 2:19:32
Franziska Wolleb 47:44 7 ABB 2 47:44 7
Lea Müller 46:34 3 BCC 1 1:34:18 2
Seline Stalder 45:14 6 CAA 1 2:19:32
6 2 Norway 1 2:19:48
Anne Margrethe Hausken 45:51 1 CBC 1 45:51 1
Lene Moe 50:29 11 AAB 1 1:36:20 8
Marianne Andersen 43:28 4 BCA 1 2:19:48
Today the Nordic Orienteering Championships continues with the relay with the first start at 10.00. There will be online tracking available at TracTrac.dk (according to the TracTrac page). With no relays in the Orienteering World Cup anymore, the relay in the Nordic Orienteering Champs is the only fight left between the orienteering nations except the World Championships - a fact that will surely put extra prestige on the victory today! Below some of favorite teams are given in the senior categories - but note that also the second teams of several of the nations may get away with a Gold medal today! For full startlist, see bottom of this page.
Favorite Teams - Men
21 Norway 1
1 Øystein Kvaal Østerbø 502026
2 Holger Hott Johansen 500141
3 Audun Hultgren Weltzien 501744
22 Finland 1
1 Tero Föhr 501837
2 Jarkko Huovila 991662
3 Mats Haldin 501517
23 Sweden 1
1 Jonas Pilblad 502043
2 Johan Modig 501765
3 Peter Öberg 501521
28 Denmark 1
1 Claus Bloch 501774
2 René Rokkjær 501884
3 Mikkel Lund 500134
30 Great Britain 1
1 Graham Gristwood 501811
2 Jon Duncan 501549
3 Jamie Stevenson 501741
40 Switzerland 1
1 Matthias Müller 501785
2 Daniel Hubman 501613
3 Matthias Merz 500057
Favorite Teams - Women
1 Finland 1
1 Heli Jukkola 501543
2 Bodil Holmström 501834
3 Minna Kauppi 502047
2 Norway 1
1 Anne Margrethe Hausken 500076
2 Lene Moe 501609
3 Marianne Andersen 500170
3 Switzerland 1
1 Sara Gemperle 501784
2 Martina Fritschy 500157
3 Simone Niggli 500145
4 Sweden 1
1 Emma Engstrand 501862
2 Kajsa Nilsson 501683
3 Helena Jansson 501748
11 Denmark 1
1 Anne Konring Olesen 501534
2 Helene Hausner 501541
3 Signe Søes 500188
13 Czech Republic 1
1 Zdenka Stara 500163
2 Eva Jurenikova 501806
3 Dana Brozkova 501605
Links
Simone Niggli lost nearly 3 minutes at the 9th of 14 controls - after being in the lead at control number 8 with nearly a minute. This was because she did not see the 9th control at the map, as it was exactly between the 8th and 10th control on the map. She did not see it until she was running to control 13, and had to run back and repeat the controls. Minna Kauppi lost a possible Gold medal at the 7th control through a 40 second error there - and thus the road was paved for the first Gold medal for Helena Jansson. See all details in the splitsbrowser from the NOC sprint.
Below you find the six best runners in the senior classes. Click the runners to see their runner profiles, including their previous top results. Note for example that this is Helena Janssons first international medal in the senior category.
Men 21
1 158 Matthias Merz Switzerland 15:31
2 140 Jonas Pilblad Sweden 15:38
3 164 Matthias Müller Switzerland 15:40
4 162 Audun Hultgren Weltzien Norway 16:03
5 131 Marius Bjugan Norway 16:05
6 151 Jarkko Huovila Finland 16:07
Women 21
1 52 Helena Jansson Sweden 17:19
2 51 Minna Kauppi Finland 17:27
3 42 Heli Jukkola Finland 17:32
4 43 Martina Fritschy Switzerland 17:34
5 44 Marianne Andersen Norway 17:45
6 47 Elise Egseth Norway 17:53
Men 20
1 333 Søren Bobach Denmark 14:29
2 324 Olav Lundanes Norway 14:47
3 318 Petter Eriksson Sweden 15:06
4 331 Patrik Karlsson Sweden 15:08
5 328 Mikael Kristensson Sweden 15:19
6 329 Olli-Markus Taivainen Finland 15:42
Women 20
1 224 Siri Ulvestad Norway 15:23
2 229 Eva Svensson Sweden 15:25
3 215 Kine Hallan Steiwer Norway 15:36
4 230 Silje Ekroll Jahren Norway 15:53
4 226 Maja Alm Denmark 15:53
6 216 Anna Forsberg Sweden 16:14
Links