Nopesport

Today's long distance race at Gyllbergen, west of Borlange, provided a tough start to the week of the World University Orienteering Championships.

It was no real surprise that former World Champion in the long distance, Matthias Merz of Switzerland, took a convincing victory to add a World Universities gold medal to his collection. Matthias took 71:16 for the 12km course, four minutes quicker than the expected time amd over four minutes clear of second place Erik Rost from Sweden, with Swede Johan Runesson taking third ahead of a tightly packed top 30 - just 8 minutes seperating 2nd to 30th.

For the British guys it was early starter Duncan Coombs who looked to have had the best result, finishing in 2nd place but being pushed down to 15th over the course of the morning. He was just pipped by Edinburgh team mate Doug Tullie, who finished in 14th just 15 seconds ahead of Duncan in a time of 80:41. Oleg Chepelin finished a further 90 seconds back in 21st, improving on his 30th place from 2008, while Alasdair McLeod finished in 33rd place with a time of 85:19.

In the women's race it was a tighter affair, Sara Lüscher winning the 7.7km course in a time of 60:09, 38 seconds clear of Saila Kinni of Finland with Silje Ekroll Jahren of Norway in third. For the British women it was Holly Orr who was best placed, finishing in 22nd place with a time of 71:15, just six seconds ahead of Tessa Hill in 24th place. Rebecca Harding finished in 50th with a time of 80:59 while Jess Halliday from an early start finished in 55th with a time of 85:27.

Men: 12km, 390m

       Name             Nation     Time      
1.    Matthias Merz        SUI    71:16    +00:00
2.    Erik Rost        SWE    75:52    +04:36
3.    Johan Runesson        SWE    76:30    +05:14
4.    Oskari Liukkonen    FIN    76:38    +05:22
5.    Johan Aronsson        SWE    77:43    +06:27
6.    Stepan Kodeda        CZE    77:54    +06:38

14.    Douglas Tullie        GBR    80:41    +09:25
15.    Duncan Coombs        GBR    80:56    +09:40
21.    Oleg Chepelin        GBR    82:16    +11:00
33.    Alasdair McLeod        GBR    85:19    +14:03
60.    Nicolas Simonin        IRL    93:25    +22:09
95.    Colm Hill        IRL    131:49    +60:33

Women: 7.7km, 235m

       Name             Nation     Time      
1.    Sara Lüscher        SUI    60:09    +00:00
2.    Saila Kinni        FIN    60:47    +00:38
3.    Silje Ekroll Jahren    NOR    62:11    +02:02
4.    Rasa Ptasekaite        LTU    63:05    +02:56
5.    Marttiina Joensuu    FIN    63:27    +03:18
6.    Heini Wennman        FIN    63:39    +03:30

22.    Hollie Orr        GBR    71:15    +11:06
24.    Tessa Hill        GBR    71:21    +11:12
50.    Rebecca Harding        GBR    80:59    +20:50
55.    Jess Halliday        GBR    85:27    +25:18

Final results will be available on the WUOC website later. Tomorrow sees the Sprint Distance, where Scott Fraser will be looking to improve on his Bronze of 2008 while Graham Gristwood will also be on the lookout for a top result, but they'll face stiff competition again from Merz who has a number of sprint medals in his collection.