Nopesport

The sprint distance competition of thee Nordic Orienteering Championships was held this afternoon in the small costal village of Brevik. The majority of the course was run in urban terrain, with a few controls in typical pine forest surrounding the sports field.

Øystein Kvaal Osterbo, NOR, had another outstanding sprint race, taking the gold medal in H21, he has really established himself as one of the best sprint orienteers in the world. The Flying Finn Mårten Boström was just 5 seconds down taking the silver medal. Boström took 8 seconds out of the Norwegian in the last 3 minutes of the race, but it wasn’t enough in the end. Young Martin Johansson from Sweden took thee bronze medal, he’s one to watch out for in the future.

In the Women’s race sprint specialist and ex PWT champion Anne Margrethe Hausken of Norway took the gold medal by just 6 seconds over Simone Niggli-Lüder, the Swiss superstar. Lena Eliasson, SWE took the bronze medal, 50 seconds off thee pace. Emma Engstrand would have taken thee bronze in 14:02.8, however she was disqualified.

It was H18 who won himself the gold medal in the H20 sprint championships. Patrik Karlsson of Sweden finished 11s ahead of silver medalist Olav Lundanes from Norway. Erik Rost of Sweden, classic champion and triple gold medalist from the Junior World Ski-O Championships, took the bronze medal. A big shout out goes to Erik “Monster” Thorsson, taking 6th place.

In D20 it was the undisputed top Swedish junior, Helena Jansson, who won the gold, back on top in here favourite postion. The silver and bronze medals were separated by just 1/10 of a second. Norwegian Elise Egseth took silver 8 seconds down on Jansson with fellow Noggy and classic champion Betty Ann Bjerkreim Nilsen taking home the bronze medal.

H21, 2.93km
1 Øystein Kvaal Osterbo, NOR, 13:53.1
2 Mårten Boström, FIN, 13:58.6
3 Martin Johansson, SWE, 14:12.2
4 Petteri Muukkonen, FIN, 14:19.9
5 Tero Föhr, FIN, 14:21.9
6 Chris Terkelsen, DEN, 14:32.9

38 Jon Duncan, GBR, 17:14.0

41 Neil Dobbs, IRL, 19:26.8
42 Colmm O'Halloran, IRL, 19:53.4
43 Darren Burke, IRL, 20:17.0

D21, 2.48km
1 Anne Margrethe Hausken, NOR, 13:35.6
2 Simone Niggli-Lüder, SUI, 13:41.9
3 Lena Eliasson, SWE, 14:28.8
4 Minna Kauppi, FIN, 14:29.8
5 Jenny Johansson, SWE, 14:35.3
6 Elin Dahlstedt, SWE, 14:37.8

29 Toni O'Donovan, IRL, 17:14.4
35 Ailbhe Creedon, IRL, 20:03.4

H20, 2.62km
1 Patrik Karlsson, SWE, 13:18.3
2 Olav Lundanes, NOR, 13:29.7
3 Erik Rost, SWE, 13:37.8
4 Hannu Airila, FIN, 13:44.3
5 Anders Einum, NOR, 14:07.3
6 Erik Thorsson, SWE, 14:15.4

28 Scott Fraser, GBR, 17:05.2

D20, 2.37km
1 Helena Jansson, SWE, 13:39.1
2 Elise Egseth, NOR, 13:47.7
3 Betty Ann Bjerkreim Nilsen, NOR, 13:47.8
4 Guro Flatekval, NOR, 14:02.4
5 Heini Wennman, FIN, 14:04.6
6 Aino Leskinen, FIN, 14:29.6

For full results and information on the competition visit the NOC Website:
noc2005.org