Nopesport

Russian Clean Sweep at WMC.

There were no British entrants at this years World Military Championships, held over the weekend in Finland, but there was tough racing dominated by the Eastern-bloc countries as well as Norway and Switzerland.

The Russian team took all four gold medals available, with young Leonid Novikov and sister Julia winning the middle distance (big brother Valentin was in action in Sweden over the weekend), while Evgeny Fadeev and Tatiana Ryabkina triumphed in the Long. But they didnt have it all their own way, rising star Andrie Kramov struggling in both races.

Mattias Merz looks to be in good shape ahead of the summers races, finishing 3rd in the long distance and 7th in the middle, 1 second behind his friend, rival and team mate Daniel Hubmann.

It was this strength from the Swiss men which won them the team prize, while the Russian women had the depth to take the team prize with the Lithuanian team taking second.

Results