Nopesport

tero the 'middle distance specialist'

It was business as usual for all the big names at the WOC qualifier in Hjortsballe Krat. In the mens heat several names were making their intentions clear with Matthias Merz & Jarkko Huovila winning their respective heats by over 50secs. Thierry Gueorgiou won the 3rd heat by only 5secs from Emil Wingstedt but the pair of them were almost a minute clear of Pasi Ikonen in 3rd. Looks like there are some guys in top form so the middle final promises to be a great race. All the GBR guys qualified with Jamie Stevenson leading the way with 2nd place behind Merz. Jon Duncan and Matt Crane finished 8th in their respective heats. Jon seemed satisfied with this, commenting that he made a 30sec mistake which would've put him in a nicer starting position come the final but was satisfied none the less.

For the GBR women it was a similar story with all of them successfully qualifying. Rachel Elder had the unenviable task of setting off 1st and make the paths through the ferns and had to wait right to the end of qualifying before confirming her place in the final - well calculated! Unfortunately it'll mean another early start again for her. Helen Bridle and Sarah Rollins qualified a little more comfortably in 8th and 9th place respectively and means a full house for team GB.

Minna Kauppi layed down the guantlet with a convincing win in her heat and the fastest time of the day in the slowest heat. Helena Jansson & Simone Niggli-Luder won the other two heats.

For all the results and stats including routes via RouteGadget go to the WOC 2006 site

Pictures of the day will be available in the gallery shortly