Nopesport

WUOC Sprint

A great run by Murray Strain round the streets of Kosice resulted in a very nail-biting ending to the final individual race at the World Student Championships as the Scot ended up in 4th place, less than 10 seconds from getting a medal.

The 3.3km course was won by Norwegian sprint specialist Øystein Kvaal Østerbø in 14:07.1 with yesterday’s middle distance winner Simonas Krepsta 12.2 seconds behind and the young Swiss runner Fabian Hertner 15.5 seconds behind the leader.

Graham Gristwood had a decent run too finishing in 12th place just 2 seconds from another top 10. Oleg Chepelin was the other Brit in the race and he finished in 37th place, but still only one and a half minutes behind the winner showing just how close the race was.

Helen Bridle claimed another top 10 result in the sprint disicipline, although she wasn’t able to improve on her result at the senior World Championships, this time still ending up in an impressive 8th place, 42 seconds behind the winner. The women’s race was just as close as the men’s, with the 5 runners from 6th to 10th place being separated by just 1.9 seconds showing that the use of tenth of second timing comes in useful.

The women’s race was won by Dana Brozkova, adding to her gold from the classic race, in a time of 14:20.1 for the 2.7km course. The silver medal went to Seline Stalder from Switzerland as she finished 5 seconds behind, and Italy’s Michela Guizzardi took the bronze. Helen Palmer ended up 40th just less than 2 and a half mins behind, with Aislinn Austin 50th a further minute behind.

Mens 3.3km 10m
GOLD Øystein Kvaal Østerbø NOR 14:07.1
SILVER Simonas Krepsta LTU 14:19.3
BRONZE Fabian Hertner SUI 14:22.6
4th Murray Strain GBR 14:31.0

12th Graham Gristwood GBR 14:51.6
37th Oleg Chepelin GBR 15:38.5

Womens 2.7km 10m
GOLD Dana Brozkova CZE 14:20.1
SILVER Seline Stalder SUI 14:25.5
BRONZE Michela Guizzardi ITA 14:47.8

8th Helen Bridle GBR 15:02.7
40th Helen Palmer GBR 16:46.7
50th Aislinn Austin GBR 17:43.7

Full report to follow from our live reporters later…