Nopesport

Tha final ever round of the 'traditional' world cup kicked off today in the Auvergne region of France, amid the twering green volcano's pictured on the label of Volvic water.

Athletes from across the globe will be fighting it out over old lava flows rife with thick green forest this week, in the final round of the World Cup.

In the girls race today it was basically a case of 'don't mispunch' as there were only 18 in each heat with 17 to go through. The Brits took it cautiously with Rachael Elder finishing in the best position, 5th and 3 minutes behind the heat winner. The others all cruised round, some finding the intricate quarries and vague slopes harder than others. And there was a nervous wait for Jo Stevenson, whose SI Card would not download. At one stage it looked as if all the boxes would have to be retrieved from the forest and be manually checked, but a phone call to SportIdent HQ suggested an alternative piece of software to use. This worked and Jo qualified (still to be confirmed).

There was less success for the British men, where only Graham Gristwood and Murray Strain made it through to tomorrow's final. But those who missed out were in good company as names such as Mats Haldin, Christian Teich and Damien Renadr will also be in the B final tomorrow.

Thierry Geourgiou still looks to be the strong favourite as he won his heat by two minutes, but he could be threatened by Jarkko Huovila, whose strong technique will be an asset in the final, which looks to be even harder than today as it is in a more remote location with less paths to fall back on.

Results