Nopesport

Today saw the qualification races for the sprint final held in the grounds next to Roskilde Sankt Hospital.

The course for both men and women consisted of urban parkland and a surprise for the competitors when coming into the final controls, where runners were faced with a jump over the Roskilde sewage drain. Nobody in the Europeans or the Danish five days including your plucky reporter managed to jump the gap resulting in a rather smelly early bath for everyone.

The selections saw great performances from Britain's women with five out of the six qualifying for the final. Jo Stevenson still suffering from illness was the unlucky one to miss out. Clare Ward is still happy and enjoying her orienteering qualifying in all the races this week. Hannah Wootton qualified well in 6th place in a strong heat. Hannah told nopesport that this was a strange performance for her because she was concentrating on the middle and classic races this week.

Unfortunately it was a different situation in the men with nobody qualifying for the final. Dan Marston was very unlucky to finish one second behind qualifying. Dan speaking to nopesport made it clear that his plans for this week was the Long Final on Friday. Dan is yet undecided to whether he will run the B final tonight. Jon Duncan (34th) told nopesport how this week in his long international career has been the hardest to qualify from with many runners running very fast. Many big names in orienteering have failed to make the final tonight including Roman Efimov of Russia, David Brickhill Jones and Tom Qualyle of Austrailia and Jani Lakanen of Finland.

Heat A Girls
1. Minna Kaupi FIN 14.19
2. Karin Schamfield GER 14.51
3. Maria Sterbova CZE 14.54
11. Sarah Rollins GBR 15.23
15. Clare Ward GBR 15.54

Heat B Girls
1. Simone Niggli - Luder SUI 13.14
2. Linda Antonsen NOR 14.16
3. Heli Jukkola FIN 14.19
6. Hannah Wooton GBR 14.43
17. Helen Winskill GBR 15.49

Heat C Girls
1. Dainora Alsauskaite LTU 14.42
2. Gunilla Svard SWE 14.44
3. Anne Konring Olesen DEN 14.48
7. Heather Monro GBR 15.05
24. Jo Stevenson GBR 16.46

Heat A Mens
1. Andrey Khramov RUS 13.00
2. Petr Losman CZE 13.38
3. Mikkel Lund DEN 13.50
18. Dan Marston GBR 14.25
Stephen Palmer dns

Heat B Mens
1. Matthias Muller SUI 14.35
2. Johan Modig SWE 14.36
3. Damien Renard FRA 14.42
32. Nick Morgan GBR 16.14
34. Jon Duncan GBR 16.18

Heat C Mens
1. Mats Haldin FIN 14.00
2. Yuri Omeltchenko UKR 14.02
3. Jonas Pilbald SWE 14.10
19. Nick Barrable GBR 15.04
32. Allan Bogle GBR 15.44