Golden Start to World MTBO Champs for Australia

Shane Jenkins2010 Archive

SprintGoldAdrian Jackson has managed to be the first man to successfully defend his sprint world champion title, winning the day over Estonia’s Tonis Erm by 18 second (Adrian’s Race Report).  Steven Cusworth also had an impressive ride in is first international sprint race, he was disappointed to lose about a minute towards the end of the race but still finished in 22nd place in amongst some very experienced riders. Steve’s speed was on track for a top 10 finish!  Alex Randall and Grant Lebbink were also happy with their rides, although Grant also had difficulty towards the end around the ruined castle.

In the women’s race, Mel Simpson and Mary Fien rode steadily and after Mary’s first control both girls had clean rides with hesitations to check the map.

Team2010The junior men, all of whom were competing in their first international event, performed well.  Chris Firman was the first of the juniors in 28thplace in a time of 21:50, he also had difficulty towards the end of the course.  Marc Gluskie was only one place behind in a time of 22:02 and felt that he’d managed to maintain a speed that he could still navigate well.  Luke Poland made a mistake on the way to the first control and was caught by the prepubescent Italian junior boy and kept seeing him through out the race.  Ultimately he finished in 39th position in 23:54.

PodiumSprintRESULTS:

Women
1. Anna Kaminska (POL) 21:25
2. Christina Schaffner (SUI) 21:27
3. Martina Tichovska (CZE) 22:04
28. Melanie Simpson (AUS) 25:47
40. Mary Fien (AUS) 28:32

Men
1. Adrian Jackson (AUS) 22:08
2. Tonis Erm (EST) 22:26
3. Anton Foliforov (RUS) 22:30
22. Steven Cusworth (AUS) 24:45
32. Alex Randall (AUS) 25:30
63. Grant Lebbink (AUS) 30:01

Junior Men
1. Grigory Medvedev (RUS) 17:58
2. Andreas Konrig (DEN) 18:10
3. Krystof Bogar (CZE) 18:32
28. Chris Firman (AUS) 21:50
29. Marc Gluskie (AUS) 22:02
39. Luke Poland (AUS) 23:54

For more details follow these links.

World Championship Sprint event (Maps, Videos)*

Sprint results*

Sprint splits*

Australian team blog

The Championships continue with the Middle Distance event tomorrow.  You can follow each event live on the web – go to the 2010 World MTBO Championships website*.

Details of the schedule for the next week* – remember that Portugal is 9 hours behind the East Coast of Australia.

Mel Simpson

*website no longer available