The World MTBO Championships continued today with Long Distance qualification races for the Elites and a replacement final for the Middle Distance race for the junior classes. Adrian Jackson has provided a comprehensive report on the team blog.
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In the JWOC event, the Australians did not quite repeat their good rides from yesterday, but still recorded very competitive times and were pleased with their rides. Chris Firman was best placed in 27th place, Luke Poland was 39th and Marc Gluskie 40th. This is the first international championship for all these riders so good performances under pressure. You can see the steepness of the terrain in this picture of Luke Poland in the sprint event.
The Australian senior men again rode exceptionally well with 3 qualifiers for the final. Adrian Jackson was 7th in his heat with Steven Cusworth right behind in 10th. Alex Randall was also 10th in a separate heat, while Grant Lebbink just missed qualification coming 24th in the third heat (20 qualifiers from each heat) after a mistake on the final control cost him 6 places.
In the women’s races, Mary Fien finished in 15th in her heat, ready for a good ride in the final. Melanie Simpson (our #1 news correspondent and blogger) took quite a long time after stopping to help an injured competitor out on the course but still finished to qualify for the final.
Results (Full Results, splits and Maps available from the WOC website)*
Junior Men (Middle Distance Final)
1. Pekka Niemi FIN 49:47
2. Krystof Bogar CZE 50:53
3. Mikhail Utkin RUS 51:16
28. Chris Firman AUS 58:44
39. Luke Poland AUS 65:55
40. Marc Gluskie AUS 66:10
Junior Women (Middle Distance Final)
1. Olga Vinogradova RUS 49:34
2. Barbro Kvale NOR 51:58
3. Magdalena Seifertova CZE 52:51
WOC Men Heat A (Long distance Qualifying Heat)
1. Kevin Haselsberger AUT 73:03
2. Davide Machado POR 75:01
3. Andrey Kornev RUS 76:19
7. Adrian Jackson AUS 76:35
10. Steven Cusworth AUS 78:05
WOC Men Heat B (Long distance Qualifying Heat)
1. Anton Foliforov RUS 73:44
2. Juho Saarinen FIN 76:55
3. Clement Souvray FRA 78:25
10. Alex Randall AUS 82:02
WOC Men Heat C (Long distance Qualifying Heat)
1. Erik Skovgaard Knudsen DEN 76:55
2. Luca Dallavalle ITA 79:08
3. Marek Pospisek CZE 80:47
24. Grant Lebbink AUS 96:06
WOC Women Heat A (Long distance Qualifying Heat)
1. Martina Tichovska CZE 77:18
2. Maja Rothweiler SWI 79:48
3. Micheala Gigon AUT 80:25
29. Melanie Simpson AUS 136:40*
*Awaiting decision on time adjustment for stopping for injured competitor
WOC Women Heat B (Long distance Qualifying Heat)
1. Ksenia Chernykh RUS 82:28
2. Christine Schaffner SWI 83:53
3. Line Brun Stallknecht DEN 87:26
15. Mary Fien AUS 94:34
*website no longer available