Simon Uppill, in 34th place, was the best Australian performer in the middle distance final at the World Orienteering Championships in Trondheim today. He finished in 34th place, in a fiercely-contested event in which the top seven were separated by less than a minute. Carl Waaler Kaas brought the hosts a narrow victory ahead of Peter Oberg (SWE), with Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA) and Daniel Hubmann (SUI) tied in third place. Uppill struck some difficulty on the final loop which cost him some places, but not to the same extent as Dave Shepherd, who lost four minutes on a control and finished in 45th.

Grace Crane made a slow start in the women’s race, and although she did not do a lot wrong after that, 37th place was the best she could manage, while two significant errors in the first half kept Vanessa Round to 41st. Simone Niggli’s bid for another gold medal was derailed by the Finn Minna Kauppi, with Marianne Andersen giving the Norwegians another medal.

Results are available through the WOC results page.

Competition will be completed with the relay tomorrow from 1930 AEST. The Australian teams are:

Men: Simon Uppill, Dave Shepherd, Julian Dent

Women: Grace Crane, Vanessa Round, Kathryn Ewels