WMTBOC 2015: Gold in the Middle Distance to Foliforov and Barlet

Anton Foliforov and Gaëlle Barlet are the new MTBO World Champions in Middle Distance. Held at Jablonec nad Nisou, in high-quality terrains, both races were hardly disputed, with few seconds separating the gold from the silver. In the Junior World Championships, Oskar Sandberg and Alena Fedoseeva were the best.

After the World titles of Long Distance (2010 and 2014) and Sprint (2011 and 2014), Anton Foliforov reached this morning the individual title that was missing him. The Russian needed 58:16 to complete his course, leaving the Italian Luca Dallavalle at five seconds only. The third place fell to the Czech Marek Pospisek with more 1:04 than the winner. Middle Distance World Champion in 2014, the Russian Ruslan Gritsan concluded on the 6th place, 2:24 after his team mate. Portugal entered six athletes in this course, quoting up Davide Machado as the best national representative with a time of 1:08:08, corresponding to the 38th place.

The French Gaëlle Barlet was the winner of the women's race. World Champion of Sprint in 2011, the athlete appeared this year in the European Championships at Idanha-a-Nova (Portugal) with a highly competitive winning hand, having reached the title of Middle Distance and also the silver medal in the Long Distance. Now she consolidates her status of bigger star of MTB Orienteering in 2015, winning the course in the time of 53:32 and leaving the Czech Martina Tichovska 24 seconds away. Current leader of the IOF World Ranking, the British Emily Benham got the third place, while the World Champion in 2014, the Swedish Cecilia Thomasson, finished 8th. Susana Pontes was the best placed among the three Portuguese entered, finishing in 46th place in the list of 60 athletes that started.

A star called Alena Fedoseeva

Looking now on the Junior World MTB Orienteering Championships, were in number of 64 the athletes who lined up to start in the men’s class, for a hard fought race, with the first four classified separated by less than one minute. Great revelation of the World Championships in 2014, where he was crowned World Champion in Sprint, Oskar Sandberg returned to the top of the podium, this time to receive the gold medal in the Middle Distance. The Swedish athlete spent 52:39, against 52:56 of the Slovak Andrej Cully, second placed. The bronze medal stayed "at home", with the Czech Vaclav Snuparek to spend 53 more seconds than the winner. The Finnish Sauli Pietikainen, European Champion currently, couldn’t get better than the 10th position. Portugal presented five junior athletes in competition, belonging to André Ramalho our best result in the 43rd place.

Finally, regarding to the Women, a prominent note goes to the victory of the Russian Alena Fedoseeva, joining this gold medal to the title in the European Championships of Idanha-a-Nova (Portugal), but there in the W17 class. An amazing victory, achieved in the time of 49:28, against one of the big favorites, the French Lou Denaix, who spent more 48 seconds and was 2nd. The third place fell to another Russian youth athlete, Daria Mikryukova, while in the fourth position stayed the Swiss Sandrine Muller, bronze medal in the Middle Distance and Long Distance in the recent Junior World Championships... of Foot Orienteering! European Champion 2015 and World Champion 2014, both in Sprint, the Czech Veronika Kubinova was disqualified, while the World Champion of Middle Distance in 2014, the Swedish Kajsa Engstrom, finished in the 8th place. Participated in the course 36 athletes.

Results

M21


1. Anton Foliforov (Russia) 58:16 (+ 00:00)


2. Luca Dallavalle (Italy) 58:21 (+ 00:05)


3. Marek Pospisek (Czech Republic) 59:20 (+ 1:04)


4. Valerii Glukhov (Russia) 59:34 (+ 01:18)


5. Jussi Laurila (Finland) 59:59 (+ 1:43)


6. Ruslan Gritsan (Russia) 1:00:40 (+ 02:24)


(...)


38. Davide Machado (Portugal) 1:08:08 (+ 09:52)


48. Daniel Marques (Portugal) 1:11:55 (+ 13:39)


50. Carlos Simões (Portugal) 1:11:58 (+ 13:42)


56. João Ferreira (Portugal) 1:13:02 (+ 14:46)


73. Luis Barreiro (Portugal) 1:18:44 (+ 20:28)


73. Mario Guterres (Portugal) 1:18:44 (+ 20:28)



W21


1. Gaelle Barlet (France) 53:32 (+ 00:00)


2. Martina Tichovska (Czech Republic) 53:56 (+ 0:24)


3. Emily Benham (Great Britain) 54:06 (+ 00:34)


4. Susanna Laurila (Finland) 54:27 (+ 00:55)


5. Camilla Soegaard (Denmark) 54:50 (+ 01:18)


6. Marika Hara (Finland) 55:18 (+ 01:46)


(...)


46. Susana Pontes (Portugal) 1:16:28 (+ 22:56)


53. Ana Filipa Silva (Portugal) 1:26:19 (+ 32:47)


58. Tânia Covas Costa (Portugal) 1:44:47 (+ 51:15)



M20


1. Oskar Sandberg (Sweden) 52:39 (+ 00:00)


2. Andrej Cully (Slovakia) 52:56 (+ 00:17)


3. Vaclav Snuparek (Czech Republic) 53:32 (+ 0:53)


4. Vyacheslav Chernykh (Russia) 53:35 (+ 00:56)


5. Florian Pinsard (France) 53:51 (+ 01:12)


6. Edwyn Oliver Evans (Great Britain) 54:03 (+ 1:24)


(...)


43. André Ramalho (Portugal) 1:11:23 (+ 18:44)


47. Duarte Lourenço (Portugal) 1:12:09 (+ 19:30)


56. Diogo Barradas (Portugal) 1:28:35 (+ 35:56)


Afonso Barreiros (Portugal) mp


Paul Roothans (Portugal) mp



W20


1. Alena Fedoseeva (Russia) 49:28 (+ 00:00)


2. Lou Denaix (France) 50:16 (+ 00:48)


3. Darya Mikryukova (Russia) 50:27 (+ 00:59)


4. Sandrine Mueller (Switzerland) 53:11 (+ 3:43)


5. Doris Kudre (Estonia) 53:12 (+ 3:44)


6. Viktorija Michnovic (Lithuania) 54:23 (+ 04:55)



Complete results and further information at http://www.wmtboc2015.cz/.

Joaquim Margarido