It was in a festive atmosphere that
the World MTB Orienteering Championships WMTBOC 2016 came to the end. In Mealhada, with its Urban Park as the epicenter of all emotions,
Finland and the Czech Republic got the Relay titles in the Elite
classes.
The city of Mealhada hosted the last
final of the World MTB Orienteering Championships WMTBOC 2016. For an
always exciting Relay, lined up a total of 90 teams, fighting for the
Elite and Junior world titles and also for the European Youth titles.
In the Men Elite class, the first note
of emotion was given by the Portuguese team, thanks to another
excellent performance of Davide Machado, in the lead at the end of
the first leg. The Finnish Jussi Laurila was fastest in the second
leg, now with the Czech Republic at close three seconds. Less than a
minute to the lead, France followed in the third position. With an
amazing performance in the final leg, Krystof Bogar was able to
increase the advantage of the Czech Republic over its most direct
rivals, setting it at the end in 1:51 on Russia, second placed. The
victory of the Czech team, with a time of 2:05:44, means the recover
of the world title that escaped them since 2013. The third place went
to France, with 2:07:39, while Austria, World Champion in 2015,
concluded in the 6th position, just one second behind Lithuania,
after an exciting sprint in which Jonas Maiselis and Andreas Waldmann
were the protagonists.
Hara's day
Avenging the relative failures of the
first days – in which two falls kept her away from the gold -, the
Finnish Marika Hara had finally the opportunity to celebrate a world
title in these Championships. Austria started better than the other
teams, with Michaela Gigon to make the fastest time in the first leg,
but soon Finland and Russia took the race's control, starting for the
decisive leg with a difference of two seconds from each other, with
the slight advantage belonging to Finland. During her course, Marika
Hara was able to keep the advantage over her most direct opponent,
Svetlana Poverina, concluding the race in 1:59:39 against 2:00:01
from the Russian athlete and thus revalidating the world title, which
happens for the fourth time in the last five editions of the World
Championships. With Martina Tichovska in the final leg, the Czech
Republic finished third, 1:39 after the Finnish team.
Kubinova collects fourth gold
medal
In the Junior World MTB Orienteering
Championships, the Czech Veronika Kubinova has been highlighted
again, after winning everything there was to win. Today, in the Relay
race, she received the testimony for the final leg with a 33-second
disadvantage on Svetlana Poveriba, Russia, finishing with a lead of
59 seconds after another extraordinary race. With this result,
Kubinova equals the French Cédric Beill's achievement that, in 2013,
won all the world titles in the Men Junior class. As for the M20
class, it was possible to watch an intense struggle between Finland
and the Czech Republic, with the final advantage belonging to the
Finns by a margin of 28 seconds. France, who defended here its world
title, couldn't do better than the 5th place, although Florian
Pinsard have recorded the best time in the last leg, winning three
places in the final standings. With this result, Finland reaches a
title that was escaping since 2009. The Finns were also highlighted
in the European Youth Championships, with Eerik Nurminen beating the
Russian Pavel Radyvanyuk in the M17 class by the narrow margin of two
seconds. In the W17 class, the victory went to France, with a lead of
3:43 over Russia.
Results
MElite
1. Czech Republic (Vojtech Stransky,
Vojtech Ludvik, Krystof Bogar) 2:05:44 (+ 00:00)
2. Russia (Valeriy Gluhov, Ruslan
Gritsan, Anton Foliforov) 2:07:35 (+ 01:51)
3. France (Yoann Garde, Baptiste Fuchs,
Cedric Beill) 2:07:39 (+ 01:55)
4. Finland (Andre Haga, Jussi Laurila,
Pekka Niemi) 2:08:26 (+ 02:42)
5. Lithuania (Regimantas Kavaliuskas,
Sarunas Dmukauskas, Jonas Maiselis) 2:10:40 (+ 04:56)
6. Austria (Kevin Haselsberger, Bernard
Schachinger, Andreas Waldmann) 2:10:41 (+ 04:57)
WElite
1. Finland (Ingrid Stengard, Antonia
Haga, Marika Hara) 1:59:39 (+ 00:00)
2. Russia (Ekaterina Kolomina, Olga
Vinogradova Shipilova, Svetlana Poverina) 2:00:01 (+ 00:22)
3. Czech Republic (Renata Paulickova,
Marie Brezinova, Martina Tichovska) 2:01:18 (+ 01:39)
4. Denmark (Cæcilie Christoffersen,
Nina Hoffmann, Camila Soegaard) 2:02:02 (+ 02:23)
5. Switzerland (Ursina Jaeggi,
Christine Schaffner, Maja Rothweiler) 2:04:41 (+ 05:02)
6. Lithuania (Ramune Arlauskiene,
Gabriele Andrasiuniene, Algirda Zaliauskaite) 2:07:48 (+ 08:09)
M20
1. Finland (Sakari Puolakanaho, Petrus
Hanhijarvi, Sauli Pietikaïnen) 1:29:29 (+ 00:00)
2. Czech Republic (Jan Hasek, Matyas
Ludvik, Martin Kanta) 1:29:57 (+ 00:28)
3. Russia (Yuri Balev, Alexander
Kulgaviy, Leonid Tsvetkov) 1:31:41 (+ 02:12)
W20
1. Czech Republic (Vilma Kralova,
Andrea Kamenikova, Veronika Kubinova) 1:39:02 (+ 00:00)
2. Russia (Alena Fedoseeva, Alexandra
Dimova, Olga Mikhaylova) 1:40:01 (+ 00:59)
3. Lithuania (Viktorija Michnovic,
Patricija Babrauskaite, Egle Rubazeviciute) 1:48:11 (+ 09:09)
M17
1. Finland (Juha Lilja, Teemu Kaksonen,
Eerik Nurminen) 1:28:32 (+ 00:00)
2. Russia (Valery Rodin, Danil
Buzovkin, Pavel Radyvanyuk) 1:28:34 (+ 00:02)
3. Sweden (Joel Ernsysson, Axel
Eriksson, Gustav Jonsson) 1:35:42 (+ 07:10)
W17
1. France (Marine Denoual, Lisa Tilly,
Lucie Rudkiewicz) 1:29:31 (+ 00:00)
2. Russia (Lidiya Yakushina, Anastasia
Cherednikova, Marina Oparina) 1:33:14 (+ 03:43)
3. Sweden (Erica Olsson, Elin Haall,
Emmy Albinsson) 1:37:55 (+ 08:24)
Joaquim Margarido
