The MTBO World Championships concluded today with the Long Distance Final, with races finishing in the historical town of Veszprem..

Queenslander junior Chris Firman became our “rider of the meet” with another fine performance, this time placing 12th.   This followed his 5^th in the middle event and 2^nd on the first leg of the relay.   Tom Goddard was 7^th about 75% of the way around the course but suffered a troublesome flat tyre that caused him grief.

In the elites Melanie Simpson raced well  placing 20^th, again fantastically close to the top, being just 4 minutes off the podium in a tightly packed field.   Kiwi Marquita Gelderman followed on from her sprint 25^th with an 18^th place today.   Finn Susanna Laurila added an individual gold to her relay gold medal.   Steven Cusworth had his best result of the week with 27^th.  Ruslan Gritsan’s (Russia) pulled off a 16 second victory after starting last and storming home over the last kilometres.   Finn Samuli Saarela, who finished 4^th, just a minute down, had the misfortune to get a puncture in the closing stages.

Overall during the week the Finnish team dominated the medal collection, to a degree not seen before..  However there was a greater depth of nations than ever before actually making it into the top 6.  Also Sweden this year came with a large team and are intent on being a MTBO force in the future.

Ruslan Gritsan’s gold medal today took his individual medal career haul to 12 – 5 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze.  The only other rider ahead is Austria’s Michaela Gigon, who also has 12 but this includes 6 gold, 4 silver and and 2 bronze.

JUNIOR MEN

1              Krystof Bogar      Czech Rep   73:35

2              Jonas Maišelis     Lithuania     77:54

3              Vojtech Ludvik     Czech Rep   78:02

4              André Haga         Finland           78:46

5              Reinis Grende      Latvia            79:09

6              Grigory Medvedev   Russia      79:17

12           Chris Firman                                  81.52

31           Tom Goddard                               95.50

32           Karl Withers                                96:02

37           Marc Gluskie                              101:03   

JUNIOR WOMEN

1              Eeva-Liisa Hakala       Finland       58:30

2             Svetlana Poverina       Russia         61:31

3              Ruska Saarela              Finland        65:22

4              Barbara Sanocka          Polish          65:26

5             Henna Saarinen           Finland         66:18

6              Caroline Konring         Denmark      67:25

ELITE MEN

1              Ruslan Gritsan     Russia                  90:41

2              Juho Saarinen      Finland               90:57

3              Samuel Pökälä      Finland              91.34

4              Samuli Saarela     Finland                 91:41

5              Davide Machado     Portugal         95:01

6              Tonis Erm               Estonia                 95:13

27           Steve Cusworth                                     103.58

ELITE WOMEN

1              Susanna Laurila    Finland             77:27

2              Ksenia Chernykh    Russia            77:50

3              Marika Hara        Finland               79:15

4              Annick Béguin      Switzerland    79:38

5              Ursina Jäggi       Switzerland         80:43

6              Christine Schaffne   Switzerland    81:02

18           Marquita Gelderman     NZ              84.55

20           Melanie Simpson                              85.31

MASTERS

2              W50        Carolyn Jackson

5              W50       Vivienne Prince    (NZ)

11           W40       Tasmin Barnes

27           M40       Bruce Patterson

19           M50       Peter Cusworth

26           M50       Richard Robinson

2              M60       Rob Garden      (NZ)

7              M60       Michael Wood (NZ)

Medals overall WOC & JWOC

G   S   B

Finland            4   2   3

Switzerland     2  1

Russia              1   3    1

Austria             1   –    1

Czech Rep       –    1    –

Great Britain   –    1    –

Denmark         –     –    1

Poland             –     –     1

Slovakia           –     –     1