Success for Australia at todays competition in the middle distance final race held at Taverne in Switzerland! Hanny Allston in another great run finished in the third place securing Australia its first medal since 1999 in the JWOC competition. Hanny was extremely pleased with her run although she felt she made mistakes and was very teary on the finish line. She says she is shocked about her result and relieved that she has achieved her goal of ‘podium finish’ and still has another race to go! Winner Anna Persson from Sweden finished in a time of 25:51. She reported she was feeling fantastic about her win although she didn’t really understand it. For Anna tomorrow is another race but she aims to have fun in the forest! The Finnish girl Heini Wennman also had a great run for second place and said she was feeling emotionally exhausted but also very relieved to have gained second place and a silver medal.

All placegetters were tested as part of the campaign for drugs-free sport. Interestingly, we have seen a fair-play anti-drugs commercial at the awards ceremony using orienteering as an example sport with the drug user shown collapsing at a control! Amusing and effective!

In the men’s race Julian Dent (25:10) finished in 8th position; he says he had a sloppy run around the controls which accounted for his not having any fastest splits. Again the finish was very exciting as the top seeds fnished. The race was won by the local Swiss orienteer Fabian Hertnerto in a time of 21:28 by, followed by Frenchman Phillipe Adamski and Finland’s Hannu Airila.

The rest of the Australian team were not disgraced and Simon Uppill held the lead early in the day which was also very exciting and augurs well for the future. He finished in 22nd position in the A final at his first JWOC. Jasmine Neve also managed to finish quite well in 32nd position after she ran with Swedish runner Sara Luscher for a while. Unfortunately Jasmine took a fall and bruised her knee and this set her pace back a bit and she lost time in the latter half of the course.

In the B finals Zebedy Hallett and Ryan Smyth were the best placed of the Australians, with Zebedy finishing in 6th place and Ryan in 10th position. Ryan started after David Meyer and when he caught him they gave each other confidence to run the rest of the course well after David had lost vital minutes earlier in his course. Conrad Elson finished in 20th position, followed by David Meyer in 23rd and Louis Elson in 52nd. Following Zebedy in the women’s race, Vanessa Round came 21st and Ainsley Cavanagh 51st, having lost time at the beginning of her race on an early control and later at the 11th control.

Unfortunately for Erin Post she mispunched by missing her second control. She said that someone spoke to her in the forest and although not an excuse it put her off and she didn’t realise that she had missed the second control and went straight to the third instead. However all is not lost for Erin on her birthday today as she has received excellent uni results of one high distinction and three distinctions! She is hoping for a better run tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the classic race and Australia is hoping for podium finish for Hanny and Julian. Here’s wishing all the team the best for tomorrow.

Hilary Wood

World Junior Championships At Taverne Switzerland
Middle Distance Finals

Men: 3.5 km: A Final:
1 Fabian Hertner SUI 21:28
2 Philippe Adamski FRA 22:43
3 Hannu Airila FIN 23:27
8 Julian Dent AUS 25:10
22 Simon Uppill AUS 27:26

B Final:
1 Magne Dæhli NOR 23:41
10 Ryan Smyth AUS 26:30
20 Conrad Elson AUS 28:44
23 David Meyer AUS 29:46
52 Louis Elson AUS 37:57

Women: 3.0 km: A Final:
1 Anna Persson SWE 25:51
2 Heini Wennman FIN 26:00
3 Hanny Allston AUS 27:18
32 Jasmine Neve AUS 36:00

B Final:
1 Ane Linde DEN 22:46
6 Zebedy Hallett AUS 28:12
21 Vanessa Round AUS 33:28
52 Ainsley Cavanagh AUS 47:59
Erin Post AUS mp