Australia have finished 7th in the women’s relay at WOC, behind Finland, Sweden and Norway. As was the case last year, Jo Allison and Grace Elson produced solid runs on the first two legs, leaving the team in 8th after two legs, nine minutes behind. Hanny Allston ran well on the last leg, but not as spectacularly as she did last year; she overhauled Denmark on the later part of the final leg, but was unable to quite make up the ground to pass the Czechs and put the team on the podium. Finland, led by their dual long distance world champions Heli Jukkola and Minna Kauppi on the last two legs, pulled away to score by just over a minute, with the Swedes outsprinting the Norwegians for silver.

The men’s team put together three consistent legs. Troy de Haas was with the lead group early and competitive through, finishing about two minutes off the pace in 11th place. Julian Dent held that position, and sent Rob Walter, a late addition to the team due to Dave Shepherd’s illness, out with a chance of making the top 10. Walter had a solid run but was unable to hold off the Czechs and Estonians, in a result which was a significant improvement on last year. Russia repeated their 2006 triumph, again coming through on the last two legs thanks to Andrey Khramov and Valentin Novikov, with Sweden in second and Finland third. Less than two minutes covered the top five.

Women

1. Finland                         106.35
2. Sweden                        107.41
3. Norway                        107.50
7. Australia                       118.13

Men

1. Russia                           130.26
2. Sweden                         131.08
3. Finland                          131.35
13. Australia                      139.42
22. New Zealand              157.11

Don’t forget to check the Aussie team blog for team updates.