Grace Elson and Jo Allison led the way for Australia in this afternoon´s Middle Distance final at the World Orienteering Championships. Both lost time early on in an area of complex rock, as did many others, but ran a good final two-thirds of the course, and were separated by only a single second at the end. Elson finished 16th and Allison 17th. For both, it was the best individual result of their careers at this level. Minna Kauppi recovered from a moderate qualifying run to storm home in the final, whilst Vroni Konig-Salmi achieved her first middle distance medal at the age of 39.

Vanessa Round, who has qualified for two finals at her first World Championships, had a steady run in the first of them, finishing in 33rd position. Julian Dent was also steady without being spectacular and finished in 32nd, behind Thierry Gueorgiou who won his fifth gold medal in six years.

Competition will continue on Saturday with the Long Distance final, for which Allison, Round and Kathryn Ewels have all qualified.

Results

Men

1. Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA) – 33.49
2. Michal Smola (CZE) – 34.23
3. Valentin Novikov (RUS) – 34.27
32. Julian Dent (AUS) – 40.08

Women

1. Minna Kauppi (FIN) – 32.35
2. Vroni Konig-Salmi (SUI) – 34.37
3. Radka Brozkova (CZE) – 34.51
16. Grace Elson (AUS) – 39.49
17. Jo Allison (AUS) – 39.50
33. Vanessa Round (AUS) – 43.35

Full results and splits are available from the WOC website.