Double Victory for Salmi family
Posted on | July 17, 2007 | Category: News
World Masters Orienteering Championships, Kuusamo, Finland
Vroni König-Salmi and Janne Salmi were victorious in W35 and M35 respectively in the 2007 World Masters Championships, held last week at Kuusamo, a Finnish winter resort close to the Russian border.
Vroni’s win was by a convincing 1 minute 42 seconds over Anna Gornicka-Antonowicz from Poland, whilst Janne’s victory over the Russian Igor Gorbatenkov was by 37 seconds. Bronze medallists in the same classes were Sanna and Sören Nymalm, who like Vroni and Janne both have masses of international experience behind them. For Janne, now the Finnish national coach, there was special satisfaction after he missed victory by just 11 seconds in 2005.
More than 4,000 competitors made the journey to the venue north of the Arctic Circle with the home nation exceptionally well represented, a fact reflected by the champions list which includes no less than 15 Finns. Many of the finals races were very closely contested and in W65 there was a tie for first place, with both Torid Kvaal (NOR) and Birgitta Olsson (SWE) receiving gold medals. In M55 the winning margin was just 2 seconds, and in M45 it was 5 seconds.
Seven of this year’s champions – indicated by * in the list below – have been champions previously in this century. Erkki Luntamo, who has 1 year left in M90 before he moves up to M95, took his third M90 gold having previously won 2 golds in M85. Birgitta Olsson and Ingrid Roll won W60 and W65 respectively in 2001, and Sole Nieminen topped the podium in W75 in 2003. Tapio Peippo repeated his victory of last year; he also won M55 in 2004. Veikko Loukonen (M55, 2003) and Rune Carlsson (M65, 2004) make up the seven.
World Masters Champions 2007
W35 Vroni König-Salmi SUI
W40 Teresa Kollanen FIN
W45 Sirkka Oikarinen FIN
W50 Liz Campbell GBR
W55 Irina Stepanova RUS
W60 Maija Verha FIN
W65 Torid Kvaal NOR
Birgitta Olsson SWE*
W70 Ingrid Roll NOR*
W75 Raila Sinkkilä FIN
W80 Sole Nieminen FIN*
W85 Lillian Røss NOR
M35 Janne Salmi FIN
M40 Timo Karppinen FIN
M45 Ari Kattainen FIN
M50 Jukka-Pekka Rantio FIN
M55 Tapio Peippo FIN*
M60 Veikko Loukonen FIN*
M65 Björn Linnersjö SWE
M70 Rune Carlsson SWE*
M75 Mauri Rantala FIN
M80 Arvo Majoinen FIN
M85 Vilho Himanen FIN
M90 Erkki Luntamo FIN*
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