World Orienteering Championships, men’s Middle final: first-ever gold for Latvia
Posted on | July 17, 2012 | Category: News
Edgars Bertuks made history in Latvian orienteering with a first-ever World Championship gold medal today. He had a good race throughout and stormed into the finish to take his place on the red sofa as race leader – and wait nervously for the 6 who started after him. And only Valentin Novikov, Russia challenged his time, finishing 5 seconds down for the silver medal.
An early leader was home runner Marc Lauenstein, and he was briefly overtaken by young Swede Gustav Bergman before Francois Gonon, France took a clear lead. But Bertuks took 33 seconds out of Gonon’s time, and Gonon eventually had to settle for 5th place.
To great acclaim from the large Swiss support, Fabian Hertner finished in bronze medal position, 20 seconds slower than Novikov. ‘French phantom’ Thierry Gueorgiou was unable to add to his string of Middle distance titles, being not fully recovered from his recent injury, and finished 4th. The final podium place went to Sweden’s Peter Öberg.
L to r Valentin Novikov, Edgars Bertuks, Fabian Hertner Photo: Erik Borg
The race between Bertuks and Novikov in the final stages was fascinating. Novikov was 1 second behind at the 3rd last, and was seen on the tracking to get slightly ahead at one point, but Bertuks proved the faster into the finish. He said that the demands of the course meant that “it was not about fast running, early on”, but downhill across the meadows, heading for the finish, it certainly was.
Leading results – men
1. Edgars Bertuks LAT 36.45
2. Valentin Novikov RUS 36.50
3. Fabian Hertner SUI 37.10
4. Thierry Gueorgiou FRA 37.15
5. Francois Gonon FRA 37.18
6. Peter Öberg SWE 37.22
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