Alexandersson and Kyburz win Sprint final
Posted on | January 8, 2013 | Category: News
Tove Alexandersson, Sweden and Matthias Kyburz, Switzerland ran out winners of an intense Sprint final in Wellington, where getting the route choices right was the key to success. Lizzie Ingham achieved the best-ever New Zealand women’s international result with third place.
The women’s race was very tight, with Alexandersson fastest by just 3 seconds at the finish. Annika Billstam, Sweden was the fastest overall for a large proportion of the course and still led at the penultimate control, but lost crucial seconds right at the end. The large and enthusiastic local support was ecstatic over Lizzie Ingham’s performance – she finished in third place, just 12 seconds away from victory.
Matthias Kyburz had a more comfortable victory, winning by 35 seconds over Jerker Lysell, Sweden. Kyburz led from the 7th control onwards, but the decisive part of the race was the tricky last few controls. Fellow-countryman Matthias Merz who finished third, 3 seconds behind Lysell, was the leader after 6 controls but was then 25 seconds slower than Kyburz on leg 6 – 7. The strength in depth of the current Swiss team was demonstrated clearly in this race – they had 7 runners in the top 10 in the results.
The courses were tough with a lot of climb – 135 m climb on the 3.0 km women’s course, and 135 m on 3.6 km for the men. Competitors praised the courses for the variety and complexity of route choice and also of terrain, which included woodland and walled gardens as well as a complex pattern of buildings towards the finish.
The Oceania Carnival continues throughout the week, and the final World Cup race in New Zealand is on Sunday: a Middle distance chasing start in the afternoon, with the start times based on a shortened Middle distance prologue (20-25 minutes) in the morning. The prologue will have a loop format with 2 athletes starting at a time.
Leading results – Sprint final
Women
- Tove Alexandersson SWE 19:32
- Annika Billstam SWE 19:35
- Lizzie Ingham NZL 19:44
- Sara Lüscher SUI 20:12
- Tone Wigemyr NOR 20:19
- Rahel Friedrich SUI 20:33
Men
- Matthias Kyburz SUI 17:52
- Jerker Lysell SWE 18:27
- Matthias Merz SUI 18:30
- Matthias Müller SUI 18:41
- Olav Lundanes NOR 18:50
- Tue Lassen DEN 18:56
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