“I wish Thierry had been there”
Posted on | May 17, 2012 | Category: Arena
Olav Lundanes did his most perfect middle distance race ever, but the newly crowned European champion would have wished that also Thierry Gueorgiou had taken part.
” Would have been nice to have Thierry there as well”, Lundanes says.
The Norwegian winner lost only ten seconds in mistakes during the challenging course with a lot of climbing and difficult countour reading. “It was my best middle distance ever”, he says. “Maybe not my best race ever, as I had a kind of better feeling during the long distance race at the World Championships Trondheim in 2010, but now I am definitely better in doing orienteering”, he continues.
Middle distance phantom not present
The French king of the middle distance, Thierry Gueorgiou, didn’t start at today’s race, and will not start on the long distance either. He went home to France today due to a shin inflammation. The French leaders told that he had had this problem since Tiomila early in May, felt it a bit during the qualifications, but hoped the finals would go well. But this morning he felt pain even when just walking, so to become 100 % well before the World Championships he went back to St. Etienne to get good treatment for the inflammation.
A special day
For the two Norwegians in the top three, Lundanes and Carl Waaler Kaas, there was also something extra with today – May 17th is the national day of Norway, and it is a really big day all over Norway with children and grown ups celebrating on the streets. “There was a lot of talking about the day before the race in the Norwegian team, but I didn’t think about during the competition”, Olav says. The Norwegian team celebrated the day with a good dinner Thursday evening.
Olav Lundanes won again a big race, but for first time on the national day of Norway.
Photo: Erik Borg
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