Men’s Relay: success for Norway in defending title
Posted on | July 7, 2017 | Category: Arena, News
Photo: Matias Salonen, IOF Digital Team
The Norwegian team of Eskil Kinnerberg, Olav Lundanes and Magne Dæhli ran an impressively controlled race throughout to take what in the end was a clear victory, with France getting the silver medals and Sweden the bronze.
There was drama from the start as Fabian Hertner, Switzerland’s first leg runner, could be seen on GPS making a huge mistake at control 1, losing more than 4 minutes. Great Britain, New Zealand and Hungary also faltered badly there. Sweden and the Czech Republic set the pace, but Frederic Tranchand for France was going well too. It was he who came to the changeover first, along with Lithuania and Norway, with Czech Republic and Denmark not far behind.
The decisive leg was the second one, where Olav Lundanes for Norway had a brilliant race to come back with a lead of 1.21 over France and Lithuania, with Sweden and Ukraine a little over 2 minutes down. This lead was too much for Thierry Gueorgiou to make up on last leg as Magne Dæhli continued Norway’s near-faultless progress; Gueorgiou cut the gap to 45 seconds at one point, but he was never close enough to see the leading Norwegian.
“I was really nervous,” said Dæhli, “I knew Thierry is in really good shape. Yesterday I struggled at the beginning, and today I was very focused on the way to the first control. It felt really good except for the first control after the arena passage, where I made a small mistake.”
“I was just focusing on my orienteering,” said Gueorgiou, “and I didn´t see Magne on the course. The second place feels like a gold for us. We are really satisfied.”
Estonia ran a good race throughout to finish fourth, to the great pleasure of the home crowd, and the podium places were completed by Switzerland, picking up well after Hertner’s early mistake, and Russia. The Lithuanian team dropped back on the final leg after being surprisingly close to the lead up to the second changeover.
Leading results
- Norway (Eskil Kinnerberg, Olav Lundanes, Magne Dæhli)
- France (Frederic Tranchand, Lucas Basset, Thierry Gueorgiou) + 1.16
- Sweden (Johan Runesson, William Lind, Gustav Bergman) + 2.03
- Estonia + 3.37, 5. Switzerland + 6.21, 6. Russia + 6.30
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