Nopesport

Sweden won an exciting battle for the men's relay title at the World University Orienteering Championships, defending their title from WUOC 2008, and beating a strong Czech team with France in 3rd.

On first leg it was France who opened up a gap of 90 seconds over Sweden, but a strong run from Czech Jan Sedivy saw them take the lead just 4 seconds clear of Sweden going into the final leg. Johan Aronsson of Sweden and Jan Prochazka of the Czech Republic then had a close battle on the final leg, with Aronsson opening a slight lead over the first few controls only to lose it at the 4th, before regaining a comfortable lead over the latter half of the course to take Sweden to victory with a 46 second margin. France held onto third place, ahead of the second Swedish team, Vincent Coupat passing Sprint winner Jerker Lysell on the run in, while Mattias Merz outsprinted Olli-Pekka Koistinen of Finland on the run in to give Switzerland 4th place while Lithuania took 6th.

For Britain the day started with the news that Scott Fraser would sit out the relay, his allergic reaction still causing him difficulty seeing, so reshuffling saw a men's team of Doug Tullie, Oleg Cheplin and Graham Gristwood and a non competitive team of Alasdair McLeod and Duncan Coombs joined by Ross Morrison of New Zealand. Doug ran solidly on first leg, but couldn't keep pace with the leading teams, sending Oleg out in 14th to gain a place and send GG out in a large pack in 13th place. Duncan Coombs had a great second leg to take the second team up to 19th place at the back of this pack. GG ran well, with the 4th fastest time on his gaffle and ahead of Matthias Merz, beating all but the Hungarians from a close pack of teams to draw the British team up to 10th place (8th nation), holding off a late challenge from the German runner Leif Bader.

In the women's relay it was Switzerland who won convincingly, Caroline Cejka and Ines Brodmann running well to send Sara Lüscher off in 1st place on last leg, running away from the Czech runner Iveta Duchova to take Gold. Duchova was also caught and passed by Finland's Sofia Haajanen who took Silver, so had to settle for Bronze. Norway and Russia took 4th and 5th, ahead of the Czech and Norwegian second teams, with Estonia taking 6th spot.

The British women's teams were Rebecca Harding, Hollie Orr and Tessa Hill for the first team, and Laura Daniel, Anne Edwards and Jess Halliday in the second team. It was Laura Daniel who was first back of the pair on first leg, coming in just over 3 minutes down in 20th place, with Rebecca left isolated after early time loss. Anne and Hollie both ran strongly to pull GB up the rankings, while Jess ran well on last leg to pull Britain up to 14th and 11th nation, with Tessa pulling her team up to 17th.

Men:

 1. 1   SWE                            SWE             SWE 02:02.01
      1 Patrik Karlsson                00:41.02[  2] 
      2 Erik Rost                      00:40.41[  2]   01:21.43(  2)
      3 Johan Aronsson                 00:40.18[  2]   02:02.01(  1)
 2. 36  CZE-2                          CZE             CZE 02:02.47
      1 Tomas Dlabaja                  00:41.05[  3] 
      2 Jan Sedivy                     00:40.34[  1]   01:21.39(  1)
      3 Jan Prochazka                  00:41.08[  5]   02:02.47(  2)
 3. 14  FRA                            FRA             FRA 02:04.39
      1 Frederic Tranchard             00:39.31[  1] 
      2 Lucas Basset                   00:42.24[  7]   01:21.55(  3)
      3 Vincent Coupat                 00:42.44[ 13]   02:04.39(  3)
  - 38  SWE-2                          SWE             SWE 02:04.42
      1 Emil Andersson                 00:42.11[ 10] 
      2 Johan Runesson                 00:40.53[  3]   01:23.04(  4)
      3 Jerker Lysell                  00:41.38[  6]   02:04.42(  4)
 4. 6   SUI                            SUI             SUI 02:06.31
      1 Severin Howald                 00:42.00[  6] 
      2 Andreas Kyburz                 00:42.14[  5]   01:24.14(  5)
      3 Mattias Merz                   00:42.17[ 12]   02:06.31(  5)
 5. 10  FIN                            FIN             FIN 02:06.34
      1 Jere Pajunen                   00:42.02[  7] 
      2 Oskari Liukkonen               00:42.17[  6]   01:24.19(  7)
      3 Olli-Pekka Koistinen           00:42.15[ 11]   02:06.34(  6)
 6. 8   LTU                            LTU             LTU 02:07.29
      1 Vilius Aleliunas               00:42.11[ 10] 
      2 Vytautas Beliunas              00:44.21[ 17]   01:26.32(  8)
      3 Jonas Vytautas Gvildys         00:40.57[  3]   02:07.29(  7)

 8. 11  GBR                            GBR             GBR 02:09.31
      1 Douglas Tullie                 00:43.20[ 14] 
      2 Oleg Cheplin                   00:44.16[ 16]   01:27.36( 13)
      3 Graham Gristwood               00:41.55[  8]   02:09.31( 10)

  - 35  COMB-7                                         C   02:17.23
      1 Alasdair McLeod                00:44.22[ 25] 
      2 Duncan Coombs                  00:43.29[ 13]   01:27.51( 19)

Women:

  1. 205 SUI                            SUI             SUI 01:49.04
      1 Caroline  Cejka                00:35.42[  2]  
      2 Ines Brodmann                  00:36.29[  1]   01:12.11(  1)
      3 Sara Lüscher                   00:36.53[  3]   01:49.04(  1)
 2. 201 FIN                            FIN             FIN 01:51.55
      1 Marttiina Joensuu              00:36.28[  8]  
      2 Saila Kinni                    00:38.39[  4]   01:15.07(  4)
      3 Sofia Haajanen                 00:36.48[  1]   01:51.55(  2)
 3. 202 CZE                            CZE             CZE 01:52.05
      1 Sarka Svobodna                 00:35.39[  1]  
      2 Radka Brozkova                 00:36.55[  3]   01:12.34(  2)
      3 Iveta Duchova                  00:39.31[  9]   01:52.05(  3)
 4. 209 NOR                            NOR             NOR 01:55.41
      1 Kine Hallan Steiwer            00:37.47[ 12]  
      2 Ida Marie Björgul              00:39.00[  5]   01:16.47(  5)
      3 Silje Ekroll Jahren            00:38.54[  6]   01:55.41(  4)
 5. 211 RUS                            RUS             RUS 01:56.35
      1 Anna Sysa                      00:37.35[ 10]  
      2 Anastasia Trubkina             00:39.38[  6]   01:17.13(  7)
      3 Svetlana Mironova              00:39.22[  8]   01:56.35(  5)
  - 226 CZE-2                          CZE             CZE 01:56.55
      1 Ivana Bochenkova               00:36.12[  5]  
      2 Martina Spurna                 00:40.46[ 10]   01:16.58(  6)
      3 Kristyna Kovarova              00:39.57[ 11]   01:56.55(  6)
  - 229 NOR-2                          NOR             NOR 01:57.46
      1 Kine Gulliksen                 00:37.48[ 13]  
      2 Mariann Ulvestad               00:41.12[ 11]   01:19.00(  9)
      3 Siri Ulvestad                  00:38.46[  4]   01:57.46(  7)
 6. 217 EST                            EST             EST 01:59.44
      1 Grete Gutmann                  00:35.47[  3]  
      2 Piibe Tammemäe                 00:45.10[ 22]   01:20.57( 16)
      3 Liis Johanson                  00:38.47[  5]   01:59.44(  8)

11. 227 GBR-2                          GBR             GBR 02:03.39
      1 Laura Daniel                   00:38.57[ 20]  
      2 Anne Edwards                   00:41.50[ 12]   01:20.47( 15)
      3 Jess Halliday                  00:42.52[ 18]   02:03.39( 14)


  - 207 GBR                            GBR             GBR 02:06.05
      1 Rebecca Harding                00:44.13[ 28]  
      2 Hollie Orr                     00:40.40[  9]   01:24.53( 21)
      3 Tessa Hill                     00:41.12[ 13]   02:06.05( 17)
 

Full results and splits available on the WUOC website.