In extreme heat – mid-day temperature in excess of 30 degrees – the Middle Distance Final produced some close races. Women’s winners were from 11 different nations, with only Finland and Sweden having 2 champions. By contrast, the 13 men’s champions were from 6 nations in all.
Forest action in the Middle Final: Leokadija Brazauskaite from Lithuania finished 6th in W45A
Nine winners of today’s races also won the Sprint. These included the four classes with just one entrant: W85/90/95 and M95. All four – Brigitte Schmiedeberg (Germany), Sole Nieminen (Finland), Lena Nordahl (Sweden) and Adolf Kempf (Switzerland) – completed their courses successfully today.
Closest race today was in W50 where home athlete Agnes Wengrin was just 3 seconds quicker than the former Polish elite competitor Anna Gornicka Antonowicz. In M60, another former elite runner, Slovakia’s Josef Pollák, was second-best to Zdenek Zuzanek, Czech Republic, by 5 seconds. An impressive victory was that of Tatsiana Voveriene, Belarus, who won W35A by 5.51. In M75A, Finnish athletes took the top 4 places.
Udo Schindler from Germany enjoying his course despite the heat
After two days of solid sunshine and gruelling heat, tomorrow is a welcome rest day ahead of the Long Final on Friday – when similar weather is forecast.
Cover photo: Home athlete Agnes Simon on her way to a bronze medal in W45A. Photos: WMOC
WMOC Middle Distance Champions 2021
W35 Tatsiana Voveriene BLR
W40 Mojca Flerin Drevensek SLO
W45 Irita Pukite LAT
W50 Agnes Wengrin HUN
W55 Jana Smutna CZE
W60 Olena Rudakova UKR
W65 Lotta Linsefors SWE
W70 Jurate Uleviciene LTU
W75 Kari Timenes Laugen NOR
W80 Elli Pelkonen FIN
W85 Brigitte Schmiedeberg GER
W90 Sole Nieminen FIN
W95 Lena Nordahl SWE
M35 Ondrej Pijak SVK
M40 Øystein Kvaal Østerbø NOR
M45 Marek Prasil CZE
M50 Tero Heikkila FIN
M55 Conny Forsberg SWE
M60 Zdenek Zuzanek CZE
M65 Hansruedi Kohler SUI
M70 Tor Sorevik NOR
M75 Timo Peltola FIN
M80 Eric Bucher SUI
M85 Rune Carlsson SWE
M90 John Larsson SWE
M95 Adolf Kempf SUI