Kral, Svensson take first honours at JWOC
Sunday 8 July 2007, 3:43PM
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Eva Svensson Credit:
Orienteering Australia
The first medals of the JWOC week have been decided, with golds to Vojtech Kral (Czech Republic) and Eva Svensson (Sweden).
Kral looked good as soon as the first split times came in and produced a dominant run. He was more than 30 seconds ahead of the field when he crossed the line, and for the rest of the day it was a question of whether anyone could get close. Mikael Kristensson briefly threatened before mistakes at 12 and 14 dropped him out of the top 10, and the only really serious challenge came from long-distance favourite Olav Lundenes (Norway). Lundenes was always close but never quite able to get in front, and in the end he took silver, six seconds down. Ivan Sirakov won Bulgaria's first medal when he finished in third place. It was very close behind that, with only 10 seconds separating 7th and 19th.
Jenny Lonnkvist took the early lead and was not challenged for a long time. The first serious threat came from her teammate, Eva Svensson. Svensson stretched her radio-control lead as she reached the finish to take the lead by 18 seconds.
The next major threat came from Sarka Svobodka (Czech Republic). She was a clear leader at the radio controls, getting as far as 21 seconds in front at 10, but lost a few seconds at each of 14 and 15, and that was enough for her to fall a single second short. A fast-finishing Maja Alm (Denmark) was unable to push Svobodka out of second but did take the bronze, just 4 seconds behind the leaders.
Kral looked good as soon as the first split times came in and produced a dominant run. He was more than 30 seconds ahead of the field when he crossed the line, and for the rest of the day it was a question of whether anyone could get close. Mikael Kristensson briefly threatened before mistakes at 12 and 14 dropped him out of the top 10, and the only really serious challenge came from long-distance favourite Olav Lundenes (Norway). Lundenes was always close but never quite able to get in front, and in the end he took silver, six seconds down. Ivan Sirakov won Bulgaria's first medal when he finished in third place. It was very close behind that, with only 10 seconds separating 7th and 19th.
Jenny Lonnkvist took the early lead and was not challenged for a long time. The first serious threat came from her teammate, Eva Svensson. Svensson stretched her radio-control lead as she reached the finish to take the lead by 18 seconds.
The next major threat came from Sarka Svobodka (Czech Republic). She was a clear leader at the radio controls, getting as far as 21 seconds in front at 10, but lost a few seconds at each of 14 and 15, and that was enough for her to fall a single second short. A fast-finishing Maja Alm (Denmark) was unable to push Svobodka out of second but did take the bronze, just 4 seconds behind the leaders.