World Games Orienteering Middle distance

Ross Morrison was once again the best-performed of the New Zealand team at the World Games, but only just.

Morrison finished his strong run in the hot conditions in 18th place, just 50 seconds out of a top ten finish, while teammate Darren Ashmore, National Middle distance champion, was also impressive in 21st place, some 40 seconds behind Morrison.

Superior legspeed from the World number one from Switzerland, Daniel Hubman on the parkland course gave him the win ahead of Russians Dmitry Tsvetkov and Games Sprint winner Andrey Khramov.

With a speedy second half of her race, Lizzie Ingham improved on her sprint placing by one place for 21st, just pipping teammate Tania Larsen by 1.8 seconds.

Australian Hanny Allston, Silver medallist in the Sprint, was exceptional in lifting her game to take victory in the Middle distance, marking her comeback to the international top ranks with emphasis.

Results from the World Games Sprint have seen the rankings of Morrison, Larsen and Ingham boosted into the top100, and they should move up further after the Middle.

The consistent racing under pressure is a great portent for the last Games event, the team Relay, in the same parkland of Chengcing Lake, where all team members need to have mistake-free runs for a chance to topple the world's top orienteering nations.

Results. World Games Orienteering Middle distance,
Men
1 Daniel HUBMANN SUI 27:43,4;
2 Dmitry TSVETKOV RUS 28:16,6;
3 Andrey KHRAMOV RUS 28:51,8;
4 Tero FOEHR FIN 29:00,3;
5 Mattias MILLINGER SWE 29:01,2;
6 Oeystein Kvaal OESTERBOE NOR 29:32,1;
7 Simonas KREPSTA LTU 29:38,4;
8 Jonas Vytautas GVILDYS LTU 29:52,2;
9 Matthias MUELLER SUI 30:15,9;
10 Peter OEBERG SWE 30:49,2;
18 Ross MORRISON NZL 31:39,6;
21 Darren ASHMORE NZL 32:19,8.

Women
1 Johanna ALLSTON AUS 27:01,0;
2 Minna KAUPPI FIN 28:17,4;
3 Linnea GUSTAFSSON SWE 28:44,4;
4 Signe Rossen SOES DEN 28:49,2;
5 Aija SKRASTINA LAT 29:16,5;
6 Dana BROZKOVA CZE 29:18,0;
7 Elise EGSETH NOR 29:28,4;
8 Galina VINOGRADOVA RUS 29:31,2;
9 Sarah ROLLINS GBR 30:00,9;
10 Maja Moeller ALM DEN 30:06,6;
21 Elizabeth INGHAM NZL 32:19,8;
22 Tania LARSEN NZL 32:21,6.