Chris Forne qualifies for Middle distance final at Worlds
Sunday 16 August 2009, 10:16PM
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Chris Forne has run a great race in Hungary today with 8th place in the heat to qualify for the mens Middle distance final at the World Orienteering championships.
The top 15 from each of the three qualification races make it through to the final; New Zealand's Ross Morrison missed out by 36 seconds, finishing 17th, as did teammate Greg Flynn in 28th.
Steep hills and rocky ground suited the local Hungarians who qualified 2 men and 2 woman for the finals on Wednesday August 19.
Race favourite Thierry Geuorgiou (France) was unusually out of the number one qualification position after opting to focus on a mistake free race rather than on winning, and finished third in his heat.
All of the top orienteering nations such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia, Switzerland and France qualified several runners to the finals.
Joint favourites in the womens race, Minna Kaupi (Finland) and Simone Niggli (Switzerland), qualified easily finishing 2nd and 1st respectively.
The World Championships continue with the Long-distance qualification race on Monday 17 August in the same area.
Both Forne and Morrisson are tipped to feature in the Sprint distance races on Thursday, with qualification in the morning and finals later that day.