Close finishes at Nordic Cross Country Championships

Norway was the best country at the 9th Nordic Cross Country Championships held in relatively warm (+7 to 8C) temperatures and partly sunny autumn weather in this town on the southern Finnish coast, but there were also victories to cheer for the home team, Denmark, and Sweden.

MEN – Swedish double

The Men’s 9km course was very exciting. In the beginning of the last lap there was a pack of 10 runners, any of which could have won. Henrik Ahnström of Sweden was the first to make his move, kicking strongly, but Norway’s Öystein Sylta of Norway and Finn Jussi Utriainen were able to follow his assault. But by the end it was Ahnström, who was studying in the USA until last spring and has a personal best of 13:43.88 for the track 5000m, who clearly prevailed beating steeplechaser Sylta by six seconds, and Utriainen, who had both his hamstrings operated on last April, by eight seconds.

Sweden also took the team gold ahead of Finland and Denmark.

“Our team coaches encouraged me by informing me that the gap was growing during the last lap,” confirmed Ahnström. “I think Utriainen lost the race on the hills. I was not expecting to win, because this is the beginning of the new training season. I have run the Nordic Champs three times in the juniors and took silver twice.”

For the hosts, Utriainen’s bronze brought some sweet revenge as he left another Swede Oscar Käck in fourth. Käck was the impressive winner of the 10,000m at the Sweden - Finland match this year.

WOMEN - Mörch, Bostad, Kauppi and Simmenes fight hard

The women’s 4.5km was left wide open after the Norwegian favourite Susanne Wigene sustained a knee injury on Friday at her hotel, and had to withdraw.

Louise Pil Mörch, the Danish record holder at the 2000m and 3000m Steeplechase, was forced to battle hard for her victory. She looked like she had lost on the last uphill stretch, but somehow found new strength to take the victory.

The performance of world class orienteer Minna Kauppi was a nice surprise even for the Finnish distance running head coach Tommy Ekblom, as she took the bronze medal only a second behind Mörch. She had originally been given second place. so close had been the battle between her and Norway´s Runa Bostad with whom she shared the same finishing time. On their heels was another Norwegian Brit Helen Simmenes who finished another second down.

Mörch hopped twice onto the highest step of the podium, as Denmark also got the team victory.

JUNIORS - Jokinen and Opsal show promise

Finland was not left without a gold medal. It was won by Tuomas Jokinen in the men's junior 6km. Tall (1.93m) and long-legged Jokinen is regarded as one of most promising Finnish distance running prospects for 30 years, but his finishing sprint is still not a strong part of his race. However, in Hamina, Jokinen’s finish was good enough to cope with Norway’s Thomas Stave Gabrielsen but the gap in the end between these youngsters was only one second.

The bronze medal battle was exciting, as Kari Steinn Karlsson took Iceland’s only medal after beating Sweden’s Alexander Söderberg by one second but he was still some 7 seconds behind Jokinen. Sweden took team honours.

Norway was the only nation to take a 'one - two' finish during the day, thanks to Ingunn Opsal and Karoline Grövdal in the women’s junior 4.5km. Opsal left no questions to be answered, as her winning margin was an impressive 19 seconds.

Denmark’s Anna Holm Jörgensen came third, 28 seconds behind Grövdahl, and Norway was naturally the team winners.

Antti-Pekka Sonninen for the IAAF

RESULTS

Men, 9km:
1) Henrik Ahnström Sweden 27:00, 2) Öystein Sylta Norway 27:06, 3) Jussi Utriainen Finland 27:08, 4) Oskar Käck Sweden 27:13, 5) Kristian Algers Sweden 27:14, 6) Juha Hellstén Finland 27:22, 7) Steen Walter Denmark 27:27, 8) Henrik Them Andersen Denmark 27:32, 9) Konstantin Kutilainen Finland 27:33, 10) Claus Bugge Hansen Denmark 27:41, 11) Simo Wannas Finland 27:42, 12) Jesper Faurschou Denmark 27:43, 13) Francis Kirwa Finland 27:44, 14) Lars Johansson Sweden 27:45, 15) Karl Johan Rasmussen Norway 27:55.

Teams: 1) Sweden 24 (Ahnström, Käck, Algers, Johansson), 2) Finland 29 (Utriainen, Hellstén, Kutilainen, Wannas), 3) Denmark 37 (Walter, Them Andersen, Bugge Hansen, Faurschou), 4) Norway 51 (Sylta, Rasmussen, Buhaug, Gröseth).

Women, 4.5km:
 1) Louise Pil Mörch Denmark 15:37, 2) Runa Bostad Norway 15:38,  3) Minna Kauppi Finland 15:38, 4) Brit Helen Simmenes Norway 15:39, 5) Lene Kathrine Duus Denmark 16:00, 6) Laila Kärgaard Laursen Denmark 16:02, 7) Johanna Kykyri Finland 16:05, 8) Anneli Fransson Sweden 16:07, 9) Ingvild Måkestad Norway 16:10, 10) Elina Lindgren Finland 16:11, 11) Laura Skyttä Finland 16:14, 12) Susanna Damm Sweden 16:26, 13) Flo Jonsson Sweden 16:29, 14) Lisa Haglund Sweden 16:40, 15) Minna Nummela Finland 17:01.

Teams: 1) Denmark 12 (Pil Mörch, Duus, Kärgaard Laursen), 2) Norway 16 (Bostad, Simmenes, Makestad), 3) Finland 19 (Kauppi, Kykyri, Lindgren), 4) Sweden 33 (Fransson, Damm, Jonsson).

Men juniors, 6km:
1) Tuomas Jokinen Finland 18:29, 2) Thomas Stave Gabrielsen Norway 18:30, 3) Kári Steinn Karlsson Iceland 18:36, 4) Alexander Söderberg Sweden 18:37, 5) David Nilsson Sweden 18:54, 6) Tobias Lundgren Sweden 19:04, 7) Jarkko Anttila Finland 19:14, 8) Sindre Buraas Norway 19:16, 9) Troels Torp Denmark 19:16, 10) Riku Marttinen Finland 19:21.

Teams: 1) Sweden 15 (Söderberg, Nilsson, Lundgren), 2) Finland 18 (Jokinen, Anttila, Marttinen), 3) Norway 21 (Stave Gabrielsen, Buraas, Måland), 4) Denmark 39 (Torp, Hejlskov, Paysen Thillemann).

Women juniors, 4.5km:
1) Ingunn Opsal Norway 15:26, 2) Karoline Grövdal Norway 15:45, 3) Anna Holm Jörgensen Denmark 16:13, 4) Íris Anna Skúladóttir Iceland 16:28, 5) Kristine Engset Norway 16:29, 6) Saara Skyttä Finland 16:35, 7) Sandra Fransson Sweden 16:36, 8) Mari Mäki-Torkko Finland 16:37, 9) Therese Sjöström Sweden 16:39, 10) Guro Flatekval Norway 16:47.

Teams: 1) Norway 8 (Opsal, Grövdal, Engset), 2) Finland 25 (Saara Skyttä, Mäki-Torkko, Maija Skyttä), 3) Sweden 29 (Fransson, Sjöström, Holmroos), 4) Denmark 30 (Holm Jörgensen, Madsen, Möller Have).

Medals:
1) Norway 8 (2+5+1),
2) Finland 7 (1+3+3)
3) Sweden 4 (3+0+1)
4) Denmark 4 (2+0+2)
5) Iceland 1 (0+0+1)

Points: (8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
(1) Norway 71,
2=) Finland and Sweden 59,
4) Denmark 48,
5) Iceland 11.