Fiona Bunn in the Middle Final, photo: Eszter Kocsik
Hot weather, some very technical controls on rocky slopes, and courses that turned out to be over long, extended running times for the athletes contesting the European Middle Distance Champs Finals. There were time losses galore from some of the World's best, notably on the slope above the final control and the run-in.
Defending men's champion Albin Ridefelt slipped from 1st to 3rd place on the last slope. Of the difficulty there "It's supposed to be like that" he said with a grin in a post-race interview. It was Eirik Langedal Brievik, with the fastest split at that point of the course who benefitted to take the win. Another Norwegian Kasper Harlem Fosser was second.
In the women's race defending champion Simona Aebersold mastered the course and conditions to win by over two minutes.
Two British runners had qualified for the finals. Grace Molloy came 28th and Fiona Bunn came =54th.
The last controls for the men: clip from the GPS Tracking
Women's Race
The course was 4.5km with 340m climb. It was won by the final starter Simona Aebersold (SUI) in 40:51, with the big margin of 2:19 from second placed Natalie Gemperle (also SUI). Andrine Benjaminsen (NOR) was third, another minute down. Tove Alexandersson (SWE) was fourth, and two more Swiss runners Paula Gross and Ines Berger were 5th and 6th. Ines Berger is a first year senior. She was 4th in last year's Junior World Championships Middle Race.
Top Three in the Women's Race, photo: Rob Lines
Two of the 60 starters did not finish, and seven of those who finished took over an hour.
Jasmina Gassner of Austria, currently ranked outside the top 50, was a notable 11th.
Grace Molloy, photo: Eszter Kocsik
Grace Molloy was in the top-20 in the Middle Distance of the European Champs when it was last contested two years ago (in Estonia.) This year she managed 28th taking 51:42. It was quite a crowded part of the results: a minute either way covered 10 runners. As with most of the runners the split times show time losses at a few controls, in Grace's case in the early and later parts of the course, with a good consistent run in between. She spent most of the race with a cumulative position in the 20's.
Fiona Bunn was the other British runner to have qualified for the final. Fiona had a run that was earning World Cup points for the first 40 minutes of her run, but lost time at several of the late controls. She finished 54th.
Men's Race
The men's race took place after the women's, with just a small overlap, with varying opinions beforehand as to who might do well. The men's middle distance does not seem very predictable!
15 of the 60 qualifiers did not record a complete race.
The course was 5.1km with 390m climb. The course was won by Eirik Langedal Breivik (NOR) in 42:34. Kasper Harlem Fosser (NOR) was second at +0.24. Albin Ridefelt (SWE ) was third at +1:04.
The top 10 included 3 Norwegians, 3 Swedes, a Frenchman, a Czech, a Ukrainian and (in contrast to the women's race) just one Swiss - Daniel Hubmann.
Eirik Langedal Breivik, photo: IOF