Deininger and Baklid claim golds after tough pursuit race

Tuesday’s gold medals at the World Ski Orienteering Championships in Japan ended up around the necks of Eliane Deininger of Switzerland and Norwegian Jørgen Baklid after a challenging pursuit race in Rusutsu.

The steep terrain combined with sometimes hard snow created difficult conditions in the tracks, as the approximately 100 athletes started today’s race, where the starting list was decided in yesterday’s sprint.

For the women, this meant that Anna Ulvensøen of Norway went out with a big lead – but unfortunately she broke a binding on her ski and had to retire.

It opened the race and provided an exciting hour, where the positions were thoroughly shaken up compared to the start list.

In the end, Deininger, who started in fifth position, defeated Nina Karna of Finland who went out as 13th after a sprint finish.

Magdalena Olsson of Sweden, who shared third place in the sprint the previous day, won another bronze medal today, six seconds behind Deininger.

The rest of the top six consisted of Linda Lindkvist of Sweden, Amanda Yli Futka of Finland and Delia Giezendanner of Switzerland.

In the men’s pursuit race, the future world champion Baklid started with an 18-second lead. But it took just over an hour of nerve-wracking racing before he could be crowned world champion again and defend his title.

Only in the very last meters did Baklid manage to sprint past Nicola Müller of Switzerland, who had otherwise built up a lead in the challenging terrain.

Third place went to another Norwegian, Teodor Mo Hjelseth, who started in ninth position and climbed up the rankings and crossed the finish line just nine seconds behind Baklid.

Then there was a minute and a half gap to the rest of the pursuers in the top six, which included Stanimir Belomazhev of Bulgaria, sprint bronze winner Niklas Ekström of Finland and Gustav Nordström of Sweden.

Top results
Women
1 Eliane Deininger, SUI 63:56
2 Nina Karna, FIN +0:01
3 Magdalena Olsson, SWE +0:06
4 Linda Lindkvist, SWE +0:37
5 Amanda Yli Futka, FIN +7:10
6 Delia Giezendanner, SUI +7:13

Men
1 Jørgen Baklid, NOR 65:35
2 Nicola Müller, SUI +0:01
3 Teodor Mo Hjelseth, NOR +0:09
4 Stanimir Belomazhev, BUL +1:40
5 Niklas Ekström, FIN +1:42
6 Gustav Nordström, SWE +2:00