Good Days......are back!

Wow – what a result! 3 out of 3! After the disappointment of two 16 places in two races, the guys struck back today, with a magnificent qualifying performance to get all three into the final. And with a large amount of breathing space – well done guys.

The day started out well for us all, and we were all at the right place at the right time (for once). Even the supporters and myself, got to the finish early enough that we could sit down and have a few minutes before the first runner came in. It became clear right from the word go that the predicted winning times were not going to be reached (well of course except for Thierry, that is)

As Pierre and I settled into a good spectator spot the first runners started arriving. And before we really had any time to relax, Jan was announced at pre-warning, at the same time as Oystein Osterbo. We were excited – that meant he had caught up 4 minutes to one of Norway’s finest, and as you can see by the finish photo – no respect was shown! And none given, but Jan was faster, pipping Oystein at the finish sprint by 1 second. Afterwards Jan commented (he had not seen the start list) that he thought Oystein had caught him up and so he was trying as hard as possible to loose him again. On the other side, apparently Oystein commented about that Austrian who was running so fast.

As I frantically started working out what that meant, Pierre lent back with a smile and said – well Jan’s in, and he was right. Jan’s heat was won by Thierry Gueorgiou (last years World Champion) in the untouchable time of 26:02, a full 1 min 45 sec ahead of the second place runner. Jan was 8^th in a time of 29:44 and way ahead of some more favoured names.

Felix, our next starter, was pushing from the word go, and he reported he had a fairly clean run with only a few smallish mistakes until the end when he lost closer to a minute on 1 control. However today was about making the fewest mistakes and his run was solid – solid as a rock. By far the most comfortable looking in the run in, he must have sniffed something at the pre-warning, because to be more relaxed was not possible – excellent stuff. I’m sure a few of the top teams took careful note.

Felix’s heat was won by Daniel Hubmann in a good time of 26:44, and Felix finished joint 10^th in 29:41, an excellent result from him considering he had run the long distance race the day before.

At this time, both Felix and Jan were still in 5^th place and so we were fairly confident that they would qualify – so we were just waiting for Mr. Consistency himself, Kerschi.

We even started to fantasize about a top time, or best time, because at this stage the best time was only about 29:04. We were waiting with baited breath. 29 min went by, and then 30 and no mention of Kerschi at the pre warning. As the 31^st minute approached, a combined shout went up from the Austro Spectators, as it was announced that Kerschi was at pre warning. And then he was there – leaping over the final sprint in like a gazelle. An excellent run, but we were a little concerned, because he was on 5^th place at this stage, and there were very many favourites still to come. But we really should never have worried. With a smile he was there, a good run, fairly clean and we knew – we had three in the final. And that’s how it stayed. Kerschi ran in Heat A, which had the slowest winning time by quite a margin. The heat was won by Valentin Novikov in 28:54, and Kerschi filled the 10^th place in 31:36.

It will be interesting to see who will have the better ranking points after today (Jan was already moaning that he had to run with Thierry). With that excellent news, we (the supporters and trainers) were told that we were not allowed to run the spectator races as the map will be used again, and so we headed home, very satisfied, and the envy of many other teams there. 3 out of 3, only 5 nations did that today (Norway had 3 out of 4)!

So hold thumbs for us on Wednesday, when the first final (middle) gets underway. Thanks for all the support and SMS's,

Greetings from Kiev,

Richard.