|
|
| | News | Program | Participants | Tickets | Media | WM Bulletin | Community | WM Areas | Training | About us | Links | Sponsors | |
 Deutsch |
English 
|
 OL WM 2003 News  Television / Radio Daily O News Daily O News The Leader Sofa Jury decision Map Layout Long Final Medals Medal Overview Middle Qualif. New Website OL WM 2003 Replay OL WM Highligths Polish Website Relay WM Relay Storm Damages Participation of China Program Participants Tickets Media WM Bulletin Community WM Areas Training About us Links Sponsors Swiss O Week Tour O Swiss sCOOL 
|
> OL WM 2003 > News A double whammy for Simone Luder – Thomas Bührer surprisingLong-distance finals in Winterthur- Simone Luder successfully defended her title - Thomas Bührer secured the first Swiss men's single gold medal - The heat heavily affected the WM participants - Route choices and physical strength were key factors After the splendid opening in the sprint the Swiss team was even able to improve in the long-distance finals one day later: Sprint world champion Simone Luder defended her long-distance title with a big margin. A surprise was the gold medal for Thomas Bührer, who has been injured in winter and spring during several months and hence has not been able to perform a full training. In the women's race the remaining medals went to Karolina Aarewang Höjsgaard, who got the second medal for Sweden of this WM, and to Switzerland's most senior team member Brigitte Wolf who reached bronze and hence won her first single-event WM medal at her very last title races. In the men's race the former world champion and short-distance and sprint specialist Yuri Omeltchenko (Ukr) secured the silver medal. The Swede Emil Wingsted who won the Nordic championships earlier this year finished third. Correctly solving the route-choice problems and the physical factor were key to success under an again scorching heat that heavily afflicted some of the runners. After just two WM days already six different nations have won a medal. Amazingly, Norway and Finland have not scored yet. "It is wonderful that I was able to show within 24 hours that it is possible to be ahead in the sprint as well as on the classic distance“, Simone Luder said happily. She thinks that the long distance would rather be her first choice. "In my wildest dreams I have not been able to picture that I could win gold twice with such a short lapse of time. It is just unbelievable, I can hardly believe it yet," said the currently dominating runner of the women's classes in excitement. "In addition it is absolutely genius that Thomas Bührer has won gold too." As the first female runner since the outstanding Annichen Kringstad during the eighties she was able to successfully defend her title. The now threefold WM gold-medal bearer underlined, besides the big heat, the route choices as today's crucial factor. "I have not experienced any surprises. However after having passed Hanne Staff, going through some tough terrain afterwards and seeing her relatively close again I knew that my decision to consequently use the route around was correct", the 25-year old women form Burgdorf explained her tactical plan. She has not celebrated her sprint gold yet. In the contrary she made sure to eat and drink enough in order to replenish and to be fit again for the long distance. Karolina Aarewang has been in the business for two years. The runner-up of the Nordic championships however has never been as strong as this year. "I was able to increase my strength both physically and technically for this WM year," says the 32-year old Swede. In her first to last single WM race Brigitte Wolf reached her first top-three position. "Because I am not allowed to run the relay people said that I would reach the top three instead. But who would have thought that?" said the 36-year old women from the canton of Grisons happily. She started her race extremely nervous and was clearly behind the medal spots at the first split time. Despite a short time for preparation Surprising and almost unbelievable is Tom Bührer's performance. The last-year's European champion over the long distance and triple relay world champion (1991/93/95) has been injured in the winter and was not able to resume running until May. "I have been training over a long span of time before. Over the years I have developed a solid basis of endurance," says the first Swiss man to win a gold medal in a single event. "Whenever I can work out seriously I will quickly be back," says the 35-year old man who will run just the relay and then finish his international career. "I had an unbelievable desire to read the map and to fight through tough terrain. Already to weeks ago I felt that I could get close to the optimum physically," said Bührer. His girlfriend Marie-Luce Romanens who was second in the sprint had to abandon the race because of a tendonitis. Not that surprised about Bührer's success was the Swiss head coach Nik Suter. "Already last year when he became European champion he had only a short time available to prepare himself." Amazing however about Bührer's performance is the fact that he participated in just two long-distance meets prior to the WM. "I had Swedish grits for breakfast," told Yuri Omeltchenko when asked about his key to success. The Ukrainian has been living in Sweden for some years and is considered as a specialist on the sprint and the short distance. In 1995 he became world champion in Detmold (Ger). "It is an unbelievable feeling to have won the silver medal." After the victory of the world championships Emil Wingsted belonged to the closer group of favorites. He was not able to reach the very top, which was already apparent on the intermediate times where he was always timed third. "I am happy with my race," said the Swede. According to him, the first part was most difficult and contained many route-choice problems, whereas the final part was mainly dominated by the physical element.
Posted: 2003-08-06 17:36:08 |
Presenting Sponsor Int. Results 2003
|
 |
||
| Last Update: 26.10.2005 | Hosted by NNS | Contact | © Copyright 2002 OL WM 2003 |