World champion misses out on middle final
World long distance champion Siri Ulvestad was the main casualty in qualifying from the JWOC middle distance on Wednesday. An eight-minute mistake at 10 saw her crash from near the lead to miss qualifying altogether in 25th place. The other top women made it through without serious incident, with the only other top-20 place getter from Monday who missed out this time being Greta Knarston (NZ), although there was a scare for Anna Forsberg who finished 19th.
The top ten men from Monday all qualified comfortably, but there were a few significant misses a little further down, notably sprint bronze medalist Ivan Sirakov, Swiss Simon Hodler and Jonas Gvildys from Lithuania.
Simon Uppill was the only Australian man to qualify, placing 11th in heat C. Louis Elson missed out by five seconds in heat A. Four of the six Australian women got through, led by Vanessa Round's 2nd in heat C; Heather Harding and Bridget Anderson also got through easily, whilst Jess Davis just qualified. It was also a good day for the New Zealanders with top-three finishes for Lizzie Ingham and Tineke Berthelsen.
The men's heats were won by Timo Sild (Estonia), Olav Lundanes (Norway) and Zsolt Lenkei (Hungary). Lundanes will be a warm favorite to add a second gold medal to his long title from Monday. Norwegians also won two of the three women's heats through Kine Hallan Steiwer and Ida Marie Bjorgul, and they were joined by Jenny Lonnkvist (Sweden).
The top ten men from Monday all qualified comfortably, but there were a few significant misses a little further down, notably sprint bronze medalist Ivan Sirakov, Swiss Simon Hodler and Jonas Gvildys from Lithuania.
Simon Uppill was the only Australian man to qualify, placing 11th in heat C. Louis Elson missed out by five seconds in heat A. Four of the six Australian women got through, led by Vanessa Round's 2nd in heat C; Heather Harding and Bridget Anderson also got through easily, whilst Jess Davis just qualified. It was also a good day for the New Zealanders with top-three finishes for Lizzie Ingham and Tineke Berthelsen.
The men's heats were won by Timo Sild (Estonia), Olav Lundanes (Norway) and Zsolt Lenkei (Hungary). Lundanes will be a warm favorite to add a second gold medal to his long title from Monday. Norwegians also won two of the three women's heats through Kine Hallan Steiwer and Ida Marie Bjorgul, and they were joined by Jenny Lonnkvist (Sweden).