World TrailO Championships: first golds to Finland and Sweden

World TrailO Championships: first golds to Finland and Sweden

Gold medals at the end of the 2-day PreO event in Portugal went to Pinja Mäkinen, Finland in the Open class and Ola Jansson, Sweden in the Para. Mäkinen won with a 1-point advantage, whereas Jansson finished with a 2-point lead.

There were big changes in the leading positions in both classes compared to Day 1, partly due to the quite different terrain on offer: this was far more hilly. Mäkinen proved the most consistent in the Open class, a fourth place today being good enough to give her the overall win. Winner of today’s stage in the Open class was Robertas Stankevic, Lithuania, the only competitor to score 29 points. The silver medal went to Geir Myhr Øien, Norway and the bronze to Kreso Kerestes, Slovenia; the difference between the two was just 3 seconds at timed controls!

Michael Johansson, Sweden was the best today in the Para class, but he had to settle for the bronze medal. Pavel Shmatov, Russia was the silver medallist. The Para leader yesterday, Pavel Dudik, Czech Republic, finished fourth overall.

Full results can be seen on the event website www.wtoc2019.fpo.pt. Today’s event is the Relay.

PreO medallists

Para class

Gold: Ola Jansson SWE  53 points + 158 seconds

Silver: Pavel Shmatov RUS  51 + 122

Bronze: Michael Johansson SWE  51 + 208

Open class

Gold: Pinja Mäkinen FIN  56 + 126

Silver: Geir Myhr Øien NOR  55 + 141

Bronze: Kreso Kerestes SLO  55 + 144