European Championships

[wonderboy]

how does Thierry do it every time! Surely no one is as consistent at the middle distance!

[brooner]

at least some certainties remain:
men results
1 Thierry Gueorgiou (FRA) 34:04
2 Martins Sirmais (LAT) +0:07
3 Valentin Novikov (RUS) +0:14

29 Oli Johnson (GBR) +3:23
33 Graham Griswood (GBR) +3:53
35 Jamie Stevenson (GBR) +4:07

[DIDSCO]

Thierry has taken middle distance running to a higher level, never thought possible. I strongly believe that Thierry and a few others (rostrup etc) are so much better than the middle distance runners of the early/ middle 1990's that they'd take at least 2mins off the winners times from the short races in world champs 1991, 1993, 1995, and 1997. Who would have thought that back then?

I really hope Thierry can do the same with the classic distance.......

[Gross]

All quiet on the GBR front. Any suggestions or thoughts as to why the top GB results were in the high 20's???

Comments before going out seemed to indicate the team was strong & very well prepared. Are the other nations doing something different if these indications were accurate?

Best of luck in the classic... i

[graeme]

All quiet on the GBR front. Any suggestions or thoughts as to why the top GB results were in the high 20's???
Are the other nations doing something different if these indications were accurate?

Yes, the stronger nations are allowed to run six athletes rather than the 3 they get at WOC.

[Gross]

but so can GB.... are you saying that GB is not a strong nation? If so how do we become a strong nation again?

[guessed]

are you saying that GB is not a strong nation?

http://www.6prog.org/iof/fedRank.aspx shows GBR 4th Men, and 5th in Women, by one measure.

[Guest88]

Well that shows GBR men ahead of Norway in 5th...but is an unreliable statistic as only top 11 Norwegian men out of the 20 have 4 qualifying runs.

If you look at the top 6 from each country though, norway have 3 in the top 11, whereas top GB is 28 - a result of it being a much more popular sport in Norway than in GB. Even here, a GB runner of the same standard as a Norwegian runner will have a relatively higher ranking than the Norwegian runner as they will have more bites of the cherry (i.e. easier to get selected for WOC / EOC). So the situation is worse than it looks in the stats below.

I don't think GB have ever had large numbers of men in the very top echelon.....only 1 at once...Steve Hale was, and Jamie is now (pre-steve hale I don't know) - but Gross just likes to moan....

5 5414 R 1369 1364 1361 1320 Øystein Kvaal Østerbø NOR331 218 = 0 0
7 5408 R 1391 1372 1328 1317 Anders Nordberg NOR306
11 5362 R 1356 1349 1340 1317 Holger Hott Johansen NOR29
43 5104 R 1311 1292 1252 1249 Lars Skjeset NOR574 96 853 R 1015
46 5096 R 1338 1299 1246 1213 Øystein Kristiansen NOR32
72 4940 R 1292 1237 1232 1179 Tore Sandvik NOR9

28 5238 R 1361 1298 1296 1283 Jamie Stevenson GBR4
35 5153 R 1367 1289 1285 1212 Matthew Crane GBR212
55 5039 R 1272 1267 1261 1239 Oli Johnson GBR67
59 5027 R 1340 1246 1231 1210 David Brickhill-Jones GBR438
63 5003 R 1278 1276 1232 1217 Jon Duncan GBR5
93 4828 R 1279 1213 1169 1167 Ewan McCarthy GBR363

[DIDSCO]

I don't think Gross likes to moan, he just whats to question our current situation and see avenues for improvement.

I think Jamies sprint race result was brilliant, and a great confirmation of his form ready for the World Champs and of the successfull support of the British team especially Dave Peel and Dave Rollins.

However with a quick scan of the results most of our men and women have probably performed under what they are capable so far, and I'm sure they'd be the first to admit it. I know all the guys personally and know how much they strive to place in the top 10, or on the podium. So they'll be definatly analysing their performances and refocusing for the classic and relay. I've got a funny feeling the lads will really pull it together in the relay, they've got that team feeling that can really do the biznezz when it comes to the crunch. No respect be the best

[Nails]

http://www.6prog.org/iof/fedRank.aspx shows GBR 4th Men, and 5th in Women, by one measure.

Unfortunately the iof system is based on ranking points for top 20 runners in each country. World ranking is based on the 4 best scores in a year- many of the strong eastern block nations have less than 20 athletes with 4 scores counting so it is unrepresentive of their strength!

Not saying we shouldn't be 4th/5th though we just have 20+ runners who have lots of world ranking scores.

[Guest88]

well yes, people from some other countries may not travel abroad much to world ranking events due to cost, or because quality of areas closer to home... which would give those runners / countries an artificially low ranking

[DIDSCO]

Just read GG's report from todays race. As a general impression it seems like its mistakes that have cost the british lads some top placings, the fitness seems to be there.

To be at the top in the middle distance nowadays requires a very efficient technique of perfect orienteering at high speed. Nobody can afford to even lose ½minute - total orienteering perfection must be the aim whilst maintaining a high pace. If we can master this we'll be at the top of the world. Perhaps one reason why I'm a really strong believer in runners specialising in particular disciplines, as a means of reaching their ultimate potential and giving themselves their best chance of taking the medals.

[Guest88]

I don't think so Dids, if you look at splitsbrowser you will see that even with a perfect run, GG (or Oli) was unlikely to make it into the top 10. Nor would I have expected him to. He does seem to be on the up does GG, and I wouldn't rule out that he might get into a position where he is capable of top 10s in future....

Sorry if I'm sounding a bit pessimistic and boring, but I think various people are having expectations that are rather too high - inflated IOF rankings etc, and this can obscure from when people are getting results that are genuinely very good results for them.[/img]

[Gross]

To guest88.. like Dids said , I'm not moaning just asking questions... the word that always comes out from BOF / GBR is that the team is really well prepared and is going to produce results....

I can't comment on EOC 2006 as it's not finished... it started well with JS in the sprint... good signs for Denmark... but as Graeme suggested we are not a strong nation... my question is... why??? We have the money, the back up support & the infrastructure... Our athletes and staff perform to the best of thier ability (that's beyond question) but there is still something missing!

Why have France produced TG and GBR has 'only' produced JS.? I remember WOC 97 in Norway... GBR was really pissed of that France even came close... but now... France is possibly way ahead...

The questions need asked....

Hopefully the classic & relay will produce results that let people say... Gross, shut up:)

[DIDSCO]

Guest88 > I respect what you say...but the split browser never tells the whole truth. Mistakes will very often have an impact on all your splits not just where you make the mistake - the psychological and stress effect of a miss can often have negative consequences for the rest of your race - it becomes very difficult to find that smooth relaxed flow of both speed and technique which is necessary to run those quick times.

If these guys were in the zone of orienteering flow, speed, and perfection I have know doubt Oli and GG can do it. I've seen these 2 guys run at there best ability in both training and racing on many occasions, and I promise you if they're in the zone they can do it. What we need to do is work hard at is getting these guys in the zone more often - where orienteering perfection of flow, speed, and technique becomes normal to them. Lets do it, lets have some fun, lets be the best.