The first race is over

07/13/08 14:27 PM
The very first race of the 2008 WOC is over.
The centre of Prostějov was the venue of the sprint qualification on Sunday morning. Helena Jansson (SWE) won the A-heat of women semi-finals, followed by Anne Margrethe Hausken (NOR) and Minna Kauppi (FIN). In the B-heat, Signe Soes (DEN) is the first, Galina Vinogradova (RUS) the second and Ingunn Hultgreen Weltzien (NOR) the third. Dana Brožková (CZE) finished as first in the C-heat, just by two seconds before Heli Jukkola (FIN), with Linnea Gustafsson (SWE) on the third place. In the men A-heat, Alexander Lubina (GER) beat Tomáš Dlabaja (CZE) by just one second, Matthias Merz (SUI) being the third. Matthias Mueller (SUI) is the best in the B-heat, followed by Jamie Stevenson (GBR) and Andrey Khramov (RUS). Finally, in the C-heat Daniel Hubmann (SUI) won by as much as 13 seconds before Jan Procházka (CZE), Ádám Kovács (HUN) is the third. In today’s women sprint finals, the following nations will be represented by three competitors: AUS, CZE, FIN, FRA, GBR, HUN, CHN, NOR, RUS, SWE and SUI. In men sprint finals, there will be three representatives of only: CZE, DEN, NOR, SWE, SUI. Altogether 25 nations will be represented in the final races.