It was a very good day in the forest today for the Brits writes Will Rigg. Seven out of 11 of the team qualified for the A final. Commiserations to Sarah, Joe, Harrison and Alice just missing out. All of the above showed some really good parts in their race that they can take as positives into the Relay.
Alexander Chepelin (pictured on the run-in) had a solid run coming in 11th today. Sasha had a stable first half of the race and was enjoying it so much he gave the others in his heat a chance by making two and half minutes mistakes! However Sasha got his 'stuff' together and cruised back into the finish to be comfortably in the top 20. Sasha was leading in 2nd until his mistake so it will be exciting to see what the Russian born skog (Swedish word for forest) monster can do in the final.
Dan Stansfield aka 'Brutus' started steady and, despite being careful in the beginning of the race, made an early miss! However the Dunblane resident showed he still had some Andy Murray fight in him, regaining focus to finish strong and romping back 20 places to qualify well in 14th.
Dane Blomquist snerkled into the A final in 19th place. Dane said "I was just keeping the fans entertained, I know I'll bring the big guns out for the final." Coached by Mick Woods, who coached Steph Twell to European Athletics bronze medal last week, Dane found the track route choices saved him today.
The British girls were the best today with some really strong performances! Jenny Ricketts finished in a fabulous 18th position in her heat in her first JWOC.
Julie Emerson finished 12th in her heat and was satisfied with her race despite some early mistakes, she recovered well and put a good shift in the latter stages of the race to qualify well in her heat.
Megan Carter-Davies (pictured after the last control) continued her excellent form to finish 3rd in her heat! Meg said her tactics were to "take safe routes to the controls and trust in her fitness." The Welsh dragon said "Job done for today, looking forward to the final!"
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But the best performance of the day was 17 year old Fiona Bunn (pictured showing the photographer a clean pair of heels!) with a storming 2nd in her heat! Fiona says she is in great shape at the moment, took clean and safe routes and is now really excited for what the final brings!
With some outstanding results today the team and very excited to give it everything in tomorrow's final!
Full results can be found
here.
Photo credit and thanks to Wendy Carlyle