In a tense final with the result in doubt right to the end, Marcello Lambertini emerged victorious after a long and agonising wait for the best qualifiers to finish – he was tenth in his heat. He was not the fastest in the Final, but made only 2 mistakes on the technically difficult course, compared to 4 each for the silver and bronze medalists, Sweden’s Anders Hӧije and Anders Haugskott, Norway. The entranced spectators enjoyed a very close finish between these two, where their final time differed by just 3 seconds.
Amongst the leading ten in the results, another Italian, Simone Frascaroli, had the fastest time on the course, but 6 mistakes brought him down to fourth. Italy and Norway both finished with two athletes in the top six. One outstanding performance was that of Albert Forst who finished sixth; he is only 16 years old!
The morning qualification – held after a half-hour delay because of a spell of high wind and rain – was in two heats, with 18 from each heat going through to the final. Winners of the heats were Anders Haugskott, Norway and Krystian Petersburski, Poland. In Heat B, Petersburski was one of only two competitors to complete the qualification without mistake; the other was Bjarne Friedrichs, Germany who had a slower time. In Heat A, Haugskott made one mistake, as did Šimon Mařaček, Czechia.
Athletes who qualified for the Final came from 14 different nations. The most successful were Finland (7 qualified), Poland (5) and Czechia and Italy (4). Slovakia had 3 through, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Norway 2 each, and Croatia, Great Britain, Hungary, Portugal and Sweden 1 each.
So ends this year’s championships, ably organized by two separate teams, the first half in Hungary and the second in Slovakia. Next year the European TrailO Championships is the most prestigious event of the year; it will take place in Poland from 30 July to 3 August.
Leading results, TempO Final
- Marcello Lambertini ITA 5 seconds
- Anders Hӧije SWE 490
- Anders Haugskott NOR 493
- Simone Frascaroli ITA 5
- Arno Grønhovd NOR 5
- Albert Forst CZE 531