Bjerkeli Grövdal wins the senior women's race at the 2010 Nordic XC Champs (© DECA Text&Bild)
Norway took almost everything possible at the Nordic Cross Country Championships on home soil in Trondheim on Sunday (24).
The only non Norwegian champion was Finland’s Saara Nikander in the women’s junior division.
In the senior men’s 9km, three runners fought hard in the home straight and the jury was forced to look at the photo finish to find out the gold medallist. Hillary Kipchumba was the first on the line, but does not have the right to represent Norway, although he lives there.
Anyway, Kipcumba clocked the same time as Norway’s Sondre Nordstad Moen, who thus became the Nordic champion. Only one second behind him was his compatriot, Ethiopian-born Dabaya Badhaso who took the silver medal.
“I felt very comfortable during the race. In the final round I decided not to lead before the final hill where it was a bit slippery,” said Moen.
Sweden’s world class steeplechaser Mustafa Mohamed was third but was 24 seconds behind Moen.
In the men junior 6km race, Norway also took a double as Johan Bugge was less than one metre stronger in the final spurt than Örjan Rönnevik. Sweden´s 16-year-old Napoleon Solomon was the only one to follow them and became the bronze medallist, one second behind.
The weather in Trondheim, Central Norway, was quite good; only some light rain in the beginning of the day. When the Sun began to shine, the temperature rose quickly to +4 to 5 C which caused the ice to melt on the course, which caused troubles for the heavier male runners.
Norway’s Kirsten Marathon Melkevik (40 years) tried to escape from her compatriot Karoline Bjerkeli Grövdal in the senior women’s 7.5km, but Grövdal had no difficulties to secure the victory in the last kilometre.
Bjerkeli Grövdal, the European Junior champion in the 3000m Steeplechase in 2009, beat Melkevik by six seconds. Melkevik has solid Marathon PB of 2:29:12 and the 13th place at the European Champs in 2006 in the Marathon.
“I felt a nasty piece of ice grip onto my spike shoe and I had to stop and take it off. It was a hard course and so were the conditions,” said Bjerkeli Grövdal.
Finland’s Sandra Eriksson, who won the 1500m and 5000m and the 3000 Steeplechase at the Finnish Championships this season, could not follow the Norwegian duo, but placed 3rd just ahead of Ragnhild Kvarbeg.
In the women’s junior 4.5km race, Saara Nikander took the lead from the start and took the gold medal - as she did last year.
Nikander, 16, is one of the biggest Finnish talents ever and her main distance in the future will probably be the 5000 or 10,000m. Sweden’s Anne Segersson and Nina Persson came close to the Finn in the home straight with a gap to the leader of only two and four seconds respectively, but Nikander never had to run all-out.
Norway won the team competition in every other class than junior women in which Sweden took gold and Finland silver. A men’s junior team silver was Denmark’s only medal of the day.
Antti-Pekka Sonninen for the IAAF
Click here for RESULTS (pdf)
