Wyatt heads the podium in Smarna Gora, Slovenia - WMRA Grand Prix (© c)
As expected, the two dominant European mountain runners Jonathan Wyatt (NZL) who is based in Europe for the summer season and Marco Gaiardo (ITA) finished first and second respectively as they have done on each of their Grand Prix clashes this summer.
However, because Wyatt was absent from one Grand Prix which Gaiardo won, the result of the overall result of the Grand Prix series now hangs on the result of the final race in Gibraltar which carries bonus points. If Wyatt did not run and Gaiardo won he would take the Grand Prix title by a margin of 10 points. All the minor placings are also still undecided as Andrez Dlugosz forced himself into contention with a fine third position today in Slovenia.
In the women’s race, as predicted, the local girl who is still under 20, Mateja Kosovelj (SLO) left behind current GP champion Izabella Zatorska (POL) who was third. Another Slovenian Lucija Krkoc was second.
Kosovelj broke the course record by 61 seconds and won comfortably by more than two minutes.
With a similar performance in Gibraltar she could still lift herself from 5th position to runner up position behind Anna Pichrtova.
The full race results may be seen on the event web page via the link on www.wmra.info
The final Grand Prix race, on October 28th takes place in Gibraltar with an 11km course that finishes at the summit of the spectacular ‘Rock of Gibraltar’.
Danny Hughes for the IAAF
Results
Men
1 WYATT, JONATHAN NZL 38:49.1
2 GAIARDO, MARCO ITA 39:29.3
3 DLUGOSZ, ANDRZEJ POL 40:31.5
4 LAMOVEC, PETER SLO 40:36.4
5 KOSOVELJ, MITJA SLO 40:41.2
6 KROEL, MARKUS AUT 41:05.3
7 RANCON, JULIEN FRA 41:13.6
8 BONESI, ALAIN ITA 41:41.8
Women
1 KOSOVELJ, MATEJA SLO 46:15.5
2 KRKOÈ, LUCIJA SLO 49:32.0
3 ZATORSKA, IZABELA POL 50:18.9
4 MRAK, VALERIJA SLO 50:52.3
5 ROBERTI, MARIAGRAZIA ITA 51:04.2
6 FROST, ANNA NZL 51:18.1
7 ŠUŠTARŠIÈ, MATEJA SLO 52:35.9
8 INGRAM, KATIE GBR 54:25.5