With expected winning times of 25 minutes for the Middle Distance qualification courses and a field of highly experienced orienteers, any result over 30 minutes in the mens heats was going to struggle to get a place in the final. So it was for the Australian men, whose best effort, Rob Preston's solid 31.33, only managed an 18th place in the heat and no place in the final, with Simon Uppill and a Julian Dent fatigued from the Long Qualification further down the rankings. Rob's heat was won by Peter Oberg of Sweden who held off Frenchman Thierry Gueorgiou by nearly a minute.
There was better fortune in the forest for Vanessa Round who came 8th in winner Mina Kauppi's heat, and Grace Crane who qualified in 13th place. The finals will be contested on Friday.
Next action in the WOC will be the Sprint Qualification and Finals on Tuesday, with the first of the live GPS tracking of the Finals to follow on woc2011.fr
