Twelve Finnish orienteers progressed from the middle distance qualifiers of the EC competitions to Saturday’s final competition in scorching hot Hungary.
In a body Miika Kirmula was second in the first qualifying group and Olli Ojanaho second fastest in the second group. Recovering from an injury Topi from Syrjäläi arrived with an emergency alert Brother Fabric surely progressed to the final race as sixth in the second group, when the 20 fastest in each group will be seen competing on Saturday.
In the women’s first qualifying group Venla Harju and Marika Teini took the second and third places, while only Sweden, which had won a shocking number of gold medals in prestigious competitions, had time to get ahead Tove Alexandersson.
Maija Sianoja finished second in the third qualifying group.
Six Finnish men and six women will fight for European Championship medals on Saturday, according to the weather report, in a heat of around 34 degrees.
In addition to the top names, they reached the final competition Eetu Savolainen, Aarni Ronkainen, Teemu Oksanen, Siiri Silvennoinen, Maiju Oksanen and Miia Niittynen.
The competition, which takes place in Metsämatto, is also the third World Cup competition of the season.