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08-04-2014 - WTOC: the national teams to start
Three months before the start the preliminary entries have passed the barrier of 100 athletes, representing 23 nations, two more than last year in Finland.
Nations who are usually absent from the big international competitions, as Belgium, China and Spain, will take part to the WTOC 2014. France, South Korea, Poland and Hong Kong, a country that recently had a big development in this sport, haven't yet entered, so we can expect an increasing number of entries. In fact, Poland and Hong Kong verbally confirmed their intention to take part to the Championships.
Among the great historical counties in orienteering, only Switzerland and Austria seem still far from interest in this disciplin, despite some small organisational signals.
Many teams are waiting for the results at ETOC to make their numbers official; they will decide whether they'll exploit the full quota of four members for the TempO competition and they are maybe hoping to have an additional place guaranteed, this year a benefit not only for the current world champions but also for the european ones.
The Finns Turto (PreO) and Mäkinen (TempO), with the Czech Kostova (PreO Paralympics) are already sure to be entered after their gold medals in Vuokatti last year.
The organizational committee is working at full regime in view of these record numbers and has prepared an optimal time table, where the competitions in Foot-O and TrailO will almost never take place at the same time.
This is the WTOC 2014 program:
Monday, July 7th – TempO qualification and final in Alberé di Tenna / Levico Terme
Wednesday, July 9th – PreO 1st day in Millegrobbe Luserna
Friday, July 11th – PreO 2nd day (also valid for the team competition) in Campomuletto Gallio
Alberto Grilli
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