Photo above (left to right): Chris Smithard and Peter Hodkinson

In the Men’s race, the two GB runners finished just 0.7 seconds apart, with Peter Hodkinson in 13th getting ahead of Chris Smithard in 14th only on the run-in. Both were understandably thrilled, as well as a little surprised, with their results.

Peter commented:
“It was one of the most physical sprint races I've done and I think my good running speed this year was crucial. I didn’t hold back and fought hard to the finish after losing some time not seeing the best route to control 1, taking the left-hand route when the middle route was faster. From then on I had a really good clean run, and the course was technically quite straightforward. I'm over the moon with 13th place, which feels like a breakthrough for me and gives me huge confidence that I can mix it with the best in the world. I now know that top 10 is totally achievable.

Peter’s “route-choice error” on control 1 cost him about 15 seconds, and he then spent the whole of the rest of the course gradually catching Chris. They had identical splits at the last control, but Peter just edged Chris out down the run-in.  

Chris said:
“I had an almost perfect run, and I don’t think I could have done much better. I made one small mistake running the wrong side of a building out of control 11. After the arena run-through I was worried that I wasn’t running fast enough, but then there was another hilly section near the end that really hurt.”

The British camp is in excellent spirits after today. Everybody is now looking forward to tomorrow’s Sprint Relay which takes place in Viljandi, about 40 miles west of Tartu.

Full results from the Sprint Final can be found here, with maps of today's courses found here.

Tomorrow, the action moves to Viljandi with the Sprint Relay starting at 15:05 - you can read about the GB Team here and follow the event here.

Photos: Simon Errington