Odense, day 1: Sweden crushes all opposition
19 Aug 2009 at 20:16 | Published by: JJM | Views: 11186 | News search
Marcus Larsson, Sweden. (Photo by Erik Tiekstra 2009)
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Sweden is expected to win men’s team competition by more than 100 points, but the fight for silver can become very interesting
between Austria, Germany, and possibly also Switzerland. A revanche from Vaasa 2001, with many of the same
players in Austrian and German teams as were present in the 2001 tournament, where Austria took silver
and left Germany on bronze.
Italy and Finland are within attacking distance from a highly respected 4th place,
but chances for medals are probably gone. Behind Finland comes a big gap of more than 50 points,
between countries who master the felt game and those who don’t master it.
MEN’S TEAMS after round 3, of total 8 rounds:
1. 191 129 184 = 504 Sweden
2: 208 144 207 = 559 Austria
2: 214 139 206 = 559 Germany
4. 225 147 199 = 571 Switzerland
5. 222 146 219 = 587 Italy
6. 230 150 212 = 592 Finland
7. 245 164 241 = 650 Netherlands
8. 253 160 251 = 664 Denmark
9. 262 169 265 = 696 Slovakia
10. 283 199 286 = 768 Russia
11. 401 310 436 = 1147 China
Team Sweden has missed only 180 shots in the tournament so far, after 3 team rounds (324 lanes).
The second best teams Austria and Germany have made 31% more mistakes in the competition than Sweden.
China has used twice more total points than Sweden. Sweden is excellent on felt, but also on eternite clearly
the best, without any contest so far. Germany and Austria may have chosen some players who are good on felt,
but not the best possible on eternite.
TOP 5 IN MEN:
1: 30 20 29 = 79 RYNER Carl-Johan (Sweden)
1: 31 21 27 = 79 SVENSSON Filiph (Sweden)
3. 29 22 31 = 82 OLSSON Anders (Sweden)
4: 31 25 29 = 85 SPREIER Sascha (Germany)
4: 32 23 30 = 85 PERSSON Fredrik (Sweden)
full scores of all players
Carl-Johan Ryner has found his own favourite colour, as usual in felt competitions.
Filiph Svensson was voted as the most potential breakthrough maker of the year in our poll, and not without a reason.
With four Swedish players in top 5 at this moment, and Jonas Gustafsson waiting 2 points behind the top five,
we can only guess how many Swedish players will be on top of the leaderboard after 8 rounds.
Best player from outside of Europe:
56. 29 41 27 = 97 WEAVER Jason (Canada)
WOMEN’S TEAMS after round 3, of total 8 rounds:
1. 71 106 68 = 245 Sweden
2. 76 115 69 = 260 Germany
3. 77 125 68 = 270 Austria
4. 87 120 78 = 285 Switzerland
5. 78 127 83 = 288 Italy
6. 78 137 77 = 292 Netherlands
7. 87 144 88 = 319 Denmark
8. 104 162 95 = 361 Japan
Yet three more felt rounds are coming up, so it would be
surprising to see Germany rising to a serious fight for the gold.
Germany and Austria will probably decide the silver and bronze medals between themselves,
unless Switzerland, Italy or Netherlands can dramatically
improve their game on the felt course. Not a totally
impossible scenario, so we will wait and see what happens.
TOP 5 IN WOMEN:
1: 24 32 24 = 80 RENGBRANDT Jessica (Sweden)
1: 22 37 21 = 80 WIKLUND Karin (Sweden)
3. 23 34 25 = 82 KOBISCH Alice (Germany)
4: 24 39 21 = 84 BERGER-RELLA Elisabeth (Austria)
4: 23 31 30 = 84 van der LAAN Ingrid (Netherlands)
full scores of all players
Jessica Rengbrandt made her sensational breakthrough at European Cup 2007, where her blue total score on felt
was the third best of all players, only behind Carl-Johan Ryner and Anders Olsson.
She has played in Swedish national team three times before (2004–2006),
with not very satisfying ranks 13th, 16th and 21st in women’s competition.
2009 seems to become her great breakthrough year in individual major tournaments.
Best female player from outside of Europe:
28: 31 47 31 = 109 MOTEGI Akiko (Japan) » live results of Minigolf World Championships 2009, Odense, Denmark » photo gallery from day 1 of the competition
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