Who is hot for Worldchampionship Medals?

Entry Deadline has passed and the FIR Racketlon World Championships in Singles and for Nationalteams from 19. – 22. November in Löhne near Hannover have broken some records. Over 360 players have signed in with a total of over 420 entries and record draws especially in the Senior Classes where a 48-draw will be played for +45 and a 32-draw in the +55. The Elite draws have already been sorted with a cut-off at WR 50 for the Men A Elite 48-player draw and a cut-off at WR 26 for the Women A – Elite 24-player draw. Racketlon expert John O`Donnell has analysed the hottest candidates for the medals down below.

First nationalteam appearance for Canada

The 9 wildcards for the Elite draws where well distributed among 8 countries: Calum Reid (WR 66/Sco), Emil Bergander (WR 69/Den), Ismo Rönkkö (WR 76/Fin), Alwin Krist (WR 100/Ned), Oliver Zwiers (WR 324/Ger) and the Vice-Worldchampion 2004 Roland Helle (WR - /Swe) as well as Kadia Keller-Rice (WR 46/Nzl), Katy Buchanan (WR 86/Sco) and Uta Schultheiss (WR - /Ger). In the nationalteam competiton 15 teams have entered, with Canada making their first national team appearance as the first Racketlon team from America ever.

Hottest medal candidates (by John O`Donnell)

Men A – Elite: The Magnificent Seven

This time round will have for the 1st time since way back when No Eliasson Vs Kärkkäinen Final, as Magnus has hung his rackets up for the time being. So my pick for the possible challenge to this years worlds.

Christoph Krenn, Currently World No1
Having topped the new list for the last quarter of the year, taking down both Struthers and Adamsson in a home victory in Austria, must put him for at least a semi final place, best possible finishing position 3rd place, worst Q-final

Michi Dickert, No2
Up till last years worlds Michi was one to always think, if and but, after coming back against Adamsson and saving 3 match points a handful for anyone, possible best finish 3rd, worst position Q-final

Stefan Adamsson, No3
Seeing the Swedish Championships this year, not even the great Finn could have handled Stefan on that day, taking his 2nd Swedish title some 6 years after his 1st,depending on the draw, i'll stick my neck out and say finishing best position 1st worst 3rd

Alexander Köpf, No4
The Current German No1 has been playing a great all rounded game for the last year, with home surpport and a few squash tricks up his sleeve and pushing the top players to the tennis can be a force to recon with, possible best position 4th worst position Q-final

Mikko Kärkkäinen, No5
Lets start off with his weak points mmmmm anyway moving on, if there is a slight chance for the lesser Racketlon players its to take him down before the final, as earlier worlds have shown its possible for him to be a slow starter, but any takers on him not winning a 5th in row??? , possible best 1st worst 2nd

Doug Struthers, No15
Some say on his day he could and should have won this event by now, rumor has it ,this might be the gentleman of Racketlon last world championships, a fitting story line would be World champion 2009 D Struthers...just maybe, possible best 1st worst Q-final

Calum Reid, No66
With wins and titles under the Scotsman belt, a world champion in the waiting, with only Struthers and Kärkkäinen from the mention 7 not in his beaten section and coming off a good home victory against current No1, more than a handful for anyone, best 1st worst last 16

Others
A number of other good Racketlon players in the mix, but for me not yet possible world champion are Rav Rykowski, Joey Schubert, Antti Tyyskå and Elmar Schaub.

Women A – Elite: Six on the go

Martina Kakosová, No1
The former world champion is a possible threat too battling it out with the current world champion, possible 1st worst 4th

Silke Altmann, No2
The German lady on home soil can on her best day be a threat if she has a small piece of luck on her side. Best position 3rd, worst Q-final

Michaela Björnström, No5
Like her other half Mikko will anyone put money against her being in the final and secondly winning, my thoughts on this, she'll lose one game per match at worst but again having such a all round game a sure bet for another world title. Best position 1st worst 2nd

Katerina Sodomkova, No6
With a solid tennis background ,getting Björnström to the tennis would make for a interesting match, but has she the other sports to get her there, best position 4th,worst Q-Final

Natalie Lawrence, No8
With a Scottish victory under her belt, must feel she can again be in with a shout of pushing anyone to the limit, with solid squash and tennis to back it up, best position 2nd worst 4th

Marielle van der Woerdt, No9
The Current Dutch Champion surely has to be one of the few ladies to have a chance of taking Michaela to the tennis and even win two sports, best position 1st , worst 3rd

The Nationalteam Event

With Sweden having never being beaten, how will there cope with not having Magnus at the top of the order and now no Linda Jansson out with injury. Can team Germany pull out victory on home soil, or the Austrian or English teams be a threat, will the Finns having two world singles champs in the team be too strong my prediction is 1st Finland 2nd England, 3rd Sweden, 4th Austria.

The Age Classes

U21 Juniors
With the younger age groups, one or two of these will be doing extremely well in the Elite class, Joey Schubert, Paul Sach and Antti Tyyskä, and then be fighting it out in the under 21's.

The Over 45's
is as open as its ever been with the return of a few faces of old, David Lazarus, Steve Thomson and current world champion (Training partner) Peter Bittar, current world tour leader Volker Sach it promises to be a as open as any of the events.

The 55's event
Should be a one horse race, if a certain Richard Whitehouse doesn’t over do it in playing too many events and up to 3 years ago was also still playing in the elite section, or maybe one or two of the Finnish players will have a chance of pushing for that 1st place.

All we know its the end of a long season, with a great event to finish on, good luck to all that take part

www.racketlon.net Expert John O`Donnell, Eng