A short trip to statistics

Six medals in the sprint competition in Goslar is a nice result for Germany. But what about other nations’ medal counts? Which country won most medals in proportion to its number of participants? And who missed the podium by seconds most often? These questions are to be answered in the following article as well as the ones about the most thrilling competitions where one second separated the second best from the winner – contrasted with such races that allowed the winner to take an extra turn before crossing the finish line. A short trip into the world of statistics…

A Hollywood-like final could be admired in the category W40 of the sprint competition beneath the Kaiserpfalz. With a delicate lead oft only one second Veronica Minoiu from Romania sent Natasha Key (Australia) to the second place. In class W50 the decision was just as close: Swiss Monika Ammann beat Alice Bedwell from Great Britain by a second.
In W85 winner Sole Nieminen was nearly three minutes faster than the second best of only four starters. Another clear lead took Unni Bohlerengen in W75: the Norwegian distanced herself from the concurrence by more than two minutes. More than one minute faster than their seconds were Swiss Liselotte Freuler (W45) and Swede Birgitta Olsson (W70).
Two athletes in M35 have all reason to fret: Manu Mutka and Nick Barrable both missed the podium by two seconds with their identical time of 15:52 minutes. While in W60 two bronze medals were given because of the exact same time of two runners, category M70 had also very close results: only ten seconds parted third and eighth best athletes.
It won’t surprise that Sweden leads the medal table with 18 prizes. More surprising is the fact that in Olympic counting another nation is leading: although Switzerland won seven medals less than Sweden its five gold medals are one more than the Scandinavian country gained. Finland’s eight podium places, Great Britain’s seven medals and Germany’s six medals complete the Top-five.
The only one-two-three victory that day was celebrated by Sweden in the category W80: Bernice Antonsson, Clarie Ek and Maja Lisa Bergström made the podium beam in blue and yellow. Double victories were reached by Great Britain in W35 and W65, Switzerland in W45 and Sweden in W60 and W70.

It is remarkable that no double much less one-two-three victories were celebrated in the men’s categories. At least some nations could see two male competitors on the podium together: Finland’s athletes won second and third places in M60 and M65, Switzerland gained gold and bronze in M85 and in M90 Sweden took the places two and three, the category was rather small with only five runners, however.

Great Britain has to regret most close misses: all in all they reached the fourth place four times. Germany, Switzerland and Sweden are also far on top of this table with three fourth places each.
Concerning sex it is to be mentioned that 11 of Sweden’s 18 medals were won by women. Each of Norwegian’s three medals was gained in the women’s classes. Most male world masters are from Switzerland, most female champions are Swedes (three each).
In proportion to the amount of athletes Switzerland gained most medals. Eleven medals for 229 participants- that’s one medal for every 21. runner. Good averages were also gained by Sweden (one medal on 28 runners), Great Britain (one on 31 athletes) and Australia (one on 36). In Germany the average is 68. The biggest country without a medal is Estonia (156 participants).