Our reporters at the world championships send in there news and reviews as they happen

Official results online

Friday 23rd
Saturday 24th
Sunday 25th

SATURDAY 24th

MINI TEAM
A jumping course that was mostly staightforward British style apart from a truly horrible weave entry approached from the wrong direction over a wall. The wonder was that most of the competitors were very happy with working the entry and some were confident enough to just let the dog find it, which always drew applause from the crowd. The other factor, in common with all the jumping rounds in this competition, was a challenging course time (34
seconds) that did not allow for teams to run steady clears.

Controversy with Italy early on when a handler was not permitted to run because he scruffed the dog down on the start line. A lot back home would fall foul of that one, and "scruffer" Munnings had better take note for his final individual round!

Courtesy of an E in the agility round GB ran 7th. Ronnie McAleese handled Rory nicely but chose a difficult approach to the weaves that resulted in a spin before entry and 5R. Many UK judges would not have faulted this but it was consistent judging by the standards of this competition. The hiccup at the weaves also cost time, adding 3.99 time faults. Dawn had a lovely smooth round with Dreamer, mixing blind crosses and reverse turns in a way that the text books would tell you not to, but which worked perfectly for them. Clear in 33.09. Dave Alderson and Libby then made up for their E in the agility with one of the rounds of the competition that had the neutrals applauding throughout, clear in 31.60.

That was good enough to put GB into the lead, though Japan knocked us straight off again with 3 clears. Finland running 15th were the first to dip below 10 faults overall, with just 2.1 time faults to add to their 5 from the agility. Then Russia put in 3 clears within the time to stay on 5 faults. Svetlana Tumanova even eclipsed Dave´s round in 31.01 with a fantastic weave entry at distance that was one of the highlights of the competition.

Germany picked up faults on the weave entry, then Switzerland who had the fastest time in the Agility but still with 5 faults ran. Three clears in the time, with the best run of all from Martin Eberle with Pebbles the little white poodle. Apparently she is his princess at home and can do anything she wants. She deserved it by making up for the missed dog walk in the agility with a blistering 30.53 under pressure in the jumping.

With that speed, Spain and Belgium, the two countries with clear slates from the agility couldn´t afford faults. Spain duly obliged to tumultuous acclaim from the home crowd. However they hadn´t done their sums on the time faults. Alex Paola, the biggest man you are likely to see with the smallest poodle put in a stunner with 31.88. But the two Miniature Schnauzers run by Antonio Molina just didn´t have the speed and between them clocked an agonising 5.35 time faults to put them just behind Switzerland and Russia.

The first Belgian dog had just 0.21 time faults, so on track. However Ronald Vlemincx (noted for his whistling to get the dog´s attention) just pulled Yakke past the wall in racing to the weaves. The game was up and further faults from the last dog dropped them outside the places.

So Switzerland with a well deserved win and someone looking a lot like Jo Fraser seen running around in their distinctive supporters shirt joining their celebrations.

MIDI TEAM
A less interesting jumping course with too many straight lines and the only real challenges a couple of angled jumps and some linked turns where handlers could vary their style (though most used reverse turns). As a result there was little opportunity for GB to move up the rankings as there were few eliminations to match ours from the first round.

GB ran 12th as the fastest of the teams with just a single E and no faults from the agility. Lorraine and Ted put in a nice controlled run in 34.15. This picked up 1.15 faults due to the challenging 33 second course time but most teams contained one or two dogs falling outside the course time. Only the most exceptional runs dipped under 30 seconds. Hannah and Gem stormed round with a super independent weave but Gem just clipped one jump after a tunnel to have 5 faults in 29.97. Bernadette and Zen then topped that with a clear in 29.53, trading a tight turn off the wall at number 15 (where most others ran wide) for a wider final turn for home. A good performance all round from the team, but with no chance of making up ground from yesterday.

Only Finland went into the final round with a clean sheet. Latvia were the first to hold their total below 10 faults, to be overtaken by first Spain and then Japan (the star of Japan´s team being a very nice cocker). Finland´s first two dogs picked up over 3 faults between them meaning that the third dog could not afford a 5 or more than a couple of time faults. Petteri Huotari steered "Last Mohican" home clear in 32.16 to start a big party. Just like Eurovision Song Contest all the Scandinavians support each other, Japan were hugely popular in second place and all the home supporters had been looking for a chance to celebrate a podium finish!

STANDARD TEAM
With 3 dogs in the top ten in yesterday´s singles, GB had every reason to feel confident going into the first leg of the team event. Sweden were first team on and they set the pace with 3 clears in a combined time of around 120 secs. The course was open with no particular traps and shouldn´t really cause problems to the more fancied teams. The course time of 46 seconds was about right. Italy were the second team to go clear, running 6th out of 28 teams. UK were drawn 21st. 7th team to go were the United States (who like ourselves are likely to be excluded from 2007) and they put in three accomplished runs to go into first place with a time of 117.25. Three teams clear out of the first seven was a high percentage, but would it be maintained? Fallen poles were as rare as hens teeth!
4 teams followed before the next 3 clears which went to Denmark in a steady time. Another 4 then Austria went clear. With GB due to run soon our hopes were high that we would do wlel and the time would certainly not be a problem. Next in -GB. David Munnings to run first leg and he got us off to a great start, taking care to get the see-saw well down as the judge was very hot on this subject! Toni next to go and Kite looked comfortable on the carpet. Then, between obstacles 16 and 17, Kite came out the soft tunnel and collided with Toni and they were awarded five faults. Perhaps a little harsh but both judges were very specific that there should be absolutely no physical contact between dog and handler. Greg ran anchor and looked very confident but unexpectedly picked up 5 for mising the up of the dog walk. So, ten team faults has left us a lot to do in the jumping and we´re currently lying 11th. Lets hope the jumping is very trappy! And there´s always the singles tomorrow!

Positions
1 US A
2 Austria
3 Czech Rep.
4 Sweden
5 Italy
6 Denmark

TEAM
A dramatic final jumping round influenced by a technical course design with plenty of opportunities to refuse or eliminate and a tight but fair course time of 34 seconds. The weave entry from a tight turn off the long jump, with a tunnel trap in front claimed most victims one way or another. Many teams also had trouble with the Premier wall, the judge taking the opposite view from John Gilbert at Olympia and faulting if the pillar came down leaving the bricks intact. Teams ran in reverse placing order from the agility round, i.e. the winners USA from that round running last in this round. The GB strategy sitting in 11th place was to deliver three fast rounds and put the pressure on those running after them.

Running first David took Billy home without ever looking in trouble in a fast time of 31.63. Toni also took the bull by the horns, clear with the fastest time of the day in 30.64. Greg stepped up to the mark and was putting in a trade mark precise round when GT just dropped onto the last element of the long jump trying to turn tightly for the weaves, then startled by this missed the weave entry as well. He still finished in the course time in 33.8 to give GB the fastest time in both agility and jumping, but unfortunately with 20 faults overall.

Japan starting in 18th and Russia starting in 16th has both picked up only a few time faults to put them 2nd and 1st respectively for much of the competition. The reigning champions South Africa with only 5 agility faults from a seesaw that would never be faulted in the UK (the dog grounded the plank as it pushed off with back feet still in contact) put in three solid clear rounds within the course time to take the lead. Colombia also put in three clears, but with too many time faults. Denmark, Sweden, Czech and Austria all had eliminations. Italy starting off clear picked up 5 faults and crucially a half second in time faults to leave them tantalisingly behind SA. USA last to run with a good time only needed to keep the damage down to 5 faults to win. Wendy Pape and Ann Braue both put in good solid clear rounds. Gerry Brown stepped up and despite a few alarms got over the long jump safely. However Sterling slipped a little on the surface and just couldn´t straighten into the weaves. Gerry brought her back but to groans of despair from the large group of US supporters let her slip into the wrong side of the weaves for a second 5R. Taking down the bar of the final spread jump completed his misery and left the US out of the places.

Norway with a bitch in season running last were in with a shout of a top 3 finish but picked up 5 to leave them in 4th.

1st South Africa (Noelene Pretorius running both Ross and Brodie and Richard Wright running Chi), second Italy, 3rd Russia. And what if ... yes, with three clears we would have made the podium, showing that you can never take anything for granted and you can never give up in the world champs as in all other agility! Our final position was 9th.