Two or three things I know about it...

1. “What I saw on Orienteering in 2015” is the name of the movie. Its author, Nina Waldow, presents some nice moments filmed along the past year, during some main competitions in Brazil. “Between everyday life and the passion for the sport, here you are some moments with all these athletes, whether amateur or professional, I was privileged to share. We became better when influenced by good examples. Be you, orienteer, a good example for the future generations. How about starting already in 2016?”, says Nina, filling the movie with words like “landscape”, “ground”, “relay”, “young”, “elite”, “challenges”, “courage”. A beautiful movie to enjoy. It worth a try!

2. Now it is time to vote to IWGA Athlete of the Year 2015. For the poll, the International World Games Association selected eighteen candidates from eighteen different sports and representing sixteen nations. Between the nominated, there's a Speed Climber from the Czech Republic, a Gymnast from the USA, a Ne-Waza fighter from Romania, a Korfball player from the Nederlands, a pair of Dancers from Russia, a Fistball Team from Germany and, last but not least, an Orienteer from Denmark. We talk about Maja Alm, a 27-year-old athlete that won three gold medals at the World Orienteering Championships in Scotland 2015. This amazing achievement started with a victory for the Danish team in the Sprint Relay, with Maja Alm running the last leg. Less than 24 hours later she won her first individual gold medal in Sprint. Maja Alm completed her golden days with a gold medal in the Relay. To give your vote to Maja Alm, you just need to enter the IWGA webpage at http://www.theworldgames.org/the-iwga/athlete-of-the-month/24-athlete-of-the-year-2015. You may vote as many times you want but... just once a day!

3. From 5th to 9th Feb 2016, Clube de Orientação do Centro (COC) organizes the Portugal O' Meeting 2016 in Penamacor and you may check all the information at http://www.pom.pt. POM is the world's biggest orienteering event taking place at winter time and is considered by many as the official opening of the competition season for its high organizational quality and for receiving the top runners of the world. Things aren't different this year and the number of entered athletes just passed the barrier of one thousand, from 29 nations. Thierry Gueorgiou, Fabian Hertner, Gustav Bergman, Lucas Basset, Andreu Blanes, Martin Hubmann, Frederic Tranchant, Baptiste Rollier, Lina Strand, Amélie Chataing, Helena Jansson, Annika Billstam, Catherine Taylor and Maria Magnusson are some of POM 2016's stars. COC is working hard to host a memorable event and hopes to have more than two thousand participants. Besides new maps, challenging terrains and courses, you'll be able to experience the rich gastronomy, to enjoy the friendship of locals and to explore the beautiful and untouched nature of this part of Portugal. The deadline for competition classes is 25th January. Any entry made after this date for competition classes will not be validated by the organization!

4. Those who have been following the snow conditions in Germany with bated breath can now breathe a sigh of relief. The World Masters Ski Orienteering Championships / World Cup 2016's organisers confirmed last thursday that they finally have enough snow for the races to take place. The status of the event hung in the balance right up until their visit to the competition areas on Wednesday, when Event Directors Bernd Kohlschmidt and Diethard Kundisch were finally able to confirm that there was enough snow to proceed. Unfortunately, this is not the case in France, where the Winter's late arrival to the High Alps forced the organizers of French Ski Orienteering Championships (Long Distance and Mass Start) to cancel the courses scheduled to 23rd and 24th January at Gap-Bayard. Finally, the Ski orienteers' attention during the weekend goes to Sjusjøen, in Norway, where the Ski-O-Treff is about to start. The terrain conditions are perfect and the organizers hope to offer challenging ski orienteering courses to the 225 entered athletes. You can follow the races with Live Results at http://timing.spjelkavik.net/emmanh-git/followfull.php?comp=10057&lang=en.

Joaquim Margarido

Ojanaho and Alm: Orienteering Achievement of 2015

Maja Alm and Olli Ojanaho have been awarded with “The Orienteering Achievement of 2015″ titles in the women’s and men’s class, respectively! Alm won the award with a big margin ahead of her team mate in the Danish National Team Ida Bobach. Among the men, Finnish junior Ojanaho was awarded the “The Orienteering Achievement of 2015″ with Swiss Daniel Hubmann in second.

The vote has been decided by the big international readership of WorldofO.com – more than 4000 unique votes from around 60 different countries have been delivered – making these results very representative for the worldwide orienteering community. Big thanks go to all voters and to the event sponsors PWT Five Days Toscana, Andalucia O-Meeting, Easter 4 , O-Ringen, Swiss O-week, Antalya Orienteering Festival, Sprint Scotland, Suunto Games and OOCup.

In the Men’s class Olli Ojanaho won with 25.2% of the votes ahead of Daniel Hubmann with 21.8%, Lucas Basset with 19.1% and Thierry Gueorgiou with 14.2%. Last year’s winner in the men’s class was 96 year old Rune Haraldsson, this year an 18 year old junior wins the award. In the Womens’s class Maja Alm won with an impressive 39.7% of the votes ahead of Ida Bobach with 27.4%, Annika Billstam with 7.9% and Galina Vinogradova with 7.8%. The Interviews with the winners can be read at http://news.worldofo.com/2015/12/22/ojanaho-and-alm-orienteering-achievement-of-2015/.

The Orienteering Achievement of the Year is an annual election organized by the largest international orienteering presence - WorldofO.com. In this edition of the Orienteering Achievement of the Year 8 men and 8 women were nominated for their great orienteering achievements. The nominated runners – and stories about why they were nominated – can be found at http://poll.worldofo.com/2015/.

[Press release: Jan Kocbach / World of O]

Maja Alm: "All of my three gold medals mean the world to me"

By achieving three gold medals, Maja Alm takes the most prominent place in the history of the recent World Orienteering Championships, WOC 2015. This great Danish athlete rises today on the Portuguese Orienteering Blog's tribune, sharing the unforgettable memories from these moments and designing, already, the upcoming season.

Two weeks ago, you've been in Göteborg, representing Denmark on NM Cross in Athletics (which is your second sport, I believe). Don't you ever stop?

Maja Alm (M. A.) - I ran that Cross competition just for fun. I like to compete and it's nice to travel with other national teams, which I always do, to see how they work and how they think about their sport and training.

We often see orienteers performing highly in Athletics but not the contrary, you being a good example of that. Have you tried, some time, to get some of your friends from Athletics into Orienteering? Is Orienteering a “difficult” sport?

M. A. - No, I haven't tried to get them into orienteering. I think it's too difficult for them to read the map and they're only able to run the easy courses. On the other hand I've heard that some sprinters and triathletes run a variation of orienteering in their off-season to straighten their running style.

You're ending the Orienteering season as no. 1 in the IOF Sprint World Ranking. Would you label this season as your best ever?

M. A. - This is, definitely, my best season. It was really incredible to win at the World Championships and now be the number one on the IOF Sprint World Ranking. I had a speed at this WOC that I haven't had before, and succeeded really well in the competitions mentally. I'm really proud of that. Another season of special meaning is of course last year, where the whole Danish team did so well and won six medals for Denmark. Last year we saw, for the first time, that we could win and I think that's why we really believed in ourselves this year.

Would you like to tell me about your three World titles and the meaning of each of them?

M. A. - All of my three gold medals mean the world to me, but in quite different ways, actually. The individual Sprint medal is, of course, really important to me. It is nice to show that I have the level to win an individual medal. In the individual distances you need to perform close to perfection to win a medal. In the Relay I see it more like three stable performances. I don't think the medals in the Sprint this year were a surprise. Nadiya was 4th last year, one second after me, so I knew that she was really strong. It was more a surprise that I could win with such a big margin.

The women’s Relay medal is also very important to me. Ida, Emma and I have been training and competing against and with each other for so many years now, and I really think we have improved each others’ levels. At the World Championships we really competed for each other as a team and I really think we deserved to win the gold together. The Sprint Relay is important to me of course because it was the first gold I have ever won. We have had high positions in almost every Sprint Relay we have been running, and finally the margins were on our side. It is very nice to compete together on a team with the boys. The way girls and boys think before a competition is quite different and it is really inspiring to see how the boys do it.

And what about the Danish “Dynamite” Team? Are you, Danish girls, unbeatable?

M. A. - Ha, ha... No, of course we aren't. At WOC 2013, in Finland, we didn't succeed as a team in the women’s Relay and I think that has inspired and motivated us. We know that we have to run the relays with a certain amount of respect, but we are not afraid of making mistakes. We have been running together on relay teams so many times now and I think this is a big advantage, that we know each other so well now. I really admire Emma and Ida, and I think the inner respect from each other is what makes us so strong.

If I asked you about a moment – the great achievement of the Championships – what would it be? And the Orienteering achievement of the season?

M. A. - I think the big achievement has been after the World Championships. We have received a lot of attention on our success in Scotland. When you are at the World Championships, there isn't much time to enjoy your success. I had five competitions in six days, so I didn't have much time for celebrating. It was much more about being ready for the next competition.

What is your winter training going to be like? Is Portugal - and the Portugal O' Meeting 2016 - in your plans?

M. A. - I have been training on a low level since the World Championships. Our tough winter training will start in January 2016 in an attempt not to make the season too long. We will go on a two weeks training camp in February and it will be to either Portugal or Spain. Our coaches will decide where.

Next season, you have three world titles to defend, as well as your leadership in the Sprint World Ranking, but we can see that you're still far from the World podium in the Middle and Long Distance. Is a medal in a forest distance your main goal for WOC 2016, in Sweden?

M. A. - I have a Silver medal in the Middle Distance to defend at the European Championships, so I have some results in the forest as well. I will try to improve in the individual forest distances, but I still want to be in a position where I have the chance to win the individual Sprint. The terrains in Sweden are quite different from those in Denmark, so my individual goals in the forest are more for WOC 2017. To have the chance to win the Relay gold next year, I have to improve my running in Nordic terrain, so my forest goal for the next season is pointed at the Relay.

For those who see Maja Møller Alm as an example, an inspiration, especially for the young athletes, what is your advice?

M. A. - Find your own way of doing things and remember to enjoy your running. I really like what I do, but here, in the off-season, I like to do other things than orienteering; I like to see my friends from outside orienteering. It is important that you are balanced as a person and I think that can be quite individual.

Now that a new season is about to start, I ask you a wish for those who love and are committed to Orienteering.

M. A. - I wish that they can achieve their goals and keep having fun with orienteering as much as I do.

[Photo: Kell Sønnichsen / do-f.dk]

Joaquim Margarido