2016 was the peak of Tove
Alexandersson’s orienteering career so far, which before this
season was packed with merits, yet no gold medal at a World or
European Championships (WOC, EOC). She crushed that history, becoming
both World Champion and European Champion in Long and Middle
distance. In addition, she spent the winter winning the World Cup in
SkiO overall and two gold medals in the European SkiO Championships.
100 metres before the finish line a
silent smile appears on Tove Alexandersson’s face. Listening to the
speaker’s words and the crowd of Swedish spectators cheering her,
she realises she is on her way to fulfil the goal, the dream, for
2016. Becoming World Champion in both Middle and Long.
The moment she realised she had won the
World Championship in the Long distance just two days after the
victory in the Middle, is the moment that stands out the most for
Tove Alexandersson, looking back at 2016. Winning a World
Championship is obviously something special, even though
it might be hard to pick out one moment
with two gold medals at the European SkiO Championships, two golds in
EOC, the two victories at WOC and overall World Cup victories in both
FootO and SkiO all in one season.
But not for Tove. She had many goals
during the season, but they all led up to the World Championships on
Swedish home ground in Str.mstad-Tanum. She put asphalt running to
one side, and moved to Halden for six months to get access to as
similar terrain as possible. All with one
thing in mind:
– I really wanted to win, she says
very earnestly, in a voice that tells everything about the many times
she previously had started at a WOC race as favourite, but at best
made it into second.
The season starts on ski
As one of very few athletes,
24-year-old Tove Alexandersson competes on top level in both FootO
and SkiO. In SkiO, she is five times World Champion and four times
European Champion. The prestigious overall World Cup, which only
takes place every second year, was missing though. Tove’s winning
instinct was not satisfied with that, and now that the SkiO and FootO
did not overlap as in previous years, 2016 would be the year for an
overall SkiO world cup victory:
– The two previous times I have
finished second overall in the world cup, close behind the winner. So
I was craving for the win this time, Tove says.
The plan was simple. With three World
Cup rounds, the last one also being the European SkiO Championships,
it was all about doing stable races in all nine competitions. And
that she did, finishing outside the top three only once and winning
five times. However, it was no walk over:
– It was a very tough competition
against Mariya Kechkina from Russia. She achieved top results at all
events and so I had to perform well at every competition, Tove says.
The battle turned out in favour of
Tove, who achieved her goal for the SkiO season in the form of the
overall World Cup victory, 20 points ahead of Mariya Kechkina. In
addition, the European SkiO Championships led to medals in all five
distances: gold in Sprint and Relay, silver in Middle, and bronze in
Long and Sprint relay.
– Satisfying, as Tove describes the
results.
A sign of what it could lead to
Just after the European SkiO
Championships were over, Tove’s focus went immediately from skiing
to running. Two races were in her sights and nothing less than
victory would count. The WOC Middle and the Long distance on home
ground in Sweden:
– I dreamed about gold on Long and
Middle before the season began. This year I really had the belief it
would come true. I knew I had the capacity, Tove says.
To reach her big goal she took some
drastic decisions. She decided to skip the Sprint races at WOC, and
six months before the championships she moved to Halden in Norway to
train in as relevant forest terrain as possible.
Two months after her overall victory in
the SkiO World Cup, the FootO one started in Poland. Three weeks
later this was followed by EOC in the Czech Republic. At the EOC Long
distance, she got a feeling for what the orienteering season could
lead to:
– Standing at the starting line at
EOC Long distance, I felt stronger than I had for many years. I was
fresh and injury free. I had a fantastic feeling and it was amazing
to win, Tove says about her first gold medal at EOC.
Only three days later, her good shape
continued, crushing the opponents at the EOC Middle distance with a
two-minute win. In the months between EOC and WOC, Tove continued her
good training flow and used O-Ringen as a last test before WOC:
– After EOC, I could train just as I
wanted to. I ran O-Ringen to adjust the last technical details. My
orienteering technique proved to be brilliant, which boosted my
confidence before WOC. Looking at the results, it also went pretty
well, Tove says with a laugh about her superior victory in the
Swedish five-day event.
Mission completed – two times gold
Only victory counts when Tove
Alexandersson starts a race and to achieve that, preparation is
essential to her. Therefore, watching the WOC Sprint races from the
TV did not make her hungry to run them. She knew she was not prepared
to run those races.
On the other hand, she was as prepared
as anyone could be for the WOC Middle distance:
– I had planned to avoid pushing too
hard at the beginning because I was in such good shape. But I did
exactly what I had planned not to do, and went off at really high
speed. I managed to keep up the high speed without any big mistakes,
but only because I had got so used to the terrain in my preparations,
she says.
Even though Tove did not stick exactly
to her plan, she could happily make the classic Scandinavian roll at
the finish line after “the toughest Middle distance I have ever
done”. And at last; her fourth medal at a WOC Middle was the kind
Tove likes the most. Gold.
Two days later, the challenge was
different but the goal the same. There was even a little more at
stake:
– Before WOC, I considered Middle and
Long to be of the same value, but during the championships I became
aware that the Long distance meant the most to me.
The Long distance started with a short
leg to the first control followed by a 3-kilometre leg:
– I lost some time going straight on
the long leg. I saw the option to go around to the right but
considered it way too far. The next part of the course went without
error. At the spectator control I heard the speaker saying I was
three seconds behind. I did not hear who I was behind, just that
victory was within reach. It was a very special situation knowing I
was so close to fulfilling my dream!
And then we are
back to the highlight of the year:
– I am so proud that I could keep my
concentration after the spectator control. It was a fantastic moment
to run over the finish line knowing I was World Champion in both
Middle and Long, she says with a big smile.
Training by herself together with
others
It requires a lot of mental strength to
continue from the spectator control with the knowledge that only
three seconds separate you from victory. Tove proved she possesses
that strength, which was founded in her junior years:
– When I was in the Swedish junior
national team, the coach Anneli Östberg meant a lot for my progress.
She gave me the basis of how to handle stress and nervousness during
events, which has helped me perform at big competitions.
As for the physical and technical part,
Tove takes care of her training all by herself:
– I have never had a physical or
technical trainer. Since I was little, I have always been interested
in and reflected on training. I am the one that knows me and my body
the best.
It does not mean she does all her
training alone. For instance, she mentions her training group for the
past five years in Falun as important to her. But no-one dictates
when and what to train. She is aware that she can improve with the
help of others and is looking forward to next autumn, when the French
legend Thierry Gueorgiou will become the o-technical coach for the
Swedish national team.
A runner in the same category as
Gueorgiou who has inspired Tove is the Swiss icon Simone
Niggli-Luder:
– She has been the biggest
inspiration to me. She was complete as an orienteer. I am happy that
I had some years competing against her and saw her in action.
Attention and acknowledgement
In the last two years, Tove has had
convincing overall victories in the FootO world cup. Even though the
long 2016 season had begun to take its toll, Tove managed to secure
her third win in a row in the last world cup round in Switzerland.
Her success is not only being noticed
within the orienteering community. The media attention at the World
Championships on home ground and nominations for several sport prizes
in Sweden have made her name one which most Swedes have heard. The
limelight does not blind her:
– Of course it is an acknowledgement
of my achievements to get these nominations, but the publicity for
the sport of orienteering that comes from it means just as much to
me. I really do not need that much attention, Tove says with a laugh.
But she cannot run away from the
attention as the big star of Swedish orienteering. People have
expectations of her winning every time she starts a race, but the
biggest pressure comes from herself.
A winner’s instinct that cannot be
satisfied
No wonder Tove describes 2016 as the
best season in her career so far. Though it does have moments she
would change if she could:
– At the EOC relay I went out in
second position on the last leg and if I had not run to the wrong
control at one point, we [the Swedish relay team] would have had
victory within reach. I really fret about that, she says.
The mistake at the EOC relay touches a
sore point for Tove Alexandersson, still missing victories in relays
as part of the Swedish team. For her Swedish club, Stora Tuna OK, she
has won the Swedish relay championships, but both the big relays
Jukola and Tiomila are goals for the future.
The missing WOC relay title will not
affect her preparations for next year. It is the Middle and Long
distances that are in her heart. Possessing the World Champion title
in both, she is considering taking up the Sprint again at WOC 2017 in
Estonia.
Before thinking too much about WOC
2017, she has a SkiO season ahead during which she needs to defend
two European Champion titles in Imatra, Finland, and two World
Champion titles in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. As always, only one thing is
on her mind. To win.
Text: Henrik Rindom Knudsen
Photo: Remy Steinegger
