Press Release: Achievement of 2015

16 athletes from 9 countries are nominated for the annual poll to find the most impressive achievements in international orienteering. The poll is organized by World of O – the major internet presence for international orienteering news. Voting is open until December 21st.

Winning a Gold medal at the World Championships is always a great achievement – but sometimes winning a Bronze medal can be an even bigger achievement – based on what your starting point was. The stories behind the medals and the great achievements is what makes the sport truly fascinating! In “The Orienteering Achievement of the Year” these stories are highlighted – to make it possible to get a background for the amazing achievements.

Voting is open from December 16th until December 21st using the following links:

 The Orienteering Achievement of 2015 - Men  The Orienteering Achievement of 2015 - Women

In the women's class (Denmark), (Denmark), (), Merja Rantanen (Finland), Mari Fasting (), Galina Vinogradova (Russia), (Sweden) and Nadiya Volynska (Ukraine) are nominated. In the men's class (Switzerland), Lucas Basset (France), (France), Olli Ojanaho (Finland), (Sweden), Olle Boström (Sweden), (Norway) and Tim Robertson (New Zealand) are nominated.

The international sponsors for the Orienteering Achievement of 2015 are PWT Five Days Toscana (Italy), Andalucia O-Meeting (Spain), Easter 4 (Slovenia), O-Ringen (Sweden), Swiss O- week (Switzerland), Antalya Orienteering Festival (Turkey), Sprint Scotland (Scotland), Suunto Games (Estonia) and OOCup (Slovenia, Italy and Austria). Prizes valued to 5000 Euro are drawn among lucky voters & the ones suggesting nominations.

More info: http://poll.worldofo.com/2015/

Nominations: Orienteering Achievement of 2015 - Men

Daniel Hubmann

Nominated for Finally took the missing WOC middle gold medal and his first "real" WOC relay gold medal plus silver at WOC long. Also: The dominating orienteer among the men in 2015 with his 6th(!) overall World Cup victory and victory in both races in the World Cup final in Arosa.

Story Swiss Daniel Hubmann has been one of the best orienteers in the World every year since his first two World Championships medals in Japan in 2005. WOC long distance gold medals came in 2008 and 2009 and the WOC sprint gold medal came in 2011. The WOC gold medal from 2009 did not taste like a full victory with several top teams stopping to help an injured athlete on the last leg. Come 2015 - 10 years after his first WOC medal: 2015 has been one of Hubmann’s best seasons ever. After fighting hard for it for many years, finally the WOC middle gold medal is part of Hubmann’s WOC medal collection - along with the first "real" WOC relay gold medal. Daniel Hubmann also took silver at WOC long only - 25 seconds behind the winner - and was actually only 34(!) seconds away from 3 individual gold medals at the world championships. Since the sprint distance was introduced in 2001, no male orienteer ever did better. Add to that his 6th overall World Cup victory and the dominating performance in the World Cup final in Arosa

Lucas Basset

Nominated for The new French star Lucas Basset surprised everybody by winning the silver medal at WOC middle in Scotland. Add to that his central part in the French surprise WOC relay bronze medal without Gueorgiou on the team and Basset’s 9th place at WOC long.

Story Lucas Basset has been known as the future of French orienteering since he took France’s first Junior World Championships gold medal at the JWOC sprint in Poland in 2011. The same season he also got his first top 10 result in the World Cup, and has since then slowly worked his way towards a stable position in the Top 10 in the World. Ahead of the World Championships in Scotland, he was still not there, with only two Top 10 World Cup results in numerous tries since 2010. But the World Championships in Scotland was Basset’s championships. As one of the few athletes who started in all disciplines, he finished 2nd in middle, 3rd in relay, 9th in long, 7th in Sprint Relay after a great 3rd leg and 23rd in sprint.

Thierry Gueorgiou

Nominated for The first man to ever win three WOC long distance gold medals in a row with his WOC long gold in Scotland. Gueorgiou is also the only man who has won three WOC gold medals in a row in any other discipline: In middle between 2003 and 2005 and between 2007 and 2009. The King of Orienteering.

Story 12 years after his first WOC gold medal in Switzerland in 2003 Gueorgiou took his 13th WOC gold medal in Scotland in 2015. The man formerly known as "The King of Middle" has now won three WOC long distance gold medals in a row - adding to that the WOC long distance gold in 2011 makes it four WOC long gold medals in five years. And that in very different terrains: Extremely technical in France in 2011, fast but nordic in Finland in 2013, hilly with fast ground in Italy in 2014 and physically tough and slow in Scotland in 2015. Gueorgiou earlier talked about the long distance as "boring" - now he has made it his own discipline.

Olli Ojanaho

Nominated for 3 gold medals at the Junior World Championships at the age of 18 - one week after winning 3 gold medals at EYOC. Also: Debut in Finnish senior national team at the World Cup final.

Story Olli Ojanaho is an incredible orienteering talent, part of the new Finnish generation of orienteers who are expected to rise Finnish orienteering back to the very top again. Ojanaho has dominated EYOC (European Junior Orienteering Cup, unofficial European Championships for youth orienteers) by taking medals at every start at EYOC the three last years - 9 medals in total. At JWOC in Bulgaria last year at a first year junior he took bronze at the middle distance and finished in the Top 10 in all three individual disciplines. This year he took a big leap and took JWOC gold in all the three forest disciplines. A man for the future!

Jonas Leandersson

Nominated for A man for the big occasions: Leandersson wins the World Championships sprint in Scotland 2015 after winning the two last European Championships in sprint in 2012 and 2014.

Story Jonas Leandersson came from nowhere when he won the European Championships sprint in Falun, Sweden in 2012. Since then the Swede has stabilized in the world sprint orienteering elite, but although he has some top 3 results in the World Cup, his ability to deliver his very best in the big championships is one of his main strengths. With gold at the European Championships sprint in 2012, bronze at the World Championships sprint in 2013, gold at the European Championships sprint in 2014 and another gold at the World Championships sprint in 2015 Leandersson has taken a sprint medal in the big championships the last 4 years in a row. Nobody else has managed that - Leandersson is going in the steps of another great Swedish sprinter, .

Olle Boström

Nominated for After four tough years fighting with injuries, Boström took bronze medal at WOC middle at his first World Championships start since his WOC debut in 2011.

Story Olle Boström was very strong as a junior, and followed up with an amazingly strong first senior season in 2011 where he finished 6th at the long distance at WOC 2011 and also got a bronze medal with the Swedish relay team. From there and on it was all about injuries and rehabilitation for Boström - many would have given up on the way. Boström did his comeback at international level in 2015 with starts at WOC middle and long. Just after arriving at the finish after his WOC middle race, Boström looked the most unhappy man of all, thinking he had lost his medal chance at a mistake at the very end of the race. A few minutes later, the world was turned upside down for Boström - nobody smiled wider than the comback Swede.

Olav Lundanes

Nominated for Got out his absolute maximum at the World Champs long distance with a perfect race - giving him a bronze medal nobody around him dared to believe in before the start.

Story Olav Lundanes has been one of the absolute top athletes on the long distance since his WOC gold medal in in 2010. After struggling on and off with injuries some years, the WOC long distance in Scotland in 2015 was supposed to be Lundanes’ race - fitting his abilities as an orienteer perfectly. The preparations for WOC did however not go as Lundanes had planned, and his physical shape when arriving at the start in Scotland was far below his usual standards. Lundanes did however get out his absolute maximum in the tough Scottish terrain, probably being the only one doing a perfect technical race on the day it counted the most.

Tim Robertson

Nominated for First man to defend his JWOC sprint gold medal - and also the first man to take three JWOC sprint medals in a row. Also took a 20th place at WOC sprint as a junior.

Story Taking a medal at the Junior World Championships sprint is no easy feat - with more than 150 athletes at the start without qualification - up to six from each nation - you really need to have a close to perfect race to win a medal. And even more so to win the gold medal. With his JWOC sprint win in Rauland, Norway in 2015 Tim Robertson was the first man to take two wins in a row - and with the bronze medal from Czech Republic in 2013 that makes it three medals in a row. Robertson’s 20th place at the World Championships in Scotland a month later shows yet again that he has the capability to get top results when it counts the most. Being from New Zealand, Robertson does not have the environment around him which many juniors from the top orienteering countries have.

Nominations: Orienteering Achievement of 2015 - Women

Ida Bobach

Nominated for Extremely impressive performance in all forest disciplines in WOC in Scotland: Winning a clear victory at WOC Long distance, deciding the WOC Relay for Denmark by giving Denmark a 4 minute gap before the last leg, and being only one control away from also taking the Middle.

Story Ida Bobach won three Long distance titles at the Junior World Championships between 2009 and 2011 along with four other JWOC Gold medals and 5 other JWOC medals. Since then she has worked very hard and climbed step by step into the international elite - taking two Silver medals at WOC Middle and getting several Top 3 results in the World Cup. At the end of 2014 Bobach took her first World Cup victory - at the World Cup final Middle distance in Switzerland, and then her first World Cup victory on the Long distance in spring 2015. The fantastic achievements at the World Championships are the result of a lot of hard work over many, many years - crowned with her first two WOC Gold medals at WOC in Scotland.

Maja Alm

Nominated for The Queen of the World Championships in Scotland with three Gold medals: Sprint, Sprint Relay and Relay. Alm crushed the competition at every start at WOC - and was simply on a different physical level than the others.

Story Alm was among the fastest runners in the orienteering elite earlier, but in August at WOC in Scotland she had clearly taken another step. With her running speed she could afford to make big mistakes and still win - instead she ran an excellent technical races and won with big margins. The margin in the individual Sprint was 40 seconds - one of the biggest margins in the history of WOC Sprints. Compare that to the margin between the 2nd and 7th place of 17 seconds. The last leg of the Sprint Relay she won with "only" 10 seconds - but with a winning margin of more than a minute for Denmark, Alm did not have to push all the way. Finally she won the first leg in the WOC Relay with more than a minute - again simply running away from the competition. Even though 2015 was clearly the best season in her career, it was the best SO FAR. We can be quite sure that there is more to come...

Annika Billstam

Nominated for 39 year old Annika Billstam had one big goal in 2015 and did one good race: For the second year in a row Billstam chose to skip many international races and focus 110% on WOC - for the second year in a row she succeeded. A fantastic achievement.

Story Others may have won more medals, but the way Annika won her Gold medal in Scotland is really worth remembering. In most of the 2015 season Annika Billstam did not look like a potential World Champion. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes - and the speed was not really there either. A 57th(!) and 12th place in the World Cup races in Norway and Sweden in the Sprint tells part of that story. Before the start of the WOC Middle she was an outsider - the preview said "if she gets into her championships mode anything can happen - even another Gold medal". And amazingly Billstam did just that - taking the second Gold medal in a row. One of the biggest surprises at the World Championships in Scotland when looking at the results in the 2015 season. And the remainder of the season? DSQ and 22nd place at the World Cup final in Switzerland...

Merja Rantanen

Nominated for Merja Rantanen came back after having a child last summer with her best individual WOC result ever: A surprise Silver medal at WOC Middle distance.

Story Rantanen had always been just outside the medals at the individual races in the World Championships until she took a very popular Bronze medal on home ground in 2013 with the biggest smile of them all. Rantanen took off most of the 2014 season to give birth to her second child. Back at the international scene for WOC in Scotland in 2015 she was again a big surprise when many of the pre-race favourites failed. This time she even climbed another step up on the podium to 2nd place - her best ever individual WOC result and a new highlight of her career.

Mari Fasting

Nominated for Nine years after her 6th place at the World Championships Middle as first year senior, Fasting finally took her first individual WOC medal with a Silver medal at the Long distance.

Story Fasting is a double junior world champion from 2005 who took the step directly into the senior elite with a 6th place on the Middle distance in WOC 2006. Missed WOC 2007 after a nasty injury to her ear during the a World Cup Long distance race in Sweden, and it took several years before she was back again on top level. Has since worked very hard to get an individual medal at the World Championships, and was very close at WOC in Italy in 2014 where she finished 4th on the Long distance and 5th on the Middle distance - along with another bitter 4th place at the Relay with the Norwegian team. At the start of the 2015 season in Tasmania she showed that she had reached a higher level with her best World Cup result ever - a 2nd place at the Middle distance - putting high pressure on herself ahead of WOC. Full of joy after achieving her goal with a Silver medal at the WOC Long distance in Scotland. Also: Important part of Norway's silver medal at the relay after a strong 2nd leg.

Galina Vinogradova

Nominated for First Russian woman to ever take a medal at WOC Sprint after spending 7 years struggling against difficult circumstances to pass the way from 4th place to the medal. Also: Anchoring Russia in the Sprint Relay, taking Russia from 10th place to a Bronze medal.

Story At her debut in the World Championships in 2008 in Czech Republic Vinogradova performed very well and finished 4th in the Sprint. Since then Vinogradova spent 7 years struggling against difficult circumstances to pass the way from the 4th place to the medal. On the way she became the first ever Russian woman to win a World Cup event in Sprint in 2010 - and got two children. Vinogradoa was also part of the Russian World Games Relay team who won Gold in 2009 and part of the Russian Sprint Relay team that won Bronze at the World Championships in Italy in 2014.

Tove Alexandersson

Nominated for Missed most of the World Championships due to a foot injury, but came back in autumn and won the overall World Cup after a dramatic race restart where she was first given the wrong map.

Story Alexandersson dominated the start of the season, winning all three World Cup races in Tasmania in January. When the World Cup moved to Norway and Sweden in May, she continued with a 2nd place at the Long distance in Halden and a 4th place at the Middle distance in Munkeby - taking a very clear lead in the overall World Cup. Even at the Sprint qualification in Scotland were Alexandersson won her heat everything looked like the Swede was going to be one of the dominating runners in the World Championships. However, a foot injury which Alexandersson got at O-Ringen just ahead of the World Championships proved to make it impossible for Alexandersson to compete at most of WOC. She only managed a start at the Long distance, but without a top result. In the end the overall World Cup was to be decided at the World Cup final in Arosa with Alexandersson as last starter. The Swede got the wrong map and was allowed to restart the race after noticing on the first control. Alexandersson did not win the race after the restart, but the race was good enough for overall World Cup victory.

Nadiya Volynska

Nominated for First ever WOC medal with Silver at the WOC Sprint. Also: Top 10 and personal best in all individual disciplines at WOC and 2nd place in two World Cup races Middle distance - also new personal best.

Story The big positive surprise in the womens class in 2013: Coming from "nowhere" and Winning Bronze in the World Games Middle, fourth place in the World Games Sprint and proving that Colombia was no coincidence by taking third place in the World Cup final Middle distance in Switzerland. Volynska continued to work hard, and took another step with a Silver medal at the European Championships Sprint in 2014. In 2015 the Ukrainian ran herself into the top orienteering elite with a Silver medal at the World Championships Sprint, a 6th place at WOC Middle, a 9th place at WOC Long and two second places in the World Cup.