O-Ringen Magazine, nr 1 2024

Klara Borg is looking forward to
more success
in Oskarshamn
The last time a really big event was held
in Oskarshamn was in 2019, when USM
(the Swedish Youth Championships)
brought together hundreds of Sweden’s
young orienteers. One of those, one who
has very positive memories from the
competitions in Oskarshamn, is Klara
Borg. She took home the gold medal in
both the Sprint and Long distance races.
Klara Borg sprints into the finish at 25-manna 2023. Photo: Urban Larsson.
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We interviewed Klara Borg,
who runs for Södertälje-Nykvarn,
to find out her
recipe for success and hear
how she is doing ahead of this summer’s
O-Ringen. The last time Klara was in
Oskarshamn to orienteer, she won double
USM gold in the D15 class. She is also from
a true orienteering family, where O-Ringen
has been the clear choice for family holidays
throughout her childhood – so she, if
anyone, should know how to prepare for an
O-Ringen in Oskarshamn.
What was it like to stand at the top of the
USM podium two days in a row?
– I remember that it felt like a big thing,”
says Klara, excitedly. “It was the first time
all the Swedish juniors that age competed
against each other at anything other than
O-Ringen, so it felt very different. Before
the sprint I had no expectations and it was
a wonderful surprise when I won it. Then I
had quite high expectations for the forest.
My mum had warned me that it might
be difficult to re-focus after winning the
previous day, so it felt especially good to run
another winning race!
Four years on, what do you remember
from your winning race in the forest?
–I think I can remember almost the whole
race. I was very tense at the start and came
off my line a bit to number 2. After that I focused
better and found a good rhythm that I
kept all the way to the finish, explains Klara.
Was there any “decisive leg”
that won the race for you?
– No, I don’t think so, actually. Now I can
see that maybe I didn’t take the best routes
everywhere but I was consistent and followed
my plan, which must have been the
winning formula, says Klara.
She carries on thinking and then says that
leg 3-4 must have been pretty decisive for
the race after all. We’ve looked more closely
at this leg over the page.
– I managed to get going after a shaky
start. Then I felt like I had that “flow” that
orienteers talk about.
A flow that meant Klara managed to stay
focused through the tricky legs after control
4, soon taking the lead. A lead she kept all
the way to the finish by “keeping a lid on it”.
The biggest challenge in that USM race was
keeping a cool head, something that Klara
still finds difficult now.
– At USM I remembered to check my
compass, remembers Klara.
The compass is key
Klara advises that your compass is an invaluable
tool when orienteering in Småland’s
coastal terrain. Compass training was also
a big part of her preparation for USM. At
the time, Klara hadn’t orienteered much in
forests other than those around Nykvarn,
where her family live. Her dad, Lennart,
found an “Oskarshamn-esque” area with lots
of features, small hills and places where you
need to stay focused on your compass bearing
to avoid mistakes. Perfect for Klara to
run O-intervals and other technical training
before USM.
How would you describe the terrain round
Oskarshamn to someone who hasn’t been
there before?
– I would say that it’s very detailed, but
with all the small hills you have to stay on
the right track because relocating can be
difficult.
In my experience, visibility is mostly very
good. But since it is Småland after all, I’m
sure there are some thicker spruce areas,
too, says Klara.
O-RINGEN MAGAZINE NO. 1 • 2024 27