O-Ringen Magazine, nr 1 2024

TEXT ANDREAS DAVIDSSON PHOTO THOMI STUDHALTER
with an orienteering world champion and
spending so much time travelling?
– It’s lovely to have someone with the
same lifestyle and the same aims and
ambitions. It’s easier to travel and prepare
when we have each other as company, says
Simona.
Simona and Kasper are both already
registered to run O-Ringen. “Finally!” Was
Simona’s spontaneous comment on finally
managing to fit O-Ringen into the puzzle of
competitions and travel.
– I’ve been wanting to compete at O-Ringen
week and be part of the chasing start for
a long time. This year, O-Ringen is a long
time after WOC and some time before EOC
in Hungary, so it’s perfect timing and it will
be fun to be back, says Simona.
Simona and Kasper have
O-Ringen close to their heart
Some great news ahead of this
summer’s O-Ringen in Oskarshamn is
that both reigning women’s and men’s
World Champions in orienteering,
Simona Aebersold and Kasper Fosser,
are already registered to run. Both
are now looking forward to “finally”
competing at O-Ringen, which is
close to their heart and already part
of orienteering life for both of them, a
life that they have shared for several
years now.
O-Ringen Magazine has been catching up
with orienteering’s golden couple. Both the
Swiss international Simona Aebersold and
Norwegian star Kasper Fosser represent the
Swedish club IFK Göteborg. Since they both
speak Norwegian and spend a lot of time in
Sweden, we’re interviewing them in Swedish.
Of course, we’re curious about their orienteering
life together – and what O-Ringen
has meant to them during their upbringing.
In summer, both of you won WOC gold
over the long distance! How did it feel to
be on top of the podium?
– It was a big day for both of us! Simona
won her first WOC gold at home in
Switzerland and Kasper won the “jackpot”
after a tough Spring with injury problems.
Of course, it was even more fun to succeed
together and it was definitely the highlight
of the season for both of us, answer Simona
and Kasper.
How has training gone this winter?
– It’s gone pretty well for both of us. We
spent most of January at a training camp in
Tenerife. Now we’ve moved to Font Romeu
in France to be at altitude until the middle
of March. Simona has already shown good
form with a 9:29 3000m and Kasper has run
well in sprint competitions in Edinburgh.
These results are encouraging when the
main aim of the season is WOC for sprint
distances in Edinburgh. Both runners have
their biggest ambitions in the individual
sprint but are also hoping to fight for top
places in the knock-out sprint and the sprint
relay for their respective countries.
O-Ringen fits perfectly this year
Life as orienteering world champions seems
to be lived mainly on the road. Simona
studies a bit in Bern, while Kasper is a full
time athlete. They have bases in Bern, Olso
and Gothenburg
but most of the time it’s training camps
and competitions. But what’s it like living
O-Ringen fits perfectly this year
Life as orienteering world champions seems
to be lived mainly on the road. Simona
studies a bit in Bern, while Kasper is a full
time athlete. They have bases in Bern, Olso
and Gothenburg
but most of the time it’s training camps
and competitions. But what’s it like living
with an orienteering world champion and
spending so much time travelling?
– It’s lovely to have someone with the same
lifestyle and the same aims and ambitions.
It’s easier to travel and prepare when we have
each other as company, says Simona.
Simona and Kasper are both already
registered to run O-Ringen. “Finally!” Was
Simona’s spontaneous comment on finally
managing to fit O-Ringen into the puzzle of
competitions and travel.
– I’ve been wanting to compete at O-Ringen
week and be part of the chasing start for
a long time. This year, O-Ringen is a long
time after WOC and some time before EOC
in Hungary, so it’s perfect timing and it will
be fun to be back, says Simona.
Having fun in the forest is the most
important thing
For Simona, O-Ringen will be a way to shift
focus from sprint distances to the forest,
after WOC in Edinburgh. She is looking
forward to running a lot of races in Nordic
terrain and the main aim is to have good
races every day and to be satisfied with the
week. Simona ran O-Ringen for the first
time in 2013, as a promising junior, and ran
some of the days as a senior in 2019.
What does O-Ringen mean for you?
– For us Swiss runners, coming to O-Ringen
has always been special, to see how big
orienteering really can be. In Switzerland we
have at most around 1,700 people at competitions,
whereas at O-Ringen going into
the arena is like entering a whole new world,
explains Simona.
What is your best O-Ringen memory?
– It’s probably from 2013 in Boden, when
we went with my Swiss club ol.biel.seeland. I
wasn’t used to Nordic terrain and made a lot
of mistakes. We lived in a cabin by a river,
where we went fishing and rowing between
the competitions. I also remember that we
collected returnable bottles and bought
sweets with the deposit money. Good memories,
laughs Simona.
Have you any advice for girls who really
love orienteering?
“Try to run in as many different kinds of
terrain as you can. Make mistakes so you
can learn from them and – maybe this is
most important – have fun in the forest!”
finishes Simona.
“O-Ringen is best of
all when you’re a junior”
For Kasper, O-Ringen has played a more
natural role in growing up. He was already
there for the first time as a nine-year-old,
running Open 2 in Sälen. After that, it was
O-Ringen again two years later in Örebro.
That time, Kasper ran H11 and finished 77 th
overall.
– I can’t remember much about my first
O-Ringen competitions but I do remember
that my grandad and I slept in a classroom
and walked round O-Ringen City between
the competitions, says Kasper.
Have you any advice to juniors who are
thinking about coming to O-Ringen for
the first time?
– Just go and be a part of it! O-Ringen is
Simona on the way to the finish at WOC last summer.
best of all when you’re a junior. I have lots
of good memories; you meet a lot of people
your own age and it’s very sociable, advises
Kasper.
Kasper first climbed the O-Ringen podium
when he won H16 in Borås.
What do you remember from that race?
– It was an exciting mass start, with lots of
mistakes from everyone in the lead. At one
of the last controls, Axel Grankvist and I got
there together and I ran as hard as I could
to the next control to get a gap. It felt great
to run into the football stadium in Borås,
where the arena was. I remember how
everyone was watching and it felt like a big
moment, says Kasper.
O-Ringen TV #4
I avsnitt fyra av
O-Ringen TV
intervjuar Per
Forsberg bland
annat Simona och
Kasper. Scanna QR-koden för
att ta dig dit.
44 O-RINGEN MAGAZINE NO. 1 • 2024 O-RINGEN MAGAZINE NO. 1 • 2024 45