Runner presentation Linnea Gustafsson

November 29, 2009 by Anatolijs Tarasovs

„You should have known how much I have been struggling to make myself think that I could do a good race at this sprint. I was wrestling against all those doubts, but then I just ended up in a determination that the least I could do was my best, but who in the whole world would have thought that my best was as good as that?” – Linnea Gustafsson wrote in her blog right after the WOC sprint. A few days later she once again proved to be one of the best in Hungary with the 5th place in the long distance.

One month earlier Linnea won an amazing bronze medal at the World Games middle distance in Taiwan – the next day after taking a very good 5th place in the sprint. This winter she changed her club in Sweden and showed to be a great shape when the new season approached. She had several good starts in the Swedish Elitserien and in June she could finally show her skills on the international level at the Nordic Championships in Finland. There she performed best in the relay coming out first on the first leg; an hour later she could celebrate her first international medal and a title together with her teammates Kajsa Nilsson and Helena Jansson!

The World Championship was quickly approaching and the mid-august she arrived to Hungary… “I crossed the finish line in the lead and was astonished when Pekka (the leader of the Swedish federation – author’s remark) thought that it should be enough for a top-6 position. Then, when Simone sprinted a few seconds behind me I thought that I would soon wake up from a pleasant dream…” It wasn’t a pleasant dream, it was a pleasant reality. “…Yet it has not stopped spinning completely and when I woke up early this morning after having slept for just a few hours, I had to check whether the medal was still on the table besides the bad. It was!”

Nominated for
Incredible breakthrough this year with the World Championships’ silver and the World Games bronze. Also: winning the Nordic Championships’ relay.

Swedish gold
At the time when only the memories and the medal reminded of the World Championships in Hungary, at the time when the sun was still high in skies, but autumn was already forcing its place, Linnea Gustafsson became a queen of the Swedish Championships’ weekend in the coastal town of Oskarshamn. She won both the middle distance and the relay with her new club OK Hällen. 7th and 8th places in the Swedish Championships were her best results until this weekend. At the end of the season she took a shiny second place in the overall Elitserien.

Ordinary junior orienteer
Linnea has never been in the junior national team of Sweden. 3 years ago she was still an ordinary junior-girl with a nice junior bronze from the Swedish Championships’ ultra long distance. She was a girl with a hidden talent, which still remained deep inside also through her first senior year. Last year one couldn’t ignore it anymore and for the first time in her orienteering career she made into the Swedish team, first to the European Championships, then to the World Cup in Norway and finally to the World Championships in Czech Republic. She had some really good races in these championships; however the best were yet to come!

Main Sponsor: Trimtex
Trimtex Sport, based in Norway, is one of the main producers of orienteering sportswear. Since its foundation in 1976 with base in the orienteering market, Trimtex Sport has been producing sportswear with focus on unique colours and designs, for clubs and corporations. Today, Trimtex Sport is the proud maker of outstanding sportswear, which is carefully designed from top to bottom to fit the customer’s needs and specifications.

Trimtex Sport is, like last year, the main sponsor or The Orienteering Achievement 2009 election and they are generous to give the following prizes:

• Each of the two winners of the poll get the brand new Trimtex Softshell Air jacket
• Among the Lucky voters 4 Trimtex Extreme o-pants will be drawn
• Among the people suggesting/discussing nominees 1 Trimtex Extreme o-pant will be drawn (still possible to suggest/discuss why you want your favorite to be nominated)