Poll: Orienteering Achievement of 2013 - Women

Note! This poll is closed for voting! You can still see the nominees below.

Welcome to the poll for the Orienteering Achievement of 2013 - Women, organized by World of O. The poll will be open from December 4th until December 11th.
Instructions: Tick off for your favourite, and submit your vote at the bottom of the page.
Note! You can recommend your favourite to your friends on Facebook by clicking the "Recommend" button below each nominated athlete.

» Runner profile Simone Niggli

Vote for Simone Niggli

Simone Niggli

Nominated for
The Queen of orienteering ends her fantastic career at the very, very top - again winning all three individual World Championships titles. Simone Niggli had tears in her eyes when she announced her retirement from orienteering a week before the World Cup final - and she gave the spectators on home ground in Baden, Switzerland tears in their eyes at her final showdown when she managed to win the last fight in her career - the overall World Cup 2013.

Story
Simone Niggli is the biggest star of orienteering. Her amazing career brough her 23 World Championships titles, 64 World Cup victories, 10 European championships and many other fantastic results. She has managed to dominate the sport in a way nobody else has done before - and with that she has helped raise the level of international orienteering. Now, as the queen of orienteering has retired, the stage is open for new stars - but it may take many, many years before we get another athlete who dominates the sport like Niggli has done...

» Runner profile Tove Alexandersson

Vote for Tove Alexandersson

Tove Alexandersson

Nominated for
The big rising star in orienteering: Only 21 years old - but took 2 World Cup victories, 2 World Champs silver medals and the second place in the overall World Cup in 2013. In addition this exceptional Swedish talent took two World Champs victories in ski-orienteering - and has topped the World Ranking in both orienteering and ski-orienteering in 2013.

Story
Alexandersson took her first World Cup victory in foot-orienteering already as a 19 years old back in 2011 - and has since been pushing far more experienced Simone Niggli all the way to the finish in race after race. Alexandersson has taken a big step this year - winning two of the races in the January 2013 World Cup round New Zealand - giving her the lead in the overall World Cup. In the overall World Cup the young Swede pressed Niggli hard all the way until the World Cup final in Switzerland for the overall World Cup victory - just barely missing it to the retiring Swiss. Also a very strong junior - winning the middle distance at JWOC in 2009 and 2010 - and also taking several medals at JWOC 2011 in Poland and two gold medals in sprint and middle distance 2012.

Vote for Norwegian WOC Relay Team

Norwegian WOC Relay Team

Nominated for
The Norwegian relay team saved Norways honor at the very last race of the World Championships in Finland - turning the 8th and 9th places from earlier in the week into Gold. Anne Margrethe Hausken Nordberg, Heidi Østlid Bagstevold and Mari Fasting managed to deliver their maximum in a demanding relay at the day it counted the most.

Story
After the mens relay in the World Championships in Vuokatti, Norway was still without a medal with only one race left: The womens relay. Would the final world championships of head coach Petter Thoresen become the first time in the World Championships history without a medal for Norway? The Norwegian women had not been fighting in the top in the individual races - but in the relay they managed to keep their heads cool were the others searched for the controls in the tricky Finnish forest. Heidi Østlid Bagstevold put it this way after the race: "- An incredibly lovely feeling to succeed along with a team - not just the two other girls, but also reserve Tone, coaches, support staff and the boys."

» Runner profile Nadiya Volynska

Vote for Nadiya Volynska

Nadiya Volynska

Nominated for
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.

Story
Starting the season with a 14th place from the World Championships in France in 2011 as her best result, the 29-year-old Ukrainian athlete has made many big steps forwards this season. Volynska has been living in Sweden since 2008 - now living in Jamjö, near Karlskrona with Oleksandr Kratov who is also nominated for the Orienteering Achievement of 2013 along with the Ukrainian WOC relay team.

» Runner profile Lizzie Ingham

Vote for Lizzie Ingham

Lizzie Ingham

Nominated for
Became New Zealands first ever woman medalist on a World Cup stage with her 3rd place at the World Cup sprint race in New Zealand in January 2013.

Story
Ingham broke into the international elite scene with 3 top 20 placings on debut at WOC France 2011. Followed up in Switzerland, 2012, with a NZ record setting 9th place in the sprint final. In January 2013 the Kiwi took another big step on the ladder - becoming New Zealands first ever woman medalist on the World Cup. Despite disappointing middle and long results at WOC 2012 and 2013, Lizzie is by no means a sprint specialist, taking out the Australian ultra-long in 2013, and taking 8th place in the chasing start world cup middle distance in NZ 2013.

» Runner profile Merja Rantanen

Vote for Merja Rantanen

Merja Rantanen

Nominated for
The popular 32 year old Finnish athlete has always been there just outside the medals at the individual races in the World Championships - and now finally won the bronze medal on home ground with the biggest smile of them all.

Story
The World Championship in Finland was supposed to be Minna Kauppi's playground - but when Kauppi failed, other Finnish athletes did fantastic achievements and secured medals for the organizing country. Rantanens medal was extremely popular among the home crowd - and Rantanen looked like the happiest woman in all of Vuokatti after winning the bronze medal at the WOC middle distance - pushing Kauppi down to 4th place. Rantanen has been part of the Finnish relay team for years - taking gold medals in 2008, 2010 and 2011 - but an individual WOC medal is something very special ... "- This was awesome. The bronze tastes very good. This is the top of my career! I have been dreaming about becoming world champion, and then in the relay. The next goal was to get an individual medal and now I have it."

Vote for Austrian World Games Team

Austrian World Games Team

Nominated for
A big surprise at the World Games mixed relay - Austria was not at all mentioned among the medal favourites. (Note! Mixed relay does not fit in either categories - it was chosen to put it in the women's class as the women were the ones doing the unexpected possible for Austria)

Story
One of the really big achievements of 2013 is the Austrian relay bronze medal at the World Games in Cali. All four members of the team made one of their best performances ever - especially the women were high above their usual standard: The junior Anna Nilsson Simkovics stayed "cool, calm and collected" and remained close to the world top female runners competing there.The finisher Ursula Kadan could beat the fast Czech girl Tereza Novotná by a better route choice in the finish. And all four managed something which not all top runners were able to: They made nearly no mistakes and checked out all the right controls! The two men in the team were Gernot Kerschbaumer and Robert Merl - both quite close to the World elite in the mens class. This interplay between the men and the women - bringing out the best in each other - is exactly why the mixed sprint relay was introduced.

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