Tove Alexandersson

Tove Alexandersson (born 7 September 1992) is a Swedish orienteer, ski orienteer, and skyrunner. She is a ten-time world champion in orienteering, a ten-time world champion in ski-orienteering and a one-time world champion in skyrunning (in her second skyrunning race ever). She competes for Stora Tuna OK in orienteering and Alfta-Ösa OK in ski orienteering.[1]

Tove Alexandersson

Tove Alexandersson at the Junior World Orienteering Championships 2010
Personal information
Born	(1992-09-07) 7 September 1992 Stora Tuna
Sport
Sport	Orienteering Ski orienteering
Club	Stora Tuna OK Alfta-Ösa OK
Medal record Representing  Sweden Women's orienteering World Championships 2016 Strömstad–Tanum Middle 2016 Strömstad–Tanum Long 2017 Tartu Middle 2017 Tartu Long 2017 Tartu Relay 2018 Riga Mixed sprint relay 2018 Riga Long 2019 Østfold Long 2019 Østfold Middle 2019 Østfold Relay 2012 Lausanne Middle 2012 Lausanne Relay 2013 Vuokatti Middle 2013 Vuokatti Long 2014 Trentino–Veneto Sprint 2014 Trentino–Veneto Long 2018 Riga Sprint 2018 Riga Relay 2011 Savoie Relay 2014 Trentino–Veneto Middle 2014 Trentino–Veneto Relay World Games 2013 Cali Middle European Championships 2016 Jeseník Middle 2016 Jeseník Long 2018 Ticino Sprint 2018 Ticino Long 2016 Jeseník Relay 2018 Ticino Middle 2012 Falun Relay 2014 Palmela Middle Junior World Championships 2009 Trentino Middle 2010 Aalborg Middle 2011 Wejherowo Relay 2012 Kosice Sprint 2012 Kosice Middle 2011 Wejherowo Middle 2012 Kosice Relay 2011 Wejherowo Long Women's ski-orienteering World Championships 2011 Tänndalen Sprint 2013 Ridder Sprint 2013 Ridder Sprint Relay 2015 Hamar/Løten Sprint 2015 Hamar/Løten Relay 2017 Krasnoyarsk Sprint 2017 Krasnoyarsk Middle 2017 Krasnoyarsk Relay 2019 Piteå Sprint 2019 Piteå Long 2013 Ridder Relay 2019 Piteå Relay 2019 Piteå Middle 2013 Ridder Long Junior World Championships 2009 Dalarna Long 2009 Dalarna Middle Skyrunning World Championships 2018 Kinlochleven Sky

Orienteering

Junior World Championships

Alexandersson became Middle Distance Junior World Champion in orienteering in 2009.[2][3] She was 16 years old at the time, running against competitors up to four years older than her. She maintained her Middle Distance title in both 2010 and 2012, with two further gold medals in the sprint and in the relay, two silvers, and one bronze in the long distance.

World Orienteering Championships

After her success as a junior prodigy Alexandersson took several years to achieve her gold medal, receiving only silvers and bronzes in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 despite being one of the favourites.

She made her breakthrough in 2016, a season which saw her take #1 in the world ranking as well as dominate in the Orienteering World Cup and the World Orienteering Championships, where she won both individual forest titles.

In 2017 she continued to dominate at the 2017 World Orienteering Championships in Estonia, where she won all forest classes (Middle, Long and Relay).

In the 2018 WOC she won the silver medal in sprint[4] and the gold medal in mixed sprint relay[5].

In the 2019 WOC she won the gold medals in the long and middle distances and also participated in the winning Swedish relay team together with Lina Strand and Karolin Ohlsson.

She also won the Venla Relay in 2018 together with Julia Gross, Anna Mårsell and Magdalena Olsson.[6]

World Championship results

Year
	Age	Long	Middle	Sprint	Relay	Sprint Relay
2011	18	—	—	—	3	N/A
2012	19	—	2	—	2	N/A
2013	20	2	2	—	4	N/A
2014	21	2	3	2	3	—
2015	22	4	—	—	—	—
2016	23	1	1	—	5	—
2017	24	1	1	—	1	—
2018	25	1	DSQ	2	2	1
2019	26	1	1	N/A	1	N/A

Orienteering World Cup

Alexandersson won the Orienteering World Cup six years in a row from 2014 to 2019.[7][8][9][10]

European Orienteering Championships

Alexandersson won both forest European Orienteering Championships titles in 2016.[11] In 2018 she won the gold medals in sprint and long distance and the silver medal in the middle distance.[12]

Ski orienteering

She won a gold medal in the sprint distance at the 2011 World Ski Orienteering Championships in Sweden. In 2015, she once again won the women's World Ski Orienteering Championships sprint distance event.[13] Alexandersson is one of very few orienteers who participate in both ski orienteering and the more popular foot orienteering. Alexandersson has been dominant in ski orienteering in recent years; at the championships in Russia in 2017 she won three gold medals. In December 2018, Alexandersson became the first athlete to be ranked #1 in three separate disciplines by the International Orienteering Federation (Ski-O, Foot-O Middle and Long and Foot-O Sprint).[14]

Skyrunning

In 2017 Alexandersson took a surprise victory in the 29 kilometer Limone Extreme SkyRace with a margin of 12 minutes ahead of established skyrunning specialists, and despite taking several downhill running falls that required medical attention to arms, hands and legs.[15]

In September 2018 Alexandersson won a gold medal in the Sky discipline of the biennial Skyrunning World Championships held on the Ring of Steall Skyrace course at Kinlochleven in Scotland. She won by more than seven minutes, setting a new course record by 19 minutes on the demanding and technical 29 km (18 mi) course with about 2,500 m (8,200 ft) of climb.[16] Said Alexandersson: "I did not have a big expectation of this race because I am new to skyraces but it was a nice day for me. It was a fantastic course and it feels amazing to be world champion."[17]

In October 2018 Tove Alexandersson triumphed for the second year in a row in the Limone Extreme SkyRace, this time by a margin of nine minutes.[18] This was Alexandersson's third skyrunning race ever, and she remained undefeated.

Ski mountaineering

In November 2019 Alexandersson stated that she would limit her ski orienteering competitions during the upcoming winter, in order to practice ski mountaineering. She said that she intended to participate in five world cup competitions plus the upcoming European Championships.[19]

Awards

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal

Tove Alexandersson was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in early December 2019.[20]

Jerring Award

During Svenska idrottsgalan in January 2020, she received the Jerring Award. She was also awarded "Swedish Sportswoman of the Year 2019".[21][22]

References

1. https://eventor.orienteering.org/Athletes/Details/65
2. "JWOC 2009 ITA. Trentino, Italy, 5-12 July 2009". International Orienteering Federation. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
3. "JWOC 2010 DEN. Aalborg, Denmark, 4-10 July 2010". International Orienteering Federation. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
4. "World Orienteering Championships 2018 Sprint Final Results" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-08-06.
5. "World Orienteering Championships 2018 Sprint Relay Results" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-08-06.
6. Carl-Magnus Långkvist (18 June 2018). "Finländska segertorkan fortsätter – Alexandersson förde Stora Tuna till första Venlasegern på över 30 år" (in Swedish). Yle. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
7. Mårten Lång (30 September 2017). "Toves fjärde raka seger i världscupen" (in Swedish). Svensk orientering. Archived from the original on 1 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
8. "Tove Alexandersson vann totala världscupen" (in Swedish). SVT Sport. 4 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
9. "Dubbla svenska segrar i sista världscuploppet" (in Swedish). Göteborgsposten. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
10. "Tove Alexandersson unbeatable in World Cup". IOF. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
11. http://runners.worldofo.com/tovealexandersson.html
12. "EOC 2018 Official results". Retrieved 2018-08-06.
13. Peter Jonsson (11 February 2015). "Tove Alexanderssons revansch – guld" (in Swedish). SVT Sport. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
14. http://ranking.orienteering.org/PersonView?person=65&ohow=F&event=6388&#list
15. "Limone Extreme 2017 Summary and Images – Migu Run Skyrunner World Series". Ian Corless. 24 October 2017. Archived from the original on 2018-01-01. Retrieved 2018-01-01.
16. Bryon Powell (16 September 2018). "2018 Ring of Steall Skyrace Results". iRunFar. Archived from the original on 2018-09-16. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
17. Bob Smith (15 September 2018). "Kílian Jornet and Tove Alexandersson clinch skyrunning titles with Steall wins". Grough. Archived from the original on 2018-09-16. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
18. "Limone Extreme 2018 Race Summary and Images". Ian Corless. 13 October 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-10-19. Retrieved 2018-10-19.
19. "Alexanderssons nya utmaning – skidalpinism" (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet. 18 November 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-11-19. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
20. "Bragdguldet 2019 till orienteringsstjärnan Tove Alexandersson" (in Swedish). SVT Sport. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
21. "Alexandersson drottning av Globen – krönte kvällen med Jerringpriset" (in Swedish). SVT Sport. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
22. David Hjorter (27 January 2020). "Tove Alexandersson vinnare av Jerringpriset" (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet. ISSN 1101-2412. Retrieved 27 January 2020.

External links

• Tove Alexandersson at IOF
• Tove Alexandersson at World of O

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Hanna Öberg	Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal 2019	Succeeded by Incumbent