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SWISS ENIGMA – Simone Niggli
Swiss Enigma
Simone Niggli-Luder, multiple World Champion in 2003, Sprint World Champion in 2004, and holder of countless other Orienteering titles. Yet she makes some monumental mistakes, especially when under pressure.
At the 2005 World Cup round in UK last May, Simone won the Long-distance race by a very comfortable margin over compatriot Vroni KõnigSalmi. In the Middle-distance event Simone had a handy lead of 49 sec over Sweden’s Jenny Johansson to the 19th control. But on the short leg to 20 she lost 43 sec of that lead. Control 21 was OK but on the short leg to 22 she headed off in completely the wrong direction, lost another 26 sec to Johansson and lost the race by 23 sec.
RED = Johansson ; BLUE = Niggli-Luder ) At Sweden’s Tio-Mila Relay Simone’s club Ulricehamns was defending their title from 2004. Simone ran the last leg against Karolina A Hõjsgaard. She followed “Karo” through most of the course, taking the lead on the way to 11. “I knew exactly where I was leaving the track”, she said. “I had a little hill as my attack point and just 50 metres on through the green will be the control by a stone. But I couldn’t find any stone. Then I saw one and ran towards it but no control. Suddenly I realised I couldn’t see Karo any more. I went in and out of the green, trying to relocate. I was getting nervous. The time was ticking against me.” She lost three minutes at control 11 and all that time spectators could see her helplessly searching for the control since she was wearing a GPS unit. And Ulricehamns had lost the race by 2min 59sec. Then, at the Nordic Championships in May in the Long-distance event Simone had a comfortable lead over Vroni Kõnig-Salmi for most of the race. At the spectator control 13 she punched 1min 06sec ahead. Then another huge mistake on the relatively easy control 14. Simone lost 3min 23sec on this control, losing the Nordic title by 1min 48sec.
RED = Kõnig-Salmi ; BLUE = Niggli-Luder) Maps courtesy Orienteering Today and Skogssport
Simone Niggli-Luder ponders her map. Photo: Miroslav Rygl
