Photo: Bildbyrån
Eight years ago, she won her first major championship gold.
Now the orienteer Tove Alexandersson announces when she can end her extremely successful career.
– We’ll see how long I can compete at the elite level, she says to Sportbibeln.
21 World Cup gold (33 World Cup medals), 10 European Championship gold (16 medals), and nine overall victories in a row in the overall World Cup between 2014 and 2023. Tove Alexandersson32, is not only Sweden’s best orienteer, but the whole world. But she’s not just the world’s best orienteer either. She has also won WC gold in two other sports: ski orienteering and sky running. Tove has also picked up WC silver in trail running and WC bronze in ski alpinism, which is also called skimo.
Tove Alexandersson has WC medals in five sports
She is truly an incredible sportswoman. No wonder she was awarded the Bragdguldet 2019 for her fantastic efforts. That year, for example, she won three WC gold medals in orienteering and two in ski orienteering. In 2022, Tove also received the HK King’s medal in gold for her incredible sporting achievements.
READ MORE: Tove Alexandersson’s new message about her Olympic bid
The question is how long will the motivation last for 32-year-old Alexandersson? She has been dominant in her first sport orienteering for a very long time now. Some are probably wondering how long Tove will be able to balance several different disciplines at the elite level at the same time. In fact, it’s what keeps her glow alive.
– If it had only been a sport that I had been doing all these years, I would probably have felt that: “It would have been fun to do this and this and this too…”. Now I do all these things at the same time instead, so then I keep the motivation up for all the sports I’m doing, says Alexandersson to Sportbibeln.
That’s how long Tove Alexandersson will compete
She won her first WC medal back in 2011, when she was 19 years old. Today she is 32. How long will she actually compete at the elite level? She has thought about that a bit herself.
– I will probably always train a lot. It’s something that I think is very fun. Then we’ll see how long I can compete at the elite level. If you take the orientation, it is a type of sport where the vast majority continue to compete even after their international elite career. In orienteering, there is such a great culture of continuing to compete even after you have finished internationally. So I will probably continue with that, she says and continues:
– I think that as long as I maintain a very high level and can win competitions internationally, I will probably want to continue with it. So far, I see that I will continue for quite a few more years. Hopefully.
Because you never regret winning gold?
– Above all, you never regret running and competing in orienteering. There are always new challenges, new courses and terrains. That’s what I think is so fun about orienteering. Always something new to look forward to, she says.
– Orientation becomes a bit like a lifestyle. I really like working out and being able to invest full time. Right now I appreciate very much that I can do it, so I intend to continue doing it as long as I think it’s fun, she continues.
READ MORE: Magdalena Forsberg’s heartwarming words to Tove Alexandersson
Beautiful Tove. You are such a wonderful and talented athlete. Hope you continue for several years at the elite level. We really think you can do it.
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