The O-Ringen (previously called the “Swedish 5 days”) is an orienteering competition that takes place annually in different areas of Sweden. Orienteers from all over the world come to the competition. For orienteers around the world a trip to the O'ringen 5-days is their Mecca. This race attracts significant media coverage in Sweden and winning O-Ringen is often considered second only to the World Championships in prestige. The competition takes place in July, and takes place over 5 days, where every active day is a competition stage. Competitors are assigned start times for the first four stages of the race, but on the fifth and final stage a "chasing start" is used. In a chasing start the overall leader in each class starts first and the remaining competitors start according to the total time they trail. This means that the first runner over the finish line on the final stage is the winner.

O-Ringen
Finish line during the 2005 event in Skillingaryd
Statusactive
Genresporting event
Date(s)July
Frequencyannual
CountrySweden
Inaugurated1965 (1965)

History

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The O-Ringen was started in 1965 in Denmark, Skåne and Blekinge by elite Swedish national team runners Peo Bengtsson and Sivar Nordström. They organised the competition at short notice from July 19-23 to fill the days between two already-organised weekend events in Simlångsdalen and Kallinge. Due to a lack of available high-quality maps, the first day was organised in Hillerød, Denmark. After being publicised in Skogssport [sv] and Idrottsbladet, 156 participants attended the first event, during which guest of honour Torsten Tegnér was forced to help with organisation due to a lack of volunteers. The events were organised in the evenings to allow for people who had to work during the day. Following the first event, participation levels then steadily increased.[1]

O-Ringen received its name from the union of Swedish national team runners that Bengtsson and Nordström were first part of; the union was started with the purpose to improve international orienteering in 1962 by ten Swedish national team runners, including most Swedish competitors at the 1962 European Orienteering Championships. Some of the first members included European Championships medallists Bertil Norman and Emy Gauffin. The O-Ringen union was important in organising the event through to 1978, and held some administrative roles until 2003.[1]

Up until today the highest participant level was in 1985 in Dalarna/Falun were there were 25 021 participants.

The O-Ringen was included in the World Cup orienteering series in 1998, 2007 and 2008.

In 2009 there were prize money in the Elite series, the main classes for both the men and the women, totalling to half a million kronor. The final result in the junior elite classes will count towards the Silva Junior Cup.

From 2008 multi-sport has been represented at the competition in the form of the O-Ringen Multi. The competition on the Tuesday will be a part of the Swedish Multi-sport Cup.

The O-Ringen Academy is a training program which consists of three sections; International, Leadership and Sports. The International section focuses on training orienteers from all over the world who want to learn more about orienteering in order to develop the sport in their home countries. The Leadership section is a leadership training course in the form of seminars and speeches. The Sports section is more concerned with the physical side with training camps of different sorts, including a week for juniors before the O-Ringen.

Records

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Statistics

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Year Location(s) Number of contestants[1] Ladies winner[2] Men's winner[3]
1965 Skåne, Blekinge, Denmark 156   Inga-Britt Bengtsson   Nils Bohman
1966 Småland (4), Västergötland 672   Kerstin Granstedt   Juhani Salmenkylä
1967 Motala 1,910   Ulla Lindkvist   Kalle Johansson
1968 Borås 3,250   Ulla Lindkvist   Åge Hadler
1969 Rommehed 5,355   Ulla Lindkvist   Stefan Green
1970 Kristianstad 6,378   Ulla Lindkvist   Bernt Frilén
1971 Malmköping 8,627   Ulla Lindkvist   Hans Aurell
1972 Eksjö 8,253   Ulla Lindkvist   Hans Aurell
1973 Rättvik 10,449   Ulla Lindkvist   Bengt Gustafsson
1974 Kristianstad 10,196   Ulla Lindkvist   Ernst Jönsson
1975 Haninge 9,322   Anne Lundmark   Matti Mäkinen
1976 Ransäter 14,843   Sarolta Monspart   Gert Pettersson
1977 Visby 7,186   Liisa Veijalainen   Sigurd Dæhli
1978 Skara 15,148   Liisa Veijalainen   Kjell Lauri
1979 Örebro 15,842   Britt-Marie Karlsson   Lars-Henrik Undeland
1980 Uppsala 15,142   Liisa Veijalainen   Lars Lönnkvist
1981 Mohed 18,983   Annichen Kringstad   Jörgen Mårtensson
1982 Luleå 13,631   Annichen Kringstad   Lars Lönnkvist
1983 Anderstorp 22,498   Annichen Kringstad   Håkan Eriksson
1984 Bräkne-Hoby 16,123   Karin Gunnarsson   Kent Olsson
1985 Falun 25,021   Annichen Kringstad   Joakim Ingelsson
1986 Borås 17,353   Annichen Kringstad   Anders Erik Olsson
1987 Norrköping 16,216   Katarina Borg   Lars Lönnkvist
1988 Sundsvall 16,413   Barbro Lönnkvist   Lars Lönnkvist
1989 Östersund 17,818   Barbro Lönnkvist   Niklas Löwegren
1990 Gothenburg 20,172   Ragnhild Bente Andersen   Per Ek
1991 Arboga 16,581   Arja Hannus   Håkan Eriksson
1992 Södertälje 17,806   Gunilla Svärd   Allan Mogensen
1993 Falkenberg 15,006   Annika Zell   Petter Thoresen
1994 Örnsköldsvik 14,414   Katarina Borg   Petter Thoresen
1995 Hässleholm 14,304   Eija Koskivaara   Jörgen Olsson
1996 Karlstad 17,007   Annika Zell   Jörgen Mårtensson
1997 Umeå 11,179   Katarina Borg   Jörgen Mårtensson
1998 Gävle 13,249   Hanne Staff   Johan Ivarsson
1999 Borlänge 15,238   Jenny Johansson   Fredrik Löwegren
2000 Hallsberg 13,740   Hanne Staff   Jimmy Birklin
2001 Märsta 12,525   Marlena Jansson   Johan Ivarsson
2002 Skövde 14,651   Simone Niggli-Luder   Mats Haldin
2003 Uddevalla 14,998   Heather Monro   Mats Haldin
2004 Gothenburg 13,259   Jenny Johansson   Valentin Novikov
2005 Skillingaryd 12,657   Emma Engstrand   Emil Wingstedt
2006 Mohed 13,500   Simone Niggli-Luder   Simonas Krepsta
2007 Mjölby 14,300   Simone Niggli-Luder   Anders Nordberg
2008 Sälen 24,375   Anne Margrethe Hausken   Tero Föhr
2009 Eksjö 15,589   Helena Jansson   Martin Johansson
2010 Örebro 16,069   Simone Niggli-Luder   David Andersson
2011 Mohed 12,939   Tove Alexandersson   Erik Rost
2012 Halmstad 21,172   Tatiana Ryabkina   Olav Lundanes
2013 Boden 12,907   Tove Alexandersson   Thierry Gueorgiou
2014 Kristianstad 23,088   Tove Alexandersson   Thierry Gueorgiou
2015 Borås 18,058   Anne Margrethe Hausken   William Lind
2016 Sälen 24,313   Tove Alexandersson   Thierry Gueorgiou
2017 Arvika 15,127   Tove Alexandersson   William Lind
2018 Örnsköldsvik 17,171   Simone Niggli-Luder   Magne Daehli
2019 Norrköping 21,171   Tove Alexandersson   Ruslan Glebov
2020 Postponed to 2021
2021 Postponed to 2022
2022 Uppsala 20,271[4]   Sara Hagström   Gustav Bergman
2023 Åre 15,657[5]   Sara Hagström   Olli Ojanaho
2024 Oskarshamn 19 304   Tove Alexandersson   Emil Svensk
2025 Jönköping
2026 Göteborg
2027 Stockholm
2028 Sundsvall

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "O-Ringens historia - O-Ringen". www.oringen.se (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2019-07-03. Retrieved 2018-01-24.
  2. ^ "Vinnare Damklassen". Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Vinnare herrklassen". Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Tidigare O-ringen". Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  5. ^ "O-Ringen Åre överträffade målet - trots utmaningarna". Retrieved 28 July 2023.
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