Runesson and Falk: Ultimate Junior Orienteers of 2008!

Johan Runesson and Beata Falk – both from Sweden – have been named “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ in the mens and womens class, respectively! Runesson took 40% of the votes – nearly twice as many as Timo Sild in second spot. In the womens class it was a lot tighter, Falk taking 33% of the votes compared to 26.7% for Emma Klingenberg in second spot.

The vote has been decided by the big international readership of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – nearly 2000 unique votes from 40 different countries have been delivered, making these results very representative for the worldwide orienteering community. The Swedish Juniors dominated the Junior World Orienteering Champs on home ground in Gothenburg this year – and the dominance was now continued in the “Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ poll.

Proud winners

The two winners of “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ really deserve their victory:

• Beata Falk was nominated for winning three JWOC medals: Gold in Relay and silver in both long and middle. Also victory in D20E in O-Ringen. You can read the complete interview with Beata Falk here.
• Johan Runesson was nominated for winning the silver medal at JWOC sprint, the gold medal at JWOC middle distance, the gold medal at JWOC long distance and the gold medal at JWOC relay in Gothenburg this year, and his participation as a junior in the World Cup 2008 program. You can read the complete interview with Johan Runesson here.

– I feel very proud that so many people voted for me, a very happy Johan Runesson said to World of O/Ultimate Orienteering after being named the Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008. – Especially after I heard that only a small part of the voters came from Sweden, and it is the international orienteering community who has named me the best Junior Orienteer of 2008, Runesson continues.

And indeed, Runesson and Falk were not voted to the top by their fellow countrymen. Actually, Norway and Russia are on the top regarding which countries votes came from – with Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland on the next spots. Many votes also came from Switzerland, Estonia, Latvia and the UK.

Full voting results: The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008

About: Two of the major sources for international orienteering news on the Internet – World of O and Ultimate Orienteering – are organizing a poll to name “The Orienteering Achievement of 2008″ and “The Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″. The winner in each category is decided in a vote amongst all the readers of World of O and Ultimate Orienteering after all nominees have been presented. The poll is sponsored by Trimtex. See all nominees in the initial press release.

Pictures by World of O / Ultimate Orienteering. If you need full quality pictures of any of the “Ultimate Junior Orienteer of 2008″ winners, please contact Jan@Kocbach.net