Tove Alexandersson has chosen to opt out of the end of the orienteering season, including this weekend's World Cup final in Switzerland, to focus on ski mountaineering in an attempt to reach the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina in February.
As part of that training, she is competing this week in the World Championship in trail and mountain running in the Spanish town of Canfranc. And it turned out to be a decent championship performance.
Alexandersson took gold on Friday's "short" distance, a 45-kilometer run with 3,657 meters of elevation gain. The 33-year-old Swede, who has racked up championship medals primarily in orienteering but also ski orienteering, ski mountaineering, and skyrunning, was also completely superior.
She finished in just over five hours and was more than 30 minutes ahead of the runner-up. Only 16 male runners were faster.
"I'm really super happy with my performance. I've done everything over the past month and a half to prepare as well as possible for this race," says Tove Alexandersson in a press release.
Alexandersson now has 37 World Championship gold medals in five different sports, according to the Swedish Athletics Association.
