Karolin Ohlsson finishes in silver position for Sweden in the relay at EOC earlier this year.
Karolin Ohlsson will shortly be starting a very intense Nokian Tyres World Orienteering Championships (WOC) week in orienteering. She has found her sport.
Text and photo: Erik Borg
The Swede will in fact take part in all distances in Latvia.
– My goal for Latvia is to keep working hard all the way and give everything I can, no matter what happens. It´s the first time I will run all distances at WOC, so in some ways it already feels like I have won the lottery. Now I only want to go out and enjoy the party.
Earlier this year she was named as best individual at the European Championships (EOC) in Switzerland, and got silver in the forest Relay. Ohlsson ran last leg, and finished satisfied after a very tough race.
– I am a creative person with much energy. My dreams are everything for me, and I fight hard to make them come true. The mix of working with silver (see below) and competing in the forest is perfect for me. I see life as a colourful adventure and I try to take every opportunity to be a part of it.
What are you like as an orienteer?
– I am a real fighter. I wasn’t a big talent as a junior, but I have fought my way up to the top. I am willing to keep on working hard to get where I want. I would say my energy and big will are my strongest parts as an orienteer. My brain works quickly, and sometimes I think in a different way than others, which can be both good and bad.
When she was young, her parents had to drag Karolin out to orienteering competitions.
– Honestly, I hated it! I was just in to floorball and football. Anyway I kept on training both orienteering and running, even though I had much more success in the floorball hall. It was first when I became a second-year senior that I went all in for orienteering and found the joy in the sport. I was kind of behind with the basics, so I still feel I have so much more to learn.
At EOC this year she had the last Relay leg just as she had at EOC four years ago, when she ran the Swedish second team into a surprising medal position.
– The first time I got picked for last leg was at “Ungdomens 10mila”. I had never run in my club’s first team before. I was so happy since I had this dream of ending a relay. We won that relay and some years later I ran last leg in our second team in the Swedish Championships where we also managed to win. So relay running is very special for me; I value it highly and I will always give everything for my team.
Before WOC, she and some others from the Swedish women’s team went to France to train in the mountains and run sprints in the villages. Then the national team had one more pre-camp in Latvia with some more technical training. She hasn’t been to O-ringen.
– I think it’s smart to be in the right terrain as much as possible, and as I have so many races at WOC it’s hard to do a whole competition like O-ringen week so near to the WOC week.
Swedish head coach Håkan Carlsson expects a lot of Karolin:
– I think Karro has a great chance to have her big breakthrough internationally in this year’s WOC. She has developed a lot during last winter and now she has a physical level she can trust to be enough, and can focus on the mission to just do good orienteering when she gets the map. I think she can be strong and produce good performances throughout the whole WOC week. It will be fun to see her in action.
It’s also good to have the person Karolin in the team:
– Karro gives a lot of positive energy to the group. Like all the other members of the Swedish team, Karro is also good in making the other runners better by pushing each other on, and outside the training to help everyone to develop.
When Karolin isn’t orienteering, she works as a silversmith. Karolin and her grandfather have a shop at Mosebacke in Stockholm where they work together.
– Then I love painting, shopping and drinking latte in the sun, she smiles.