The O-Ringen is an orienteering competition based in Sweden. It takes place annually in different parts of the country. Orienteers from all over the world come to the event. The competition attracts significant media coverage and winning is often considered second only to the World Orienteering Championships in prestige.

The competition takes place in the month of 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.

History

In 1965, the O-Ringen was first started in Denmark, Scania, and Blekinge by elite Swedish national team runners Peo Bengtsson and Sivar Nordström. They organised the competition at short notice from 19–23 July to fill the days between two already-organised weekend events in Simlångsdalen and Kallinge. Due to lack of available high-quality maps, the first day was organised in Hillerød. After being publicised in the and the Idrottsbladet magazines, 156 participants attended the first event, during which guest of honour Torsten Tegnér was forced to help with organisation due to 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.

The 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.

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 Orienteering World Cup 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

The first ever stage of the Swedish 5-Days was held in Denmark. Ulla Lindkvist has the most titles in the women's class with eight wins. Lars Lönnkvist has won the men's class four times

Statistics

Year Location Contestants Women's winner Men's winner 1965 Scania, Blekinge, Denmark 156 Inga-Britt Bengtsson Nils Bohman 1966 Småland, 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 Jönsson1975 Haninge 9,322 Anne Lundmark Matti Mäkinen1976 Ransäter 14,843 Sarolta Monspart Gert Pettersson1977 Visby 7,186 Liisa Veijalainen Sigurd Dæhli1978 Skara 15,148 Liisa Veijalainen Kjell Lauri1979 Örebro 15,842 Britt-Marie Karlsson Lars-Henrik Undeland1980 Uppsala 15,142 Liisa Veijalainen Lars Lönnkvist1981 Mohed 18,983 Annichen Kringstad Jörgen Mårtensson1982 Luleå 13,631 Annichen Kringstad Lars Lönnkvist1983 Anderstorp 22,498 Annichen Kringstad Håkan Eriksson1984 Bräkne-Hoby 16,123 Karin Gunnarsson Kent Olsson1985 Falun 25,021 Annichen Kringstad Joakim Ingelsson1986 Borås 17,353 Annichen Kringstad Anders Erik Olsson1987 Norrköping 16,216 Katarina Borg Lars Lönnkvist1988 Sundsvall 16,413 Barbro Lönnkvist Lars Lönnkvist1989 Östersund 17,818 Barbro Lönnkvist Niklas Löwegren1990 Gothenburg 20,172 Ragnhild Bente Andersen Per Ek1991 Arboga 16,581 Arja Hannus Håkan Eriksson1992 Södertälje 17,806 Gunilla Svärd Allan Mogensen1993 Falkenberg 15,006 Annika Zell Petter Thoresen1994 Örnsköldsvik 14,414 Katarina Borg Petter Thoresen1995 Hässleholm 14,304 Eija Koskivaara Jörgen Olsson1996 Karlstad 17,007 Annika Zell Jörgen Mårtensson1997 Umeå 11,179 Katarina Borg Jörgen Mårtensson1998 Gävle 13,249 Hanne Staff Johan Ivarsson1999 Borlänge 15,238 Jenny Johansson Fredrik Löwegren2000 Hallsberg 13,740 Hanne Staff Jimmy Birklin2001 Märsta 12,525 Marlena Jansson Johan Ivarsson2002 Skövde 14,651 Simone Niggli-Luder Mats Haldin2003 Uddevalla 14,998 Heather Monro Mats Haldin2004 Gothenburg 13,259 Jenny Johansson Valentin Novikov2005 Skillingaryd 12,657 Emma Engstrand Emil Wingstedt2006 Mohed 13,500 Simone Niggli-Luder Simonas Krepsta2007 Mjölby 14,300 Simone Niggli-Luder Anders Nordberg2008 Sälen 24,375 Anne Margrethe Hausken Tero Föhr2009 Eksjö 15,589 Helena Jansson Martin Johansson2010 Örebro 16,069 Simone Niggli-Luder David Andersson2011 Mohed 12,939 Tove Alexandersson Erik Rost2012 Halmstad 21,172 Tatiana Ryabkina Olav Lundanes2013 Boden 12,907 Tove Alexandersson Thierry Gueorgiou2014 Kristianstad 23,088 Tove Alexandersson Thierry Gueorgiou2015 Borås 18,058 Anne Margrethe Hausken William Lind2016 Sälen 24,313 Tove Alexandersson Thierry Gueorgiou2017 Arvika 15,127 Tove Alexandersson William Lind2018 Örnsköldsvik 17,171 Simone Niggli-Luder Magne Daehli2019 Norrköping 21,171 Tove Alexandersson Ruslan Glebov2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic20212022 Uppsala 20,271 Sara Hagström Gustav Bergman2023 Åre 15,657 Sara Hagström Olli Ojanaho 2024 Oskarshamn 19,304 Tove Alexandersson Emil Svensk 2025 Jönköping 16,863 Simona Aebersold Emil Svensk 2026 Gothenburg 21 161 Simona Aebersold Viktor Svensk 2027 Stockholm 2028 Sundsvall 2029 Borlänge

See also Tiomila Jukola relay List of sporting events in Sweden

References

External links The 1973 edition at SVT's open archive