A name to keep an eye on for the future is Erik Ohlund, son of Gunnar Ohlund and nephew of Goran Ohlund. Erik just won the Swedish Classic Champs in M20, and did so dominantly. Erik has got the goods when it comes to running, and may be the fastest orienteer in Sweden already when it comes to foot speed. 2000 has been a real break-through year for him, and if he keeps improving, he's a good shot to be among the best before too long.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), September 05, 2000

Answers

He smoked the field at the Swedish champs. Erik's winning time was 67:18. He was almost 2:30 ahead of 2nd and almost five minutes ahead of third.

You can check out Erik's winning route choices at:

http://hem.passagen.se/olsm2000/pics/kartor/klassisk_final_erik_ohlund .jpg

-- Spike (meglin@juno.com), September 05, 2000.

The longest leg on M20 and M21 was shared by both courses. Erik had the best time of all the runners.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), September 05, 2000.

A good way to be a star is to follow up your Classic win with a win in the Night Champs, and it looks like Erik has done just that. His sister Eva was 5th in D18 (Night).

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), September 05, 2000.

Erik won the night champs while the big favorite Peter Oberg finished (I think) out of the medals in 4th. I think Oberg was 4th in the classic champs. What happened to the favorite? One theory is that the "pundits" underestimated Erik O. Peter Oberg had some spectacular results in the first half of the year. But, Oberg is from much further south than Erik O. Maybe Erik O. couldn't be in peak form in the first part of the year because he hadn't had as much "snow free" training time?

-- Spike (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), September 05, 2000.

Today was the short champs...and today Erik fell back to earth.

Erik started todays run with "booms" on the first, second, and fifth controls. The boom on the second control was especially bad -- the best split time was 32 seconds, while Erik had almost 6 minutes.

Erik will probably out for revenge at the relay champs tomorrow. Ulricehamns OK looks to have a pretty strong team.

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), September 09, 2000.

Amazing. In just the space of a week, Erik has been transformed into a giant--according to Alternativet. Actually, he's very ordinary in size, but that's probably not what they're getting at.

Who knows? Does he have a chance to make the Swedish WOC team already next year, as a first year senior? That would be quite a sensation.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), September 11, 2000.

If Erik has the foot speed that some on the OK Forum have suggested, it could come in handy for him at the Golden Final of the PWT, starting this Saturday. This would be a good chance for him to strut his stuff. I don't know exactly what special preparation the best in the PWT might do, but it would seem that if you can read a map alright in a regular forest and you can run fast in general, then you might do quite well at park o'. I guess we'll find out.

You can look at the startlists from the PWT homepage

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), October 18, 2000.