Niggli finds her way again to victory

Switzerland’s Simone Niggli, has won the long distance final at the World Orienteering Championships. It was her 17th gold medal at a world championships.

The three-time Swiss sportswoman of the year finished more than two minutes ahead of local athlete, Marianne Andersen, at the competition in Trondheim, Norway. Emma Claesson of Sweden won the bronze.

“I won the race so you can call it a perfect race,” Niggli said after her performance. “It is special to win the long distance here in Trondheim, because this is the home terrain of the Norwegian and Scandinavian runners.”

The win in the long distance competition, which followed victory in the sprint discipline last Sunday and top prize in the long distance event a year ago in Hungary, gives the 32-year-old her third gold since the birth of her daughter two years ago.

Niggli also won two gold medals at the European championships in June.

Orienteering races are contests against the clock in which runners try to complete a course set through diverse, typically unfamiliar terrain using a map and compass to navigate between control points.

swissinfo.ch and agencies