Helena Jansson: “All I do is related to WOC”
Posted on | May 9, 2016 | Category: News, Newsletter
The World Championships (WOC) are approaching and the best orienteers in the world are looking forward to being in Strömstad in August. Having ‘home advantage’ as an extra factor this year, Helena Jansson is no exception: “I am both excited and anxious; I am both longing for it to happen and at the same time it seems like August is approaching too fast”, she says.
Last year a new chapter began in Helena’s life: she finished her studies to become a doctor, she moved to Stockholm and she started running for her current club OK Ravinen.
– For me it was a year of getting settled, and it felt like all the important little bits of the jigsaw puzzle that is my life finally began to settle. When it comes to orienteering, it was yet another year for me fighting to get back to being able to run pain-free and for a longer time. At the beginning of the year I had a blank calendar, and me ending up running another WOC was a true bonus, she remembers.
Facing a new season, Helena has been able to plan far ahead again for the first time in a long time, possible because her feet are now a bit more cooperative and reliable. She has done well in the first Swedish competitions, and the World Cup in Poland. In May she will compete in the World Cup and the European Championships, back to Sweden for a bit of rest, and then she will focus on getting a couple of months of proper training before WOC in Strömstad.
Helena’s words about her preparation are enthusiastic and optimistic:
– My preparations are going well, something I haven’t said in many years. I train according to plan, I rest according to plan, and I try to focus on being happy and content with everyday life (which at the moment is easy). I want to be confident that my plan and my ways of training and preparing are good, something that I struggle with quite a bit. My strategy at the moment is to just continue to be clever and listen to my body in order to stay healthy and injure-free, and if I manage that I will be happy.
“I am both excited and anxious”
Where is your strength as an orienteer?
– My never-ending enthusiasm and love for this sport! It keeps me going, and it keeps me trying to develop things in my orienteering. Most of the time I am good at concentrating when I know I have to, and I usually make very few mistakes (and if I make them they are usually small). When I am in shape I am good at balancing precision and speed.
How anxious are you about the WOC in your home country?
– Right now I guess all I do when it comes to orienteering is actually related to WOC. I think about it in the pool, I dream about it at night. Technically I think the orienteering suits me. Physically it will be tough, and I love tough terrain (at least before and after races; during them I sometimes hate it being tough!). I am both excited and anxious, I am both longing for it to happen and at the same time it seems like August is approaching too fast!
Forest relay. Always!
Focusing on that start line, Helena has some bets:
– I absolutely love relays, and if I could choose just one race at WOC it is always the forest relay. Always! Competing with a team is the best thing. I also have a feeling that the Long Distance will be something special, and I remember standing at the finish at last summer’s WOC Long Distance longing to be running myself, she says.
And who will be her main rivals? Helena has no doubts:
– Oh, there are so many good girls! Having a World Championships on home ground, the spirit and aims of all the Swedish girls are up in the stars (where they belong!), and being part of it is amazing and also nerve-wracking. There will be a tight fight for the spots in the WOC team, and I am focusing on just doing the right thing every day to try to be one of the lucky few, Helena concludes.
Text and photo: Joaquim Margarido
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