Head coach Kilian Imhof introduces the team: these are our orientation trumps for the home world championships

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World Cup appearances: Long distance, middle distance, relay.

Biggest Success: Gold 2012 over sprint distance at home World Cup in Lausanne; World Championship gold in the middle distance in 2016 and 2021.

Head coach Imhof: «He is the only reigning world champion in the team and our hottest iron in the fire. He is physically strong, reflective and has developed technically. He is a ‹smart Cheib›, balanced and has a good joke. He is an athlete representative at Swiss Olympic and is highly valued there.”

World Cup appearances: Long distance, middle distance, relay.

Biggest Success: EM gold 2022 over the middle distance.

Head coach Imhof: “Simona Aebersold just really likes orienteering, so she has a lot of parallels with orienteering legend Simone Niggli-Luder (45, who is a course builder at the World Championships, editor’s note). She has two qualities that are necessary in orienteering to be top: first, the pleasure of orienteering. She comes out of the woods a lot and smiles. And secondly, the ambition. She also likes to try different things. For example, she tried to imitate the heat and went to work out in a winter coat to sweat a bit. Like her, her Norwegian boyfriend Kasper Fosser is a sports student. They both copy each other’s stuff.”

World Cup appearances: long distance relay.

Biggest Success: World champion in each discipline (eight times gold).

Head coach Imhof: «Here and there he plays a trick. He has a certain mischievousness. In preparation for the World Cup, we visited the tunnels of a sheet pile wall. Suddenly it got dark there and who was standing at the light switch? Daniel Hubman. But otherwise he is very serious and, above all, extremely efficient. I was able to take care of him personally for 23 years and I can say: if he makes mistakes, he only makes them once. This made it very solid. That’s why he’s our starting runner in the relay. He’s in the team with his brother Martin – a nice story.”

World Cup appearances: Long distance, middle distance, relay.

Biggest Success: 2018 World Cup gold in the middle distance (for Russia; since 2022 for Switzerland).

Head coach Imhof: “It is her first time with Switzerland since the change of countries and I think she feels good too. She is a very open, cheerful person and likes to talk. She is good for the team. In the training camps she is usually always on the road with her child and her husband or a babysitter. The athletes have taken their little Luna to their hearts. She is also a sporting asset and runs in all three disciplines. »

Joey Hadorn (26, long distance, middle distance). Head coach Imhof: «An enormous talent. Six years ago he dominated the Junior World Championships in Engadine (three golds, one silver). That was exactly the terrain as it is now again at the World Cup. Sportingly it goes with trial and error for him. If he puts it all together, he’s a good candidate.”

Martin Hubmann (33, middle distance, relay). Head coach Imhof: «I can also take care of him personally. For a long time he was overshadowed by his older brother, but has now developed very well as an independent orienteer. He has a fan club with his brother.”

Florian Howald (31, middle distance). Head coach Imhof: «Why can he speak Finnish? Quite simply, like many orienteers, he is also involved in a Nordic club that is professionally organized.”

Sabine Hauswirth (35, middle distance). Head coach Imhof: “She is the most experienced, the only one who was there when I was a coach in 2008. She is a constant runner at a high level.”

Marion Aebi (30, middle distance). Head coach Imhof: “It is a dream come true for her, she can run the middle distance at home at the World Cup. She lived in Norway for a long time, where she even taught, and has a Norwegian partner. They also moved back to Switzerland for the World Cup.”

Elena Roos (32, long distance, relay). Head coach Imhof: “She comes from Ticino with German-Swiss roots. She definitely has a Ticino temperament, is cheerful and a worker at the same time. » It will be their last World Cup. At the athlete presentation, Roos announced that she would stop after this season.

Source : Blick