Simone Niggli-Luder facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Simone Niggli-Luder

Simone Niggli-Luder in 2006.
Personal information
Nationality	Swiss
Born	(1978-01-09) 9 January 1978 (age 46) Burgdorf
Residence	Münsingen, Switzerland Ulricehamn, Sweden
Alma mater	University of Bern
Years active	1988 - 2013
Sport
Sport	Orienteering
Club	OLV Hindelbank
Medal record Women's orienteering Representing  Switzerland World Championships Gold 2001 Tampere Long Gold 2003 Rapperswil-Jona Sprint Gold 2003 Rapperswil-Jona Middle Gold 2003 Rapperswil-Jona Long Gold 2003 Rapperswil-Jona Relay Gold 2004 Västerås Sprint Gold 2005 Aichi Sprint Gold 2005 Aichi Middle Gold 2005 Aichi Long Gold 2005 Aichi Relay Gold 2006 Aarhus Middle Gold 2006 Aarhus Long Gold 2007 Kyiv Sprint Gold 2007 Kyiv Middle Gold 2009 Miskolc Long Gold 2010 Trondheim Sprint Gold 2010 Trondheim Long Gold 2012 Lausanne Sprint Gold 2012 Lausanne Long Gold 2012 Lausanne Relay Gold 2013 Vuokatti Sprint Gold 2013 Vuokatti Middle Gold 2013 Vuokatti Long Silver 2006 Aarhus Sprint Silver 2010 Trondheim Middle Bronze 2001 Tampere Sprint Bronze 2006 Aarhus Relay Bronze 2007 Kyiv Long Bronze 2009 Miskolc Middle Bronze 2009 Miskolc Sprint Bronze 2013 Vuokatti Relay World Games Gold 2005 Duisburg Middle Gold 2005 Duisburg Relay World Cup Gold 2002 WC Overall Gold 2004 WC Overall Gold 2005 WC Overall Gold 2006 WC Overall Gold 2007 WC Overall Gold 2009 WC Overall Gold 2010 WC Overall Gold 2012 WC Overall Gold 2013 WC Overall Silver 2000 WC Overall European Championships Gold 2002 Sümeg Classic Gold 2004 Roskilde Sprint Gold 2004 Roskilde Long Gold 2006 Otepää Sprint Gold 2006 Otepää Long Gold 2010 Primorsko Middle Gold 2010 Primorsko Long Gold 2012 Falun Sprint Gold 2012 Falun Middle Gold 2012 Falun Long Silver 2000 Truskavets Short Silver 2002 Sümeg Relay Silver 2006 Otepää Relay Silver 2010 Primorsko Sprint Bronze 2010 Primorsko Relay Nordic Championships Gold 2007 Bornholm Middle Gold 2007 Bornholm Long Silver 2001 Mikkeli Classic Silver 2005 Notodden Sprint Silver 2005 Notodden Middle Silver 2005 Notodden Long Silver 2007 Bornholm Relay Bronze 2005 Notodden Relay Junior World Championships Gold 1997 Leopoldsburg Classic Silver 1996 Govora Relay Bronze 1997 Leopoldsburg Relay Bronze 1998 Reims Relay

Simone Niggli-Luder (born 9 January 1978) is a Swiss orienteering athlete who has twice won (in 2003 and 2005) all four women's competitions at the world championships. She is widely seen as one of the greatest orienteers of all time.

Personal life

Born as Simone Luder, she grew up in Burgdorf in the Canton of Bern. She studied biology at the University of Bern, where she graduated in 2003. That same year, she married Matthias Niggli, also a Swiss orienteering athlete. They currently live in Münsingen near Bern and in Ulricehamn, Sweden.

Orienteering achievements

She began competing in orienteering early on, joining the Swiss club OLV Hindelbank; at the age of ten, she participated in her first competition. Since then, her palmarès has been impressive: she won a gold medal at the junior world championships in 1997, has been 20 times Swiss champion, won the Finnish championships once and the Swedish championships nine times, has won the world cup five times, and won seven gold medals at European championships and a total of 23 gold medals at world championships.

In 2003, she won all four women's competitions of the world championships held at Rapperswil in Switzerland (sprint, middle, and long distance, and— together with Birgitte Wolf and Vroni König-Salmi— the relay). She managed to repeat this extraordinary feat two years later at the world championships in Aichi, Japan.

Simone Niggli-Luder and Marianne Andersen at World Orienteering Championships 2007

Simone Niggli-Luder and Frenchman Thierry Gueorgiou, middle distance gold medalists, World Orienteering Championships 2007

At the European Championships in 2006 in Otepää, Estonia, she won gold in the sprint and long distance competitions, and finished fifth in the middle distance competition. The Swiss team finished second in the relay, beaten only by the Finnish team. At the world championships 2007 in Kyiv, Ukraine, she again won gold on the middle and sprint distances and finished third on the long distance, behind two Finnish athletes who shared first place.

Niggli-Luder took time off from competitive orienteering in 2008 to give birth to her first child and again in 2011, twins. She made a successful return to the international orienteering scene in 2009 by winning bronze medals in the middle and sprint distances at the World Orienteering Championships in Miskolc, Hungary, and the gold medal in the long distance. At the World Championships 2013 at Vuokatti, Finland, she won all three single competitions (sprint, middle, and long distance) and finished third in the team relay event (together with Sara Luescher and Judith Wyder).

In 2001, she spent one year in Finland, running for the Finnish club Turun Suunnistajat, and won the Finnish championship. She ran for the Swedish club Ulricehamns OK after July 2003. In September 2013, Niggli-Luder announced that she was retiring from elite orienteering at the end of the year, after the last World Cup race in New Zealand. Niggli holds over 60 World Cup race victories.

World Championship results