The Guglielmetti Family – at WMOC2022

The Guglielmetti Family – at WMOC2022

All over the world, orienteering is seen as a ‘family sport’: parents who bring their children into the sport, children who become passionate about it and who convince their parents to take up a second career in the sport. There is increasing talk of second, third and even fourth generation orienteers. One of the most famous families in Switzerland is the Guglielmetti family, who will be coming to Apulia with five entries to compete in the 2022 WMOCs.

We asked Elena Guglielmetti, who will compete in Puglia in W35, to introduce us to her family.

 

Hi Elena. Can you tell us the story of the Guglielmetti dynasty? How it was born, who it is represented by, and how do you think this dynasty will evolve in the next generations?

At the end of the 1960s there were very few orienteering competitions in Ticino, and having inherited the characteristics from the military or the scouts, almost all the races were in pairs or for patrols. My parents started to take part in a few races, as a complement to their athletic activities, and were immediately enthusiastic. They dragged in their enthusiasm a small group of young people who were not particularly strong in athletics and who could have some satisfaction if they were good at reading maps. We have to admit that that orienteering in Ticino was very primitive in those days: people still ran with 1:25,000 maps, which were often inaccurate. My father’s studies in Zurich brought him into contact with the local orienteering, which was much more evolved, and he gradually acquired the necessary technique, trying to make it known here too. And so, after a few “experimental” approaches, my father created the first orienteering map in Ticino in 1974, in Tesserete, on which the first national competition was held. This success brought orienteering in Ticino into the limelight and it gradually gained more and more followers. The number of maps rapidly increased, as did the number of races organised. It was a continuous escalation, a challenge to organise new things, more and more complicated and of a high level. I would also like to mention that my father, with the help of two other passionate orienteers (Edo Pellandini and Giorgio Tettamanti) created the first Italian orienteering map in 1976 (in Ronzone) and the following year organised a course for cartographers in Trentino (in Bellamonte). In short, he also had a hand in the development of orienteering in Italy. A special year for the Guglielmetti family was certainly 1998: that year, in fact, on the Gesero map, all five of us became Ticino champions (Gianni in M12, me in W14, Maura in W18, Checo in M35 and Daniela in W35). We were also invited to a television show, so exceptional was the event, where they asked such a complicated question that Gianni muted because he didn’t understand what they were asking (and we still make fun of him for it!). With 5 grandchildren, the Guglielmetti dynasty may not stop so short: my son John (2009) last year got a bronze medal at the Swiss middle-distance championships in the M12, Alessia in 2021 focused more on athletics, but she was double Ticino champion and got a top-ten at the Swiss championships. My nephew Matthias (Maura’s son, 2011) also won a Ticino sprint champion title and the second rank at the Ticino long-distance championships. The other two grandsons (Julian-2014, Maura’s second son and Emil-2016, Gianni’s son) are still young… we’ll see if they too will follow in their parents’ footsteps!

What other sporting activities are you involved in?

I’m also very involved in athletics: my daughter Alessia (10) is also involved in athletics, where she achieved good results at Swiss level. John (12) is also involved in athletics, but only as a form of endurance training for orienteering. This winter, John and Alessia also made their debut following in the footsteps of their grandparents and uncles with two Ski-O races.

The Guglielmetti name is one of the best known in the world, not least because of the direct organisation of events such as the 2018 EOC in Ticino. Tell me the truth: do you only talk about orienteering at lunch and dinner?

Absolutely … yes! When I lived with my parents, the talk during meals was very much about orienteering. Not least because my brother Gianni is just as ‘sick’ as my dad 😉 In fact, I always tell them that I grew up on bread and orienteering! My dad was the head of the organisation of both the 2004 JWOC and the 2018 EOC in Ticino, events which were very successful and which brought a lot of visibility to this beautiful sport in our region, thanks also to the excellent results obtained by the Swiss athletes.

For some of you the WMOC 2022 will not be the first time in Gargano: Checo and Daniela were there in 2012 for the Italian long and relay championships. What stories did they bring home (I’m talking about the terrain)? Are you preparing “dry” on the maps of 10 years ago? Was that your only presence in the Gargano?

The parents spoke of a very beautiful and difficult forest. They’ve already been there on two occasions, and it was special, “despite the fact that the map wasn’t exactly precise. Now it’s sure to be perfect with the new lidar bases, so we’re all expecting some intriguing races” (my father’s exact words…). There’s not much to say about the historic centres: there are some beautiful villages in Italy, and Vieste and Peschici are certainly among them. In general we don’t like to prepare races in advance, we prefer a bit of surprise, it certainly stimulates more at a certain age…

What kind of challenges and traps do you expect to find? Your category will be the longest, the “junior-master” category.

I have never taken part in a masters’ world championship. To be honest, despite the fact that this is my third year as a master, I have only run one race in D35, the 2021 Swiss long-distance championships (in Ticino the ‘youngest’ master category is D40!). However, I’ve been told that there’s a great atmosphere, with all these athletes who are no longer very young but who are always looking for new challenges with themselves and with others…

Do you think Checo will aim for an encore of the world gold in the sprint distance? What about the others? Will the part linked with orienteering holiday prevail or that of the result in the ranking?

For me, the holiday will prevail. My father is definitely more interested in a good result, but it has to be said that as the years go by, it’s the aches and pains that determine what you can realistically aim for. So at the end of the day you’re already happy to be able to run, and if you get some satisfaction even better…

Will your husband Manuel Asmus, who won the Swiss long-distance championships last September, 8 minutes behind a certain Fabian Hertner, really not be there?

Unfortunately, Manuel will not be there. The WMOCs are at a time when he is under a lot of pressure at work and he was afraid of being beaten by his brother-in-law Gianni on those grounds 🙂