Helene Rønningen

Happy birthday to Norway’s sprinter Helene Rønningen, who is in the middle of one of the most consistently dominant domestic careers in Norwegian sprinting.

In July, Helene won the 100m at the Norwegian Championships at Trondheim Stadium. That title sits on top of a haul that already included six national titles and eleven national indoor titles, which means that for most of the last decade, anyone who wanted to be the fastest woman in Norway had to go through her first.

Her bests are 7.26 over 60m and 11.38 over 100m, and she ran a leg of a Norwegian 4x100m that clocked 44.57 in Copenhagen. That many national titles is not a run of form. It is years of being the one everybody else has to plan around, indoors and out, in the event where there is nowhere to hide and nothing to do but be faster. She races for Tyrving IL.

Gratulerer med dagen, Helene! Hurra for deg som fyller ditt år — and we hope somebody sings you the whole thing properly, with the bowing, the curtsying and the skipping around you that the song demands. 🎂🎁🎉🫶🫶🇳🇴