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The 2023 European Youth Orienteering Championships was an edition of the European U16 and U18 Orientering Championships, organised by the International Orienteering Federation. It was held in Velingrad, Bulgaria from June 22-25, 2023. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
| 2023 European Youth Orienteering Championships | |
|---|---|
| Location |  Velingrad, Bulgaria |
| Dates | 22-25 June 2023 |
| Nations | 32 [8] |
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| U18 | |||
| Sprint [9] |  Tamas Felfoldi |  Filip Jancik |  Gratian Boehi |
| Long distance [10] |  Tomas Kucera |  Ludwig Rosen |  Loic Dequiedt |
| Relay [11] |  Norway Sondre Olaussen Kristoffer Strom Wik Nils Anders Niklasso | Switzerland Loic Berger Leander Wylenmann Lukas Gasser | Sweden Odin Ek Svante Selin Ludwig Rosen |
| U16 | |||
| Sprint [9] |  Aapo Virkajarvi | Rasmus Toyryla | Jan Vanicek |
| Long distance [10] | Aapo Virkajarvi |  Aratz Beobide | Erik Heczko |
| Relay [11] | Czech Republic Vladimir Srb Prokop Tomasek Erik Heczko | Switzerland Lavio Mueller Andrin Meier Andri Gujan |  Poland Stanislaw Drapella Filip Wodzicki Tomasz Rzenca |
* Host nation (Bulgaria)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finland (FIN) | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| 2 | Czech Republic (CZE) | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | Hungary (HUN) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Switzerland (SWI) | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 5 |  France (FRA) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Norway (NOR) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 7 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Slovakia (SVK) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Spain (ESP) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 | Poland (POL) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 11 | Germany (GER) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Italy (ITA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (12 entries) | 12 | 12 | 12 | 36 | |
Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they use to find control points. Originally a training exercise in land navigation for military officers, orienteering has developed many variations. Among these, the oldest and the most popular is foot orienteering. For the purposes of this article, foot orienteering serves as a point of departure for discussion of all other variations, but almost any sport that involves racing against a clock and requires navigation with a map is a type of orienteering.
The Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) are an annual orienteering competition. They were first held in 1990. Entry is open to national teams aged 20 and below as of 31 December in the year of competition. Representative countries must be members of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).
Sinikka Kukkonen was a Finnish orienteering competitor. She is World Champion in both orienteering and ski orienteering. She became the first World Champion in ski orienteering, in 1975.
Olav Lundanes is a Norwegian orienteering competitor, hailing from Ålesund. He has won gold medal at the World Orienteering Championships ten times and the European Orienteering Championships four times. He competes for Halden SK.
Emma Klingenberg is a Danish orienteering competitor, and junior World champion.
Maja Møller Alm is a Danish orienteering and Athletics competitor who has won seven World Championships and two World Games titles. She is especially known for her four gold medals on the sprint distance, where she has won the title four years in a row: 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. She is also a medalist from the Junior World Championships. Since 2006 she has been coached by Danish national coach Lars Lindstrøm. Alm is remarkable for her dominant running speed, which gives her a great advantage over other competitors at the sprint distance.
Martin Johansson is a Swedish orienteering, ski-orienteering, and cross-country skiing competitor, a medallist at the orienteering world championships, and a 2004 Junior World Champion in relay. He received bronze medals in sprint at the World Orienteering Championships in Kyiv 2007 and Olomouc 2008. His brother, Lars, is a member of the Rockford Icehogs
Matthias Müller is a Swiss orienteering competitor.
Tove Alexandersson is a Swedish orienteer, ski orienteer, skyrunner and ski mountaineer. She has won a total of 17 gold medals at the World Orienteering Championships and 10 gold medals at the World Ski Orienteering Championships. In 2018, she won the Sky Marathon event at the Skyrunning World Championships, in her second skyrunning race ever. In 2021, she won the combined discipline at the World Championships of Ski Mountaineering. She competes for Stora Tuna OK in orienteering and Alfta-Ösa OK in ski orienteering. Alexandersson holds the record for the number of gold medals in a row at the World Orienteering Championships, winning 11 in a row between 2018 and 2022.
Judith Wyder is a Swiss orienteering and ski orienteering competitor and runner. Her achievements include gold medals at the World Orienteering Championships and the European Orienteering Championships, both individually and with the Swiss relay team.
Jerker Lysell is a Swedish orienteering competitor, and world champion in sprint.
Tim Robertson is a New Zealand orienteering competitor. He won the gold medal in the sprint course at the Junior World Orienteering Championships in 2014, and 2015.
The European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC) are a competition in orienteering involving competitors either between 14 and 16 or 16 and 18.
Andrine Benjaminsen is a Norwegian orienteer and ski orienteer.
Julia Jakob, formerly Julia Gross is a Swiss orienteer. She was born in Richterswil and resides in Zürich.
Kristian Jones or Kris Jones is a competitor in orienteering and athletics, competing for Great Britain. He also competes for Lillomarka OK in Norway, Forth Valley orienteers and Wales.
Kasper Harlem Fosser is a Norwegian orienteering competitor who represents Norwegian club IL Heming and Swedish club IFK Göteborg.
The 2021 European Youth Orienteering Championships was an edition of the European U16 and U18 Orientering Championships, organised by the International Orienteering Federation. It was held in Vilnius, Lithuania from 19–22 August 2021.