Jörgen Mårtensson is one of the most successful Swedish orienteer of all times. Twice a winner of the World Orienteering Championships, he also won the 5 days O-Ringen in 1981, 1996 and 1997. Furthermore, he won the Swedish Championship in Marathon at Stockholm Marathon in 1993. Now retired, he had one of the longest spanning careers in orienteering at world class level, taking part in World Championships over a period of twenty years. Starting with the 1978 World Orienteering Championships, where he placed eighth in the individual contest, he competed in every world championship until 1997.
Øyvin Thon is a Norwegian orienteering competitor, and has seven gold medals at the World Orienteering Championships.
Kent Olsson is a Swedish orienteering competitor, winner of the 1987 Individual World Orienteering Championships, and also obtained silver medals in 1989 and 1991, as well as silver medal on the Short distance in 1991. Participated on the Swedish team that obtained bronze medals in 1983 and 1987, and silver medal in 1989.
Arja Hannus is a Swedish orienteering competitor, competing for sports club Selånger SK. She won the 1987 Individual World Orienteering Championships. She is three times Relay World Champion, from 1981, 1989 and 1991, as a member of the Swedish winning teams, and has a silver medal from 1987.
Karolina Arewång-Höjsgaard is a Swedish orienteering competitor. She won the 2004 Long distance World Orienteering Championships, and has silver medals from 2003 and 2004 (Sprint). She is Relay World Champion from 2004, and has silver medals from 2003 and 2006, and a bronze medal from 2005, as member of the Swedish team.
Marlena Jansson is a Swedish orienteering competitor. She is three times Relay World Champion as a member of the Swedish winning team in 1991, 1993 and 1997, as well as having a silver medal from 1995 and a bronze medal from 1999. She also shared bronze with Anna Bogren in the Short distance World Championship in 1995. She obtained the first place in the Overall World Cup in 1994 and second one in 1996. She is five times individual Swedish Champion, and Nordic Relay Champion from 1992.
Gunilla Svärd is a Swedish orienteering competitor. She is two times Relay World Champion as a member of the Swedish winning team in 1997 and 2004, as well as having silver medals from 2001 and 2003, and a bronze medal from 1999. She obtained bronze in the Short distance World Championship in 2001. Svärd won in the Overall World Cup in 1996, and she has obtained three victories in individual World Cup races. She also has a gold medal from 2002 in the European Orienteering Championships, and more than twenty-five medals from the Swedish Championships.
Ragnhild Bratberg is a Norwegian orienteering competitor and a cross-country skier. In orienteering, she won the overall Orienteering World Cup in 1988, and represented Norway several times in the World Orienteering Championships relays, winning medals in 1985, 1987 and 1991. In ski orienteering she won four individual gold medals at the World Ski Orienteering Championships, and once in the relay. She was awarded Egebergs Ærespris in 1988.
Jenny Johansson is a Swedish orienteering competitor. She is Relay World Champion as a member of the Swedish winning team in 2004, as well as having silver medals from 2001, 2003 and 2006, and bronze medal from 2005. She obtained silver in the Short distance World Championship in 2001 and Middle distance in 2005, and bronze in the Sprint distance in 2003.
Anette Nilsson-Granstedt is a Swedish orienteering competitor. She is Relay World Champion from 1993, as a member of the Swedish winning team. She also has a silver medal from 1995, and a bronze medal from 1999.
Lars Lönnkvist is a Swedish orienteering competitor. He is Relay World Champion from 1979, as a member of the Swedish winning team. He also won silver medals in the 1978 and 1981 relays, and a bronze medal in 1983 and 1987. He placed fifth in the individual contest in the 1979 World Championships, and fourth in 1981.
Emma Claesson is a Swedish orienteering competitor from Borlänge. She received a silver medal on the relay at the 2007 World Orienteering Championships in Kyiv, and a bronze medal in 2005. As a last-minute replacement in the Swedish relay team, she earned a bronze medal in the relay at the 2010 World Orienteering Championships in Trondheim, Norway. This was her second medal at those Championships, as she earned another bronze in the long distance, her first individual WOC medal. She is an 11-time Swedish champion.
Eva Svensson is a Swedish orienteering and ski-orienteering competitor, and junior world champion in both sports.
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.
Lena Marie Eliasson is a Swedish orienteering and ski-orienteering competitor. She received a bronze medal in sprint at the World Orienteering Championships in Kyiv in 2007.
Helene Söderlund is a Swedish ski-orienteering competitor and World Champion. She won a gold medal in the relay at the 2009 World Ski Orienteering Championships, and medals in both the long, middle and sprint events.
Ruth Humbel is a Swiss politician (CVP) and a member of the Federal Assembly. She is also an orienteering competitor at international level. She won bronze medals in the relay at the World Orienteering Championships in 1978, 1981 and 1985. She placed fourth in the individual event at the 1981 World Championships, and fifth in the relay in 1979.
Ida Bobach is a Danish orienteering competitor who was Junior World Champion in 2009, and became triple Junior World Champion from 2010, when she won the sprint, long distance and the relay. She represents the club OK Pan Århus, and since 2007, has received training from Danish national coach Lars Lindstrøm. In 2015 she won gold medals at the World Championships in the long and Relay.
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.
The 1st World Orienteering Championships were held in the village of Fiskars, Finland, 1–2 October 1966.
Sweden 
