Orienteering at the 2025 World Games

Orienteering at the 2025 World Games
Venue	Eastern New Area Orienteering Venue
Dates	8–11 August 2025
No. of events	5
Competitors	80 from 24 nations
←  2022 2029  →

The orienteering competition at the 2025 World Games took place from 8 to 11 August 2025 at the Eastern New Area Orienteering Venue in Chengdu, China. ^{[1] [2]} The discipline had seven events, three for men, three for women, and one mixed.

Qualification

A total of 80 athletes (40 men and 40 women) qualified for each event. Qualification was based on a point system, taking in consideration both the Orienteering World Ranking and the results from the 2024 World Orienteering Championships. ^[3]

Summary

The events started with a Middle Distance on 8 August 2025 in Gaota Village, with the terrain consisting mainly of orange groves and dense bushes. ^[4] The race was noted for its heat and humidity, with a temperature of 37 degrees Celsius recorded on the course. ^[5] The winners were Riccardo Rancan and Simona Aebersold, both from Switzerland. Vegard Jarvis Westergård attained Canada's first ever medal in any international orienteering competition with a Bronze, and Tereza Šmelíková won Slovakia's first ever international orienteering medal as well with her Silver in the Women's competition. ^[4] During the Middle Distance competition, Italian runner Mattia Debertolis collapsed on the course and was admitted to hospital. Debertolis died four days later, receiving international attention. ^{[6] [7]}

Participating nations

•   Australia  (4)
•   Austria  (4)
•   Belgium  (2)
•   Brazil  (4)
•   China  (4)
•   Chinese Taipei  (1)
•   Czech Republic  (4)
•   Germany  (4)
•   Great Britain  (4)
•   Hong Kong  (2)
•   Hungary  (4)
•   Italy  (4)
•   Japan  (4)
•   Kazakhstan  (2)
•   Latvia  (4)
•   New Zealand  (4)
•   Portugal  (1)
•   Poland  (4)
•   Romania  (1)
•   Slovakia  (2)
•   Spain  (4)
•   Switzerland  (4)
•   Sweden  (4)
•   Ukraine  (2)

Medal table

  *   Host nation (China)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Switzerland	4	1	0	5
2	Belgium	1	0	0	1
3	Czech Republic	0	1	1	2
	Sweden	0	1	1	2
5	Italy	0	1	0	1
	Slovakia	0	1	0	1
7	Canada	0	0	1	1
	Hungary	0	0	1	1
	Spain	0	0	1	1
Totals (9 entries)		5	5	5	15

Medalists

Men

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Sprint details	Yannick Michiels   Belgium	Tomáš Křivda   Czech Republic	Zoltán Bujdosó   Hungary
Middle distance details	Riccardo Rancan   Switzerland	Francesco Mariani   Italy	Vegard Westergard   Canada

Women

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Sprint details	Simona Aebersold   Switzerland	Natalia Gemperle   Switzerland	María Prieto   Spain
Middle distance details	Simona Aebersold   Switzerland	Tereza Šmelíková   Slovakia	Alva Sonesson   Sweden

Mixed

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Sprint relay details	Switzerland Natalia Gemperle Riccardo Rancan Tino Polsini Simona Aebersold	Sweden Emma Bjessmo Jonatan Gustafsson August Mollén Alva Sonesson	Czech Republic Denisa Králová Jakub Glonek Tomáš Křivda Tereza Rauturier

References

1. "Qualifications for TWG 2025 by sport, Chengdu (CHN)". theworldgames. 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
2. "Venues World Games 2025". theworldgames. 28 May 2025. Retrieved 2025-05-28.
3. "The World Games 2025 Qualification Rules for the Orienteering competitions" . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
4. "Slovensko má prvú medailu zo Svetových hier. Tereza Šmelíková získala historické striebro v orientačnom behu | TVNOVINY.sk". tvnoviny.sk (in Slovak). 8 August 2025. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
5. "Úspech v nečakanej disciplíne. Slovensko získalo na Svetových hrách prvú medailu". sportnet.sme.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 12 August 2025.
6. "Mattia Debertolis: Italian athlete dies after collapse at World Games". BBC Sport. 12 August 2025. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
7. Morse, Ben (12 August 2025). "Italian athlete Mattia Debertolis dies aged 29 after collapsing at World Games". CNN. Retrieved 12 August 2025.

External links

• The World Games 2025 Archived 2022-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
• International Orienteering Federation
• Results book