Orienteering is a group of sports that involve 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 World Orienteering Championships is an annual orienteering event organized by the International Orienteering Federation. The first World Championships was held in Fiskars, Finland in 1966. They were held biennially up to 2003. Since 2003, competitions have been held annually. Participating nations have to be members of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).
Thierry Gueorgiou is a French orienteer who holds the record for gold medals won at the World Orienteering Championships for a male athlete, with 14 gold medals between 2003 and 2017. Gueorgiou has won more than 20 gold medals in international competitions, including the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) middle distance event a record eight times: 2003–2005, 2007–2009, 2011 and 2017.
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.
Virpi Juutilainen is a Finnish ski-orienteering competitor and world champion.
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
Ruslan Gritsan is a Russian competitor and multiple world champion in both ski-orienteering and mountain bike orienteering.
Anders Hauge is a Norwegian ski-orienteering competitor. He received a silver medal in the relay event at the 2004 World Ski Orienteering Championships in Östersund, together with Øystein Kvaal Østerbø, Tommy Olsen and Eivind Tonna. He placed 11th in the long distance, 8th in the middle distance, and 14th in the sprint at the 2004 World Championships. He competed at the 2005 World Championships in Levi, and placed 15th in the sprint and sixth in the relay.
Mervi Väisänen is a Finnish ski-orienteering and mountain bike orienteering competitor.
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.
Lubomír Tomeček is a Czech mountain bike orienteer and ski orienteer. He won a bronze medal in the middle distance at the 2007 World MTB Orienteering Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, and a bronze medal at the 2008 World MTB Orienteering Championships in Ostróda. With the Czech relay team he won medals at the 2007, 2008 and 2009 World MTB Orienteering Championships.
Jaroslav Rygl is a Czech mountain bike orienteer and ski orienteering competitor. He won a silver medal in the middle distance at the 2005 World MTB Orienteering Championships in Banska Bystrica, and a bronze medal in the long distance at the 2007 World MTB Orienteering Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave. With the Czech relay team he won medals at the 2007 and 2008 World MTB Orienteering Championships.
Jérémie Gillmann is a French mountain bike orienteer. At the 2002 World MTB Orienteering Championships in Fontainebleau he won a silver medal in the long distance, and a bronze medal in the sprint. At the 2007 World MTB Orienteering Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, he won silver medals in the sprint and the middle distance, and a gold medal with the French relay team. Gillmann has won one silver and two bronze medals at the European Championships.
Tove Alexandersson is a Swedish foot orienteer, ski orienteer, skyrunner, trail runner and ski mountaineer. She has won a total of 19 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, and in 2023 she won a silver medal in the up and down discipline at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships. 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.
Evgeniya Andreyevna Shelgunova is a Russian artistic gymnast, Master of Sports of Russia.
Polina Fedorova is a Russian artistic gymnast.
Eskil Kinneberg is a Norwegian orienteer.
The 2018 Orienteering World Cup was the 24th edition of the Orienteering World Cup. The 2018 Orienteering World Cup consisted of 11 individual events and 9 relay events. The events were located in Switzerland, Latvia, Norway and Czech Republic. The European Orienteering Championships in Ticino, Switzerland and the 2018 World Orienteering Championships in Riga, Latvia were included in the World Cup.
Hyvinkää, Finland
Velingrad, Bulgaria
Avesta, Sweden
Aigen / Ennstal, Austria
Lavarone, Italy
Pontarlier, France
Lillehammer, Norway
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Rusutsu, Japan
Ridder, Kazakhstan
Kääriku, Estonia
