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 International Orienteering Federation (IOF) is the international governing body of the sport of orienteering. The IOF head office is located in Karlstad, Sweden. The IOF governs four orienteering disciplines: foot orienteering, mountain bike orienteering, ski orienteering, and trail orienteering.
The World Orienteering Championships is an international orienteering competition which has been organized by the International Orienteering Federation (IOF) since 1966. The World Orienteering Championships is considered to be the most prestigious competition in competitive orienteering. The races are contested between members of the IOF, which are each aligned to a National Olympic Committee.
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).
The European Orienteering Championships were first held in 1962. They have been held biennially since 2000. From 2020, the European Orienteering Championships will be held annually, with sprint events and forest events in alternate years.
Ski orienteering (SkiO) is a cross-country skiing endurance winter racing sport and one of the four orienteering disciplines recognized by the IOF. A successful ski orienteer combines high physical endurance, strength and excellent technical skiing skills with the ability to navigate and make the best route choices while skiing at a high speed.
Trail orienteering (TrailO) is an orienteering sport that involves precise reading of an orienteering map and the corresponding terrain. Trail orienteers must identify, in the terrain and in the presence of decoys, control points shown on the map. TrailO involves navigation skills but unlike most other forms of orienteering, it involves no point to point racing and little or no route choice. It is conducted usually on trails and because the objective is accuracy, not the speed of physical movement, the sport is accessible to physically disabled competitors on equal terms as able-bodied.
Mari Fasting is a Norwegian orienteering competitor and ski mountaineer. She is a two-time Junior World Orienteering Champion. She represents the club NTNUI of Trondheim, and is related to the ski mountaineer Ola Berger.
Foot orienteering is the oldest formal orienteering sport, and the one with the most "starts" per year. Usually, a FootO is a timed race in which participants start at staggered intervals, are individually timed, and are expected to perform all navigation on their own. The control points are shown on the orienteering map and must be visited in the specified order. Standings are determined first by successful completion of the course, then by shortest time on course.
Tove Alexandersson is a Swedish foot orienteer, ski orienteer, skyrunner, trail runner, ski mountaineer and skysnow runner. Alexandersson has won gold medals at world championships in five different sports plus a silver medal in a sixth sport, and has won a total of 21 gold medals at the World Orienteering Championships, making her the second most successful orienteer in history by number of gold medals at World Championships, behind Simone Niggli-Luder. 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.
Venla Niemi is a Finnish orienteering competitor.
Jerker Lysell is a Swedish orienteering competitor, and world champion in sprint.
Pavlo Ushkvarok is a Ukrainian orienteering competitor. He competed at the 2013 World Orienteering Championships, and won a bronze medal in the relay with the Ukrainian team.
Heidi Østlid Bagstevold is a Norwegian orienteering competitor.
Sara Lüscher is a Swiss orienteering competitor. She competed at the 2013 World Orienteering Championships, and won a bronze medal in the relay with the Swiss team, behind Norway and Finland. The next year she won gold in the relay with Sabine Hauswirth and Judith Wyder. She runs for Kalevan Rasti in club competitions.
The 33rd World Orienteering Championships in conjunction with the 13th World Trail Orienteering Championships was held in Strömstad and Tanum, Sweden.
Andrine Benjaminsen is a Norwegian orienteer and ski orienteer.
The 14th World Orienteering Championships were held in Birštonas, Lithuania in July 2017.
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.
The World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC) (formerly the Veteran World Cup) is an annual orienteering competition organized by the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).
