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 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).
Press On Regardless (POR) is a road rally organized by the Detroit Region of the Sports Car Club of America.
The European Masters Games (EMG) is a multi-sport event, consisting of summer sports, that is held every four years. The European Masters Games are owned by the International Masters Games Association (IMGA), who also own the World Masters Games. The age categories vary depending on the sport but the competition is generally for people 30–35 years or older. The first games were held in 2008 in Malmö, Sweden. The European Masters Games are held once every four year, while the last games were held in 2015 in Nice, France, the next games will be celebrated in Turin, Italy, in 2019. The International Masters Games Association (IMGA), which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is the body responsible for the bidding and placing of the games.
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.
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 has won gold medals at world championships in five different sports plus a silver medal in a sixth sport. She is a Swedish foot orienteer, ski orienteer, skyrunner, trail runner, ski mountaineer and skysnow runner. Alexandersson 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. In 2024 Alexandersson won all three events in the SkySnow World Championships in her first such event ever. 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 Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS) is a civil service of the Government of India. IOFS officers are Gazetted defence-civilian officers under the Ministry of Defence. They are responsible for the administration of the Indian Ordnance Factories, which provide the indigenous defence production capabilities of India.
The Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji is an annual ultramarathon sporting event in Yamanashi Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, started in 2012. The total distance is 165.4 km with 7,577m of cumulative altitude gain, and the time limit is 46 hours. It is a sister sport event of Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.
Gustav Bergman is a Swedish orienteering competitor. He won a bronze medal in the middle distance at the 2013 World Orienteering Championships.
Oleksandr Kratov 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.
Finland competed at the 2017 World Games in Wrocław, Poland, 20–30 July 2017.
Andrine Benjaminsen is a Norwegian orienteer and ski orienteer.
Martin Fredholm is a Swedish orienteer. He's a multiple time world champion in trail orienteering. He is currently a member in the IOF Trail Orienteering Commission.
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.
