WOC 2016: All You Need To Know

Jan Kocbach August 18, 2016 Orienteering News 1 Comment

woc2016logo_250 The World Orienteering Championships starts on Saturday August 20th at 09:00 CET with sprint qualification in Strömstad – a small town on the west coast of Sweden.

The first medals are fought for in the Sprint final Saturday evening (start from 15:41 – all medal decisions ready at 18:00) and the Sprint Relay Sunday evening (start 16:50 – medals decided before 18:00). The 15 best in each qualification heat go to the final in the sprint qualification on Saturday.

The first medals are fought for in the Sprint final Saturday evening

After a rest day on Monday, the championships moves into the forest on Tuesday with Middle distance in Tanum, south of Strömstad, from 11:45 CET. After another rest day on Wednesday, the Long distance is on the program on Thursday east of Strömstad from 12:00 CET. The forest Relay rounds off the championships on Saturday, again east of Strömstad, with start from 14:00 CET. Note that there are again no qualification races in long and middle .

Live services: How to follow the competitions

For spectators – either in the arena or at home through the Internet or on TV – the World Championships in Sweden should be excellent. Live TV and live GPS tracking is provided from all races through the IOF live center portal – you should buy a week pass for Euro 20 if you plan to watch more than a few races (buy the WOC week pass or single passes here). The productions include 17 hours of live coverage. If you live in Norway, Sweden, Finland or Denmark you can watch the races live on Television, avoiding the live center. You still need to buy a IOF live center pass to watch the GPS tracking, though. Highlights from the championships will be available on TV in 64 additional countries.

There will also be live results available through the WOC 2016 webpage. WorldofO.com will follow the championships on the Twitter accounts WorldofOLive and WorldofO.

Useful links to follow the event live:

The organizer’s webpage – including live services
Web TV (national TV channels): Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark
WOC 2016 live page
Live results
IOF Eventor – including start lists, official results, etc.
IOF Livecenter – go here to buy access
WorldofOLive at Twitter

live in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Czech Republic, France and Switzerland. Highlights will be available in the US, New Zealand and Australia and, of course, Ital

WOC 2016 Detailed program

All times are given in CET.

Saturday August 20th. Individual Sprint. 09:01-10:00 Sprint Qual Women. 10:01-11:00 Sprint Qual Men. 15:41-16:45 Sprint Final Women. 16:46-18:00 Sprint Final Men. From the sprint qualification, 15 runners go on to the finals in each heat.
Sunday August 21st. Sprint Relay. 16:50 – 18:00 Woman-Man-Man-Woman
Tuesday August 23rd. Middle. 11:45 – 14:45 Men. 14:40 – 18:00 Women (no qualification, straight to final)
Thursday August 25th. Long. 12:00 – 16:00 Women. 13:30 – 18:00 Men (no qualification, straight to final)
Saturday August 27th. Relay. 14:00 – 16:00 Men. 16:00 – 18:00 Women

Startlists are typically available after the teamleader meeting the evening before the event – expect to see them around 20:00 CET either in Eventor or at the WOC 2016 webpage.

In addition to the WOC competitions, IOF will also be having several meetings which are important for the future of the sport (full see article about open meetings and General Assembly here).

Useful links

Team overview WOC 2016 – with updated profile data
Overview: Top results in the three individual disciplines by the top athletes the last years
WOC 2016 webpage
WOC 2016 Bulletin 4 – all updated information about the competition
Results from earlier WOCs and WOC history by country
All embargoed areas and old maps

WOC Teams – sorted by country

Note that athletes are encouraged to update athlete information for cases where the information is outdated using their Eventor credentials via this link, as athlete profile information will be published in extended start lists.

Argentina	Australia	Austria
Belgium	Belarus	Barbados
Bulgaria	Canada	CHL
China	Croatia	Cyprus
Czech Republic	Denmark	Egypt
Spain	Estonia	Finland
France	Great Britain	Germany
Hong Kong	Hungary	Ireland
Israel	Italy	Japan
South Korea	Latvia	Lithuania
Montenegro	Netherlands	Norway
New Zealand	Poland	Portugal
South Africa	Russia	Serbia
Switzerland	Slovakia	Sweden
Chinese Taipei	Turkey	Ukraine
Uruguay	United States

Terrain and old maps

A separate article has been published on WorldofO.com about the WOC 2016 terrain and old maps from the area. Below the central part of the article is included in the overview for each separate event.

Sprint: Saturday August 20th

Terrain and old maps

The sprint races are held in urban area with some narrow streets, small forested areas and some areas of grass and lawns. The area also includes hilly parts. Approximately 80% of the course lengths will be on hard surfaces. Altitude is 0-40 m above sea level. Below are some of the old maps of the area – included one automatically generated map (click for larger map).

Course details Qualification

Course details Final

Reigning champions

Reigning champions are Jonas Leandersson and Maja Alm. See full results 2015 and article at WorldofO. See also analysis article for the men’s race at WorldofO.com and corresponding article for the women.

Sprint Relay: Sunday August 21st

Terrain and old maps

The terrain is similar to the terrain used for the individual sprint – see the terrain description and old maps above.

Course details

Reigning champions

Reigning champions are Denmark with Emma Klingenberg, Tue Lassen, Søren Bobach and Maja Alm. See full results 2015 and article at WorldofO.

Middle distance: Tuesday August 23rd

Terrain and old maps

The middle distance (organized on Tuesday in Tanum) will be held in undulating terrain with a lot of areas of bare open rock. The map contains detailed contours with both larger and smaller cliffs and reentrants and marshes of varying size. The vegetation consists of coniferous forest, mainly pine on the hills with stands of spruce and oak in the valleys. There is mostly very good visibility and runability. Some areas of thicker vegetation and younger spruce forest may reduce running speed. There are only a few paths and smaller roads in the competition area. Altitude 40-150 m above sea level. One of the most interesting features of this terrain is the cliffs – which may make some interesting route choice dilemmas for the athletes. This has been seen in several of the selection races for WOC 2016. Below is an automatically generated map of the middle distance area.

Course details

Note that there will be an arena passage for both men and women.

Reigning champions

Reigning champions are Daniel Hubmann and Annika Billstam. See full results 2015 and article at WorldofO. See also the full analysis articles at WorldofO for the men and the women, respectively.

Long distance: Thursday August 25th

Terrain and old maps

The Long distance (organized Thursday east of Strömstad) and the relay (organized Saturday east of Strömstad) will be going in undulating terrain with a lot of areas of bare open rock. As for the middle distance, there will be detailed contours with both larger and smaller cliffs and reentrants and marshes of varying size. The vegetation consists of coniferous forest, mainly pine on the hills and spruce in the valleys. Generally older forest with very good visibility and runability. The area also includes a lot of heather and some logged areas and younger spruce forest which may reduce running speed. Some larger and smaller roads cross the competition area and a network of larger and smaller paths. Altitude 40-200 m above sea level.

Below is an old map of part of the competition area and an automatically generated map.