WOC 2021: All You Need To Know

Jan Kocbach June 30, 2021 Orienteering News 1 Comment

The first World Orienteering Championships (WOC) since 2019 will offer spectacular terrain and great competitions from Saturday July 3rd in Czech Republic! The first weekend is a sprint weekend, with the Sprint Saturday (14:50 CET) and Sprint Relay Sunday (18:10 CET).

After a rest day on Monday, WOC 2021 continues with the forest disciplines from Tuesday – with Middle Qualification and Final (16:20 CET) on Tuesday July 6th, Relay on Thursday July 8th (16:10 CET) and finally the highlight of the championships: the Long distance with more than 1000 meters climb in the mythical sandstone terrain on Friday July 9th (15:20 CET). All given times are start times of the web-TV broadcast.

Excellent live coverage is promised, with live TV broadcasts of all races. In addition to the web-TV broadcast on orienteering.sport with English and Russian commentary, the races will be broadcast on national television in Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Czech Republic, Austria and France.

WOC 2021 was originally planned to be a forest-only championship, but due to the cancellation of the Sprint WOC 2020, the Czech organizers offered to include two Sprint disciplines in the 2021 WOC.

Program

Five medal races are included in this year’s WOC:

Sprint, Saturday July 3rd
- Qualification 09:00 (no TV), last finish estimated 10:26
- Final afternoon, TV from 14:50, first start Men 14:31, first start Women 15:50, last start Men 15:41, last start Women 16:56
Sprint Relay, Sunday July 4th
- TV from 18:10, start 18:20, winners finished 19:21
Middle Tuesday July 6th
- Qualification 09:00 (no TV), last finish estimated 11:48
- Final afternoon, TV from 16:20, first start Men 15:50, first start Women 17:15, last start Men 17:58, last start Women 19:23
Relay Thursday July 8th
- TV from 16:10, start 16:20 Women, 18:25 Men
Long Friday July 9th
- TV from 15:20, first start 12:48, last start Women 16:15, last start Men 18:10

All times are CET

Links & Live

Use these links to follow the championships:

WOC 2021 teams (via WorldofO.com team pages)
Orienteering.sports live page – here you can also buy a LIVE pass for EUR 6 per competition or EUR 20 for all competitions.
WOC webpage & WOC Eventor page
WOC Bulletin 4 – detailed information
WoO results archive which includes both EOC and WOC (via WorldofO.com results archive)
WOC 2021 App

Race overview

The races will be organized around Doksy in Czech Republic – see the embargoed areas below (open separate map here).

The Sprint is in the far west (Terezin, marked 11), the Long and Relay in the western part (Kostelecké bory, marked 1), the Sprint Relay centrally on the map (Doksy, marked 8, event centre) and Middle Qualification and Final in the east (Buková hora, marked 4). Two very different terrain types are used for the forest races: Sandstone terrain for long and relay and hilly “mountain terrain” with broken ground, steep slopes and granite boulders and cliffs for the Middle distance races.

Race details & reigning champions

Sprint

The Sprint is organized with a qualification in the morning (start from 09:00 CET) and final in the afternoon (first start 14:37 CET). Only the competitors placed number 15 and better in each qualification race heat may participate.

The terrain is a former military fortress composed of citadel and adjacent walled garrison town. Flat town with almost no climb (altitude 145 – 155 m), composed of a rectangular street network with former military buildings and barracks rebuilt to residential houses. The town is surrounded by a fortification system. The fortress is composed of walls of different shapes and heights (up to 10 metres high), moats and water streams. Surface in this part is mostly grass. Outside the citadel there are parks, playgrounds, a golf course and a small forest.

See below for event information Sprint Final.

Qualification course lengths:

Final course lengths:

Women: 3.5km, 40m climb, 20 controls
Men: 3.9km, 40m climb, 24 controls
Expected winning time: 14:30

Old map of sprint area:

See results from last European Championships Sprint (2021) and WOC Sprint (2018) below.

Sprint Relay

The Sprint Relay is organized as a mass start from 18:20 CET.

The Sprint Relay is organized in the town centre of Doksy with its irregular street network. The terrain consists of urban areas with paved streets and parkland with grass surface. The area generally consists of shallow hills, with the exception of steep 15m high slopes along the river.

See below for event information Sprint Final.

Course lengths
Women (Legs 1 & 4): 3.7km, 54m climb, 20 controls
Men (Legs 2 & 3): 4.3km, 62m climb, 23 controls
Expected winning time: 61 minutes

Old map of part of Sprint Relay area:

See results from last European Championships Sprint (2021) and WOC Sprint (2018) below.

Middle

The Middle is organized with a qualification in the morning (start from 09:00 CET) and final in the afternoon (first start 15:50 CET). The qualification for the final is quite complex, but generally Top 15 gives a competitor a safe place in the final:

In the Middle distance final, the competitors placed number 15 and better in each qualification race heat may participate. Further places up to a maximum of 60 (subject to clause b) are selected as follows: (a) The best placed runner from Federations which do not have a runner in the first 15 of any heat, considered in the order of their placing in the qualification race heats (If two athletes from the same country have the same place in different heats, the one who is the least time behind the winner of their heat is chosen). (b) If two or more runners from different countries are tied for the last qualifying place under (a), all may participate in the final. (c) In order to be selected for the final under (a) or (b), an athlete must have been within 100% of the heat winner’s time in their qualification race.

The terrain (Jizerské hory) consists of challenging mountain terrain with broken ground, partly marshy. Hilly and physically demanding, altitude 530 – 836 m. Steep slopes with granite boulders and cliffs. Visibility: varies from very good in mature beech forests to medium in mature spruce forests and very low in denser spruce or self-seeded beech vegetation. Runnability: very good in mature beech forest, partly significantly limited by the steepness of the slopes with a stony surface, in some parts also by fallen trees, high blueberries and thickets. (!) There are plenty of high cliffs and rocks in the competition area.

Course lengths qualification:

Course lengths final:

Women: 4.5km, 260m climb, 20 controls
Men: 5.4km, 320m climb, 24 controls
Expected winning time: 35 min

Old map of part of Middle terrain:

See results from last WOC Middle (2019) below.

Relay

Terrain: Typical continental sandstone terrain of Kokořínsko, altitude 320 – 430 m. Its intricate morphology consists of plenty of valleys and reentrants crowned by massive sandstone rock formations. In places, the rocks are also present at other levels. Visibility: Mostly grown pine forest, where visibility is generally very good – limited in areas of young pine plantations and areas of mixed forest. Runnability: is generally very good, though often significantly limited by the steepness of the slopes. In some parts, running is also limited by high blueberries (often present on plateaus and also on some slopes) and in thickets of various ages. Frequent animal tracks can make running easier on slopes.

TV from 16:10, start 16:20 Women, 18:25 Men.

Course lengths per leg:
Women: 4.1km, 285m climb, 15 controls
Men: 5.0km, 360m climb, 19 controls
Expected winning time: 105 minutes

Old map of part of relay/long terrain:

See results from last WOC Relay (2019) below.

Long

Long distance with 3 minute start interval. The starting order is determined by the actual forest world ranking.

Terrain: Typical continental sandstone terrain of Kokořínsko, altitude 280 – 614 m. Its intricate morphology consists of plenty of valleys and reentrants crowned by massive sandstone rock formations. In places, the rocks are also present at other levels. Visibility: Mostly grown pine forest, where visibility is generally very good – limited in areas of young pine plantations and areas of mixed forest. Runnability: is generally very good, though often significantly limited by the steepness of the slopes. In some parts, running is also limited by high blueberries (often present on plateaus and also on some slopes) and in thickets of various age. (!) There are plenty of high cliffs and rocks in the competition area.

Course lengths:
Women: 9.5 km, 690 m climb, 21 controls
Expected winning time: 80min

Men: 13.6 km, 1050 m climb, 29 controls
Expected winning time: 99min

Old map of part of relay/long terrain:

See results from last WOC Long (2019) below.

Registered competitors WOC 2021

See below for a list of all competitors below – sorted by best WRE position – with most top athletes on the start. See also WOC 2021 teams (via WorldofO.com team pages).

Men

WRE pos	WRE pos sprint	Name	Country	WRE ID
1	270	Yannick Michiels	BEL	13592
22	1	Olav Lundanes	NOR	13003
16	2	Gustav Bergman	SWE	7562
2	4	Matthias Kyburz	SUI	12305
3	3	Daniel Hubmann	SUI	10849
4	8	Vojtech Kral	CZE	12187
5	21	Kasper Harlem Fosser	NOR	23855
–	5	Magne Daehli	NOR	8654
31	6	Frederic Tranchand	FRA	17348
6	10	Joey Hadorn	SUI	23033
28	7	Ruslan Glibov	UKR	9910
7	76	Tim Robertson	NZL	15525
67	9	Eskil Kinneberg	NOR	11757
9	16	Emil Svensk	SWE	16905
15	11	Lucas Basset	FRA	7403
13	12	Florian Howald	SUI	10810
1295	13	Timo Sild	EST	16283
14	23	Martin Hubmann	SUI	10851
39	14	Gernot Ymsen	AUT	11671
17	27	Jonas Egger	SUI	18893
66	17	Miika Kirmula	FIN	11767
18	25	Aleksi Niemi	FIN	18700
20	18	Milos Nykodym	CZE	14322
19	30	Ralph Street	GBR	16782
56	19	Albin Ridefelt	SWE	15472
30	22	Gaute Steiwer	NOR	16697
23	41	Robert Merl	AUT	13549
24	85	Riccardo Scalet	ITA	18966
–	24	Oleksandr Kratov	UKR	12116
26	29	Audun Heimdal	NOR	10545
27	176	Artem Popov	RUS	15086
28	91	Peter Hodkinson	GBR	10688
–	28	Nicolas Rio	FRA	18921
117	31	Elias Kuukka	FIN	22101
31	141	Jakob Edsen	DEN	22688
92	32	Pavel Kubat	CZE	12195
50	33	Rudolfs Zernis	LAT	18506
34	34	Max Peter Bejmer	SWE	7466
1280	35	Leonid Novikov	RUS	14276
35	130	Riccardo Rancan	SUI	18900
36	102	Maxime Rauturier	FRA	20176
38	376	Tomas Krivda	CZE	28597
99	38	Olli Ojanaho	FIN	19846
41	161	Dag Blandkjenn	NOR	25227
789	42	William Lind	SWE	12778
51	43	Jonas Vytautas Gvildys	LTU	10248
44	200	Tuomas Heikkila	FIN	23025
57	51	Isac von Krusenstierna	SWE	25180
103	52	Topi Syrjalainen	FIN	24296
52	191	Algirdas Bartkevicius	LTU	18826
62	53	Akseli Ruohola	FIN	24217
520	54	Konstantin Serebryanitskiy	RUS	16116
55	373	Havard Sandstad Eidsmo	NOR	33052
480	56	Jerker Lysell	SWE	13053
58	129	Eduardo Gil Marcos	ESP	13255
161	60	Bojan Blumenstein	GER	7741
61	79	Arturs Paulins	LAT	14704
63	221	Chris Smithard	GBR	16491
64	63	Michal Olejnik	POL	14406
–	64	Lauri Sild	EST	16281
65	421	Jakub Glonek	CZE	24672
81	65	Mathieu Perrin	FRA	22868
70	267	Lukas Liland	NOR	27350
71	107	Quentin Rauturier	FRA	20655
–	71	Hector Haines	GBR	10316
72	308	Soren Thrane Odum	DEN	18651
76	151	Ivan Sirakov	BUL	16365
111	77	Tomas Kubelka	CZE	19046
80	202	Matthias Reiner	AUT	15405
–	80	Denys Shcherbakov	UKR	16187
83	152	Aron Bako	HUN	7286
129	84	Noah Zbinden	SUI	18899
84	226	Andris Jubelis	LAT	11329
780	85	Bartosz Pawlak	POL	14725
85	96	Dmitrii Nakonechnyi	RUS	14003
88	554	Ahmet Kacmaz	TUR	11402
89	328	Daniil Kashin	RUS	21401
915	93	Edgars Bertuks	LAT	7598
96	155	Pau Llorens Caellas	ESP	18699
97	135	Emil Oebro	DEN	18647
193	101	Kristo Heinmann	EST	10551
116	102	Mathias Peter	AUT	14853
105	647	Marvin Goericke	GER	9942
–	117	Martins Sirmais	LAT	16368
–	120	Artem Panchenko	UKR	14617
121	175	Mattia Debertolis	ITA	19153
122	228	Jannis Bonek	AUT	23784
128	123	Sebastian Inderst	ITA	11008
134	1222	Levente Tugyi	HUN	20111
141	446	Colin Kolbe	GER	25197
143	360	Sergei Rjaboshkin	EST	15512
1334	146	Simon Hector	SWE	20164
148	1203	Riccardo Casanova	GER	23290
149	396	Ats Sonajalg	EST	16991
154	369	Zoltan Bujdoso	HUN	33353
157	167	Alvaro Prieto	ESP	21009
168	290	Mate Baumholczer	HUN	7426
171	179	Felix Spaeth	GER	16618
179	358	Fryderyk Pryjma	POL	21895
184	642	Hirokazu Osaki	JPN	14498
186	241	Uldis Upitis	LAT	22993
187	522	Roman Ciobanu	ROU	8458
192	220	Nitsan Yasur	ISR	20182
592	193	Ole Hennseler	GER	25195
199	934	Wouter Hus	BEL	20876
864	202	Heino Ollin	EST	20160
203	1194	Taras Rachuk	UKR	28134
210	243	Giacomo Zagonel	ITA	18340
211	424	Nathan Lawson	GBR	12543
226	725	Tomas Musinsky	SVK	13927
246	272	Toby Scott	NZL	16048
446	246	Moritz Doellgast	GER	9068
251	2736	Warre De Cuyper	BEL	28066
276	253	Laurits Bidstrup Moller	DEN	21017
263	606	Alastair Thomas	GBR	23004
265	370	Matija Razum	CRO	15372
271	706	Yuta Tanikawa	JPN	17077
274	556	Joao Magalhaes	POR	28514
279	480	Clement Demeuse	BEL	22291
309	653	Sava Lazic	SRB	12548
1330	312	Marc Serrallonga Arques	ESP	7117
320	546	Quim Vich Diaz Guerra	ESP	36095
855	345	Peter Bray	GBR	7928
356	1414	Francesco Mariani	ITA	37592
1802	364	Evert Leeuws	BEL	12586
399	366	Vitalii Hychko	UKR	10900
375	2822	Joao Mega Figueiredo	POR	9450
–	379	Vytautas Beliunas	LTU	7473
1098	392	Alexandru Blejdea	ROU	7719
–	399	Ionut Zinca	ROU	18459
956	409	Peter Tusar	SLO	17460
418	680	Stefan Yordanov	BUL	25423
1021	424	Simon Stanonik	SLO	28447
709	437	Ivan Fomiciov	MDA	9532
610	452	Boyan Ivandjikov	BUL	28529
465	604	Apostol Atanasov	BUL	7164
1731	476	Michael Van Baelen	BEL	18542
631	477	Itsuki Ito	JPN	25428
501	1051	Thomas Laraia	USA	23272
654	540	Cansel Sarac	TUR	20188
719	605	Itay Manor	ISR	21437
614	1300	Josh OSullivan Hourihan	IRL	20394
617	813	Paul Pruzina	IRL	21545
699	1786	Petar Borisov	BUL	33843
–	732	Eskil Schoening	DEN	16040
821	1680	Pavol Bukovac	SVK	8059
1181	852	Hiroki Komaki	JPN	33249
855	1484	Gerardo Garcia	ARG	22876
1959	910	Lobel Horvat	CRO	25312
938	1253	Colm Moran	IRL	13814
1043	1009	KyongSa Ri	PRK	15453
1040	1907	Rotem Yasur	ISR	32482
–	1047	Wojciech Kowalski	POL	12068
1802	1069	Rokas Barauskas	LTU	34163
1083	1094	Andrei Golovei	MDA	19013
1119	1407	William Enger	USA	20254
1147	2730	Medard Feder	SVK	32240
1163	1394	Anthony Riley	USA	23269
1436	1190	Mikhail Kuleshov	RUS	23397
2070	1274	Eric Bone	USA	7798
1556	1721	Rotem Yogev	ISR	33440
1603	–	Tomas Lima	POR	21663
–	1621	Conor Short	IRL	16230
1683	2520	Kevin O Boyle	IRL	14342
1769	1746	Mark Bogataj	SLO	28446
1802	–	Vasco Mendes	POR	34134
1866	2299	Adam Jonas	SVK	34024
2313	2675	Daniel Pompura	SVK	29755
–	3096	Mario Koteski	MKD	40746
–	–	Krzysztof Rzenca	POL	15713
–	–	Abdelrahman Ismail	EGY	41096
–	–	Joseph Barrett	USA	41930

Women

WRE pos	WRE pos sprint	Name	Country	WRE ID
1	1	Tove Alexandersson	SWE	65
2	3	Simona Aebersold	SUI	23032
6	2	Natalia Gemperle	RUS	6259
3	19	Elena Roos	SUI	4961
33	4	Marika Teini	FIN	5868
11	5	Lina Strand	SWE	5654
5	751	Maja Alm	DEN	77
14	6	Sabine Hauswirth	SUI	2100
7	7	Karolin Ohlsson	SWE	4277
8	98	Tereza Janosikova	CZE	28127
852	8	Kamilla Steiwer	NOR	4290
257	9	Venla Harju	FIN	4150
9	12	Sara Hagstrom	SWE	1997
10	22	Maija Sianoja	FIN	5370
12	31	Andrine Benjaminsen	NOR	396
13	29	Paula Gross	SUI	18906
44	13	Anastasia Rudnaya	RUS	5930
26	14	Tatiana Ryabkina	RUS	4880
15	49	Megan Carter Davies	GBR	844
36	16	Denisa Kosova	CZE	3061
17	266	Victoria Haestad Bjornstad	NOR	23852
18	33	Sarina Kyburz	SUI	2549
19	35	Aleksandra Hornik	POL	19685
278	20	Lisa Risby	SWE	4900
50	21	Cecilie Friberg Klysner	DEN	23304
22	50	Veera Klemettinen	FIN	24311
23	120	Galina Vinogradova	RUS	6258
24	632	Alice Leake	GBR	3349
25	39	Sandra Grosberga	LAT	1865
28	25	Lotta Karhola	FIN	18912
27	112	Laura Ramstein	AUT	4800
31	27	Svetlana Mironova	RUS	3932
30	36	Vendula Horcickova	CZE	19096
381	38	Catherine Taylor	GBR	5861
55	39	Susen Loesch	GER	3602
42	68	Emma Bjessmo	SWE	22886
530	43	Miri Thrane Oedum	DEN	6735
160	44	Johanna Oberg	SWE	21094
49	47	Isia Basset	FRA	332
51	52	Evely Kaasiku	EST	2672
53	726	Cecile Calandry	FRA	33897
54	64	Jana Knapova	CZE	2942
73	54	Amy Nymalm	FIN	24271
1013	55	Marie Olaussen	NOR	4291
57	126	Florence Hanauer	FRA	22869
58	59	Ingeborg Eide	NOR	20206
58	823	Josefine Lind	DEN	3454
60	114	Maelle Beauvir	FRA	20207
62	66	Ingrid Lundanes	NOR	25248
96	63	Jo Shepherd	GBR	5339
66	475	Virag Weiler	HUN	19884
69	123	Anna Nilsson Simkovics	AUT	5414
122	71	Lenka Mechlova	CZE	3830
130	71	Ausrine Kutkaite	LTU	3216
71	365	Olena Babych	UKR	25660
298	73	Inga Dambe	LAT	1107
432	79	Annika Rihma	EST	4894
–	82	Olha Panchenko	UKR	4876
83	247	Agata Olejnik	POL	5593
84	90	Anja Arbter	AUT	173
85	85	Adela Indrakova	CZE	2430
86	86	Hanna Wisniewska	POL	6443
184	87	Liga Valdmane	LAT	6125
89	262	Cecilie Andersen	GBR	19077
90	196	Paula Starke	GER	20062
95	298	Grace Molloy	GBR	27559
97	164	Kateryna Dzema	UKR	25007
99	111	Veronika Kalinina	RUS	24156
100	183	Carlotta Scalet	ITA	5184
422	104	Line Cederberg	DEN	22961
107	177	Anika Gassner	AUT	20213
114	129	Zsofia Sarkozy	HUN	18880
115	252	Jasmina Gassner	AUT	25245
119	1305	Leonore Winkler	GER	22481
131	379	Ana Isabel Toledo Navarro	ESP	33644
132	195	Viola Zagonel	ITA	6557
134	391	Tekle Emilija Gvildyte	LTU	1945
149	134	Csilla Gardonyi	HUN	25980
140	392	Ana Camarasa	ESP	22119
190	140	Kerstin Uiboupin	EST	6080
145	141	Marianne Haug	EST	22989
143	191	Kristina Ivanova	BUL	2458
148	219	Filipa Rodrigues	POR	24882
152	222	Irita Pukite	LAT	4737
155	278	Annika Simonsen	DEN	5421
158	172	Francesca Taufer	ITA	19187
163	190	Liliana Gotseva	BUL	1767
468	163	Tatsiana Voveriene	BLR	6621
170	165	Carina Polzer	AUT	4657
637	167	Birte Friedrichs	GER	22836
172	1603	Caterina Dallera	ITA	37849
196	263	Andreya Dyaksova	BUL	20089
563	198	Ewa Gwozdz	POL	1946
1192	205	Hinako Inage	JPN	2426
208	213	Irene Pozzebon	ITA	18999
215	404	Lucie Arno	BEL	33074
222	289	Elif Gokce Avci	TUR	22947
605	231	Kaste Rutkauskaite	LTU	24915
240	853	Hanna Lundberg	SWE	37614
259	245	Ida Haapala	FIN	28437
421	245	Olena Postelniak	UKR	4677
351	249	Andra Cecilia Anghel	ROU	153
261	399	Evangelina Dyaksova	BUL	24232
353	281	Patricia Nieke	GER	4138
287	405	Meri Chkripeska	MKD	988
451	316	Feia Tsyvilska	UKR	28136
323	511	Ems De Smul	BEL	28073
347	408	Marine Sillien	BEL	28068
364	815	Ida Agervig Kristiansson	DEN	40702
668	368	Ugne Gineikaite	LTU	27003
678	405	Judita Traubaite	LTU	24214
517	–	Eef van Dongen	NED	40634
549	617	Dominika Mero	HUN	34071
628	785	Tamara Miklusova	SVK	24278
1009	639	Elza Kuze	LAT	33553
722	817	Ela Sedilekova	SVK	32196
830	1588	Betul Esner	TUR	35874
913	–	Lucia Misas Bernardino	ESP	33727
–	931	Natsuki Yamagishi	JPN	6509
935	1605	Diana Aleksieva	USA	32874
965	1325	Kika Basaran van Ham	ESP	33643
–	978	Judit Divin	ROU	34049
980	–	Maja Gajic	SRB	41323
–	1046	Sydney Fisher	USA	37279
1100	1360	Luboslava Weissova	SVK	34028
1565	1696	Yu Abe	JPN	37234
–	–	Alexis Merka	USA	37033
–	–	Salma Hassan Abdelaziz Hassan Abokhaber	EGY	41100
–	–	Moe Matsumoto	JPN	41350
–	–	Angelica Riley	USA	4895

World Cup 2021

The 2021 World Cup consists of three rounds; Neuchatel (Switzerland), Idre Fjäll (Sweden) and Cansiglio (Italy), see below. The World Orienteering Championships is not part of the World Cup.