WOC 2025: All You Need To Know

Jan Kocbach 8 hours ago Orienteering News Leave a comment

Interesting and varied orienteering is expected when the 2025 World Orienteering Championship starts in Kuopio, Finland on Tuesday July 8th with a Middle Qualification race. The action continues with three TV-broadcast forest races from Wednesday to Saturday: Middle Final on Wednesday, Long Final on Thursday and Relay on Saturday.

The Kuopio region in Northern Savonia offers classic Nordic orienteering challenges across three distinct terrains – from the varied landscape around Tahko ski resort to the rocky hills of Neulaniemi and the detailed technical terrain of Puijo. This marks the fifth time Finland has hosted the World Orienteering Championships – and the first since Vuokatti 2013.

The middle distance uses a qualification system where the top 15 from each of three heats advance to the final (+ some additional runners up to a total of 60 runners, see competition details for Middle Qualification at the bottom for details) – this is the only race that is not broadcast on TV. A total of 274 athletes from 45 countries are entered, including defending champions Matthias Kyburz (SUI) and Tove Alexandersson (SWE) in middle distance, Kasper Fosser (NOR) and Simona Aebersold (SUI) in long distance, plus the Swiss men’s and Swedish women’s relay teams. This also includes current World Cup overall champions, Simona Aebersold and Kasper Fosser.

Program

Three medal races are included in this year’s WOC – which is a forest only WOC. The full program is shown below.

Tuesday, July 8 – Middle distance qualification
- 9:00 First start Men, 11:00 Last start Men
- 11:10 First start Women, 12:50 Last start Women

Wednesday, July 9 – Middle distance final – IOF TV 14:30–18:20
- 13:40 First start Men, 15:40 Last start Men
- 15:30 First start Women, 17:30 Last start Women

Thursday, July 10 – Long distance – IOF TV 14:10–18:20
- 10:55 First start Women, 14:30 Last start Women
- 12:25 First start Men, 16:30 Last start Men

Saturday, July 12 – Relay – IOF TV 13:20–17:30
- 13:28 Start women
- 15:30 Start men

All times: Finnish local time (EEST / UTC +3 / CEST + 1)

IOF TV times from orienteering.sport. Photo: Timo Mikkola

Links & Live: How to follow the races

Use these links to follow the championships:

The broadcast can be followed on eight TV channels – YLE (Finland), NRK (Norway), SVT (Sweden), SRG (Switzerland), ERR (Estonia), ORF (Austria), CzTV (Czechia) and TV8 Mont Blance (France). In addition the broadcasts will be available on IOF TV and langrenn.com (for Norwegian viewers).

Race overview: Terrain and old maps of race area

The Middle distance is organized in Tahko northeast of Kuopio (upper right corner of map below) while the three other races are organized very close to Kuopio (lower left corner of map below), with the relay on a small area north of Kuopio (Puijo) and the two other races west of Kuopio (Neulaniemi).

Tahko (Middle qualification) offers varied mountain-forest terrain around the ski resort: mature pine and spruce forests with open ski slopes, scattered boulders and detailed contour features. The highest point Tahkomäki rises 201 metres above the nearby lake surface. Vegetation varies from open areas to old forest, with some areas due to forest logging. Runnability is mainly good though elevation differences and stony surface make it more challenging. The area combines high-speed open terrain with denser forest sections requiring very careful orienteering. See old map of part of the area from FIN5 2019 below.

Neulaniemi (Middle and Long finals). The area is located 4 km southwest of the city centre. The landscape of the area is characterised by significant relative elevation differences, high rocky hills, and undulating terrain. Neulamäki rises 200 metres above sea level and 120 metres above Kallavesi (lake). The forests in the area have a basic structure of economic forests, but they have not been harvested for the last 30 years. The oldest forests are 100-130 years old, and approximately half of the forests are over 80 years old. Terrain is mostly coniferous, half of the forest is dominated by spruce and slightly less than half by pine trees. The proportion of deciduous forest is only small and it is sporadic. Runnability varies from good to challenging due to stony ground in some areas. Fallen trees in unharvested forests may slow down running speed. Visibility ranges from good to excellent

Puijo (Relay) has small detailed areas with boulders, small cliffs and steep slopes, combined with parts that are quite empty of details. Vegetation consists of old forest with deciduous trees, pines and spruces. Runnability is good though fallen trees may slow running speed. Track density is high as Puijo is a recreation area in the heart of Kuopio, with various man-made objects alongside the natural features.

Competition details

Middle distance qualification – Tuesday 8 July

Format: Shortened middle distance, 3 heats per class. Starting order determined by World Ranking, with best-ranked starting last. Start interval: 3 min.
Course data:
Women: 3.3 km, 150-160 m climb, estimated winning time 25 min
Men: 3.9 km, 185-190 m climb, estimated winning time 25 min

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 competitor from Federations which do not have a competitor in the first 15 of any heat, considered in the order of their placing in the qualification race heats (If two competitors 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 competitors 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), a competitor must have been within 100 % of the heat winner’s time in their qualification race.