The runner chosen for August is Mats Haldin from Finland. Mats Haldin has been a very important man in Halden SKs Tiomila and Jukola success the last years - and will be missed when he travels over the border to Sweden and IFK Göteborg next year.

Already in 2002 he was 3rd in the overall World Cup…

Mats Haldin has belonged to the absolute World Orienteering Elite for many years, but he is still fighting for his first individual World Championships medal. Already in 2002 he was 3rd in the overall World Cup, falling to a 5th and 6th spot in 2004 and 2005. He has one World Cup victory (2002, Long distance, Czech Republic), and 7 second spots in World Cup races.

Even if Mats has belonged to the World Orienteering Elite for many years - he got his best individual WOC result in 2007 with his 4th place at the WOC in Kiev, Ukraine in 2007. Maybe the change to a new club and a new country is what Mats needs to take that small but important step up to the podium in 2008? Mats Haldin will definitely be an exiting runner to follow in 2008!

See full statistics and pictures for Mats Haldin in World of O Runners.

Click here to add competitions to World of O Wall Calendar / World of O Calendar!

About WoO Wall Calendar 2008

This is a preview of World of O Wall Calendar 2008: 12 runners - 12 countries. It will be available for free download as a high-quality PDF-file in January 2008. The preview of the calendar is shown to give organizers time (and motivate them) to add their competitions to World of O Calendar. All international orienteering competitions inside World of O Calendar at January 5th will be included in World of O Wall Calendar 2008. The pictures in the calendar are selected from World of O Runners - choosing 12 runners from 12 different countries to show the spread of orienteering around the world.

Please help by adding all relevant competitions in World of O Calendar before January 5th using this link!

The runner chosen for March is Jonn Are Myhren running for The Netherlands in 2007 - and changing to Norway in 2008. - After two years in The Netherlands I change back to Norway. Why do I do it? The reason is obvious. I was offered a place in one of the best national teams in the world, Jonn Are comments his change of national team before the 2008 season.

The 2007 season was a fantastic success for Jonn Are. In his own words about the highlight - the 6th place at the WOC Middle distance in Kiev, Ukraine: - I ended in 6th position, last podium position. For me this was a dream coming true and more than I could have expected. Both my performance and result were personal records. I didn’t miss much and managed to run fast during the whole course despite the hot weather.. Read more about Jonn Are on his Blog - one of the very best orienteering pages out there. Not the best regarding maps, but good stories and pictures.

See full statistics and pictures for Jonn Are Myhren in World of O Runners.

Click here to add competitions to World of O Wall Calendar / World of O Calendar!

About WoO Wall Calendar 2008

This is a preview of World of O Wall Calendar 2008: 12 runners - 12 countries. It will be available for free download as a high-quality PDF-file in January 2008. The preview of the calendar is shown to give organizers time (and motivate them) to add their competitions to World of O Calendar. All international orienteering competitions inside World of O Calendar at January 5th will be included in World of O Wall Calendar 2008. The pictures in the calendar are selected from World of O Runners - choosing 12 runners from 12 different countries to show the spread of orienteering around the world.

Please help by adding all relevant competitions in World of O Calendar before January 5th using this link!

The runner chosen for July is Signe Søes from Denmark.

A spot within the top 10 should be well within reach at the WOC in Czech Republic in 2008

Signe Søes is one of the two Danish women who managed two top 15 results at the World Orienteering Champs in Kiev, Ukraine in 2007 - a 13th spot on the Long distance and a 15th spot on the Middle distance - the other one being Anne Konring Olesen. Signe’s WOC-results have improved steadily every year - and a spot within the top 10 should be well within reach at the WOC in Czech Republic in 2008 if she continues her improvements.

Signe’s best results other than the WOC results, are her silver medal at the Junior World Champs in Poland in 2003 and her 8th spot on the long distance in the World Cup final in France in 2006. See full statistics and pictures for Signe Søes in World of O Runners.

Click here to add competitions to World of O Wall Calendar / World of O Calendar!

About WoO Wall Calendar 2008

This is a preview of World of O Wall Calendar 2008: 12 runners - 12 countries. It will be available for free download as a high-quality PDF-file in January 2008. The preview of the calendar is shown to give organizers time (and motivate them) to add their competitions to World of O Calendar. All international orienteering competitions inside World of O Calendar at January 5th will be included in World of O Wall Calendar 2008. The pictures in the calendar are selected from World of O Runners - choosing 12 runners from 12 different countries to show the spread of orienteering around the world.

Please help by adding all relevant competitions in World of O Calendar before January 5th using this link!

The runner chosen for February is Lukás Barták from Slovakia. I have seldom seen a happier winner than Lukás Barták after getting Slovakia the silver medal on home ground at the last leg at the World University Orienteering Champs in 2006 (see pictures of the team below). 16th and 13th places over the long distance in 2007 and 2005 respectively are his best WOC results, but top 10 should be possible in Czech Republic next year - nearly on home ground.

Barták has been running for Halden SK in 2007, and did his job very well on the 9th leg for Halden SK’s first team in Tiomila. He kept the 5 minute lead for Halden SK safe - and sent Emil Wingstedt out on his last leg to run in to Halden SK’s 8th Tiomila victory. Keep an eye open for Barták in 2008 - he can come up with a surprise …

See full statistics and pictures for Lukás Barták in World of O Runners.

Click here to add competitions to World of O Wall Calendar / World of O Calendar!

About WoO Wall Calendar 2008

This is a preview of World of O Wall Calendar 2008: 12 runners - 12 countries. It will be available for free download as a high-quality PDF-file in January 2008. The preview of the calendar is shown to give organizers time (and motivate them) to add their competitions to World of O Calendar. All international orienteering competitions inside World of O Calendar at January 5th will be included in World of O Wall Calendar 2008. The pictures in the calendar are selected from World of O Runners - choosing 12 runners from 12 different countries to show the spread of orienteering around the world.

Please help by adding all relevant competitions in World of O Calendar before January 5th using this link!

The runner chosen for May is Daniel Hubmann from Switzerland. Hubmann turned professional before the 2007 season, and was by many thought to be the favorite among the Swiss men in the major competitions this season - as he fought a tight fight with Thierry Gueorgiou for the overall World Cup win in 2006. Instead - as we all know - Matthias Merz stole most of the attention among the Swiss men in 2007 with his fantastic WOC performance in Kiev.

What happened to Hubmann? He got ill two times in Kiev - the first time during the pre-WOC camp, and then also during the WOC week. In addition, he had problems with his legs during spring time. This destroyed his chances of showing his best when it really counted in 2007 - at the World Champs. However, without being able to give 100%, he still got a 4th place at the sprint and a 7th place at the middle distance in Kiev. Read Hubmann’s summary of the 2007 season at his excellent homepage - one of the very best out there! Maps from all major competitions, analysis and pictures - it has got it all!

What to expect for 2008? Hubmann will fight against Gueorgiou for the overall World Cup victory. Hubmann beat the “unbeatable Frenchman” at the World Military Champs in Croatia this autumn - being the only one to beat Gueorgiou in an international competition this year. Hubmann was also very close to beat Gueorgiou at the World Cup Final in Switzerland this autumn (Hubmann was well ahead when he made an error in the end), and will surely continue in the same way in 2008…

See full statistics and pictures for Daniel Hubmann in World of O Runners.

Click here to add competitions to World of O Wall Calendar / World of O Calendar!

About WoO Wall Calendar 2008

This is a preview of World of O Wall Calendar 2008: 12 runners - 12 countries. It will be available for free download as a high-quality PDF-file in January 2008. The preview of the calendar is shown to give organizers time (and motivate them) to add their competitions to World of O Calendar. All international orienteering competitions inside World of O Calendar at January 5th will be included in World of O Wall Calendar 2008. The pictures in the calendar are selected from World of O Runners - choosing 12 runners from 12 different countries to show the spread of orienteering around the world.

Please help by adding all relevant competitions in World of O Calendar before January 5th using this link!

The runner chosen for January is Céline Dodin from France. The World of O Wall Calendar has only one runner from each of 12 selected countries - and why not choose Thierry Gueorgiou for France, you might ask? Well, french orienteering is more than Thierry - others deserve some attention as well…

Céline Dodin is the best women in the French team - and is very close to making the step into the top 10 world elite. Her best WOC result is the 11th place in the sprint in WOC 2006 in Århus, Denmark - and in the World Cup Final in France in 2006 she did her best World Cup results with 7th and 9th spots. Will she manage it up to top 10 in 2008? Céline is also known for having a very nice homepage with a lot of pictures and maps - definitely worth a visit (see also English Google translation of the page).

See full statistics and pictures for Céline Dodin in World of O Runners.

Click here to add competitions to World of O Wall Calendar / World of O Calendar!

About WoO Wall Calendar 2008

This is a preview of World of O Wall Calendar 2008: 12 runners - 12 countries. It will be available for free download as a high-quality PDF-file in January 2008. The preview of the calendar is shown to give organizers time (and motivate them) to add their competitions to World of O Calendar. All international orienteering competitions inside World of O Calendar at January 5th will be included in World of O Wall Calendar 2008. The pictures in the calendar are selected from World of O Runners - choosing 12 runners from 12 different countries to show the spread of orienteering around the world.

Please help by adding all relevant competitions in World of O Calendar before January 5th using this link!

The World of O Wall Calendar 2008 is a free download high-quality PDF-file which you can print out and hang on the wall. It contains all international competitions from World of O Calendar (as of January 5th), along with chosen pictures from World of O Runners from 2007. This preview of the calendar is shown to give organizers time (and motivate them) to add their competitions to World of O Calendar - the final version of the calendar will be available for download in early January. Click here to add competitions to World of O Wall Calendar / World of O Calendar!

12 runners - 12 countries

For each month, a runner from a different country is featured…

The following days, each of the runners featured in the World of O Wall Calendar 2008 will be presented here at World of O. For each month, a runner from a different country is featured - summing up to give runners from 12 different countries. You will not find the World number one at the men and women side - Thierry Gueorgiou and Simone Niggli in this calendar. Instead, other criteria have been chosen. Some of them are runners with exceptionally good homepages - who the readers of World of O therefore know better than many others. Others are emerging stars - just breaking into the top 10 World Elite - and maybe also the stars of tomorrow? And finally, some are runners who just deserve some extra attention - there are many, many runners below the absolute world elite who work hard every day to get a better orienteer …

A completely different orienteering calendar for 2008 is Thierry Gueorgiou’s calendar - which he describes here. It looks like another masterpiece from the “unbeatable Frenchman” - see a preview of Tero’s 2008 calendar here (see also Tero’s homepage).

June 2008: Eva Jureníková

The runner chosen for June is Eva Jureníková from Czech Republic. Eva has been close to being top 10 in a World Orienteering Champs since the WOC in Tampere, Finland in 2001, where she got a 15th spot on the middle distance. Until now, her 12th spot at the middle distance in Kiev in 2007 is her best WOC result, but she has big plans for 2008 on home ground in Czech Republic - not far from where she grew up. See an interview with Eva from this years Spring Cup by woO-TV here:

Eva has one of the most interesting orienteering homepages of the world orienteering elite (which has not been updated for some time now, though) - with a good mix of maps, pictures and stories. It is well worth a visit!

See full statistics and pictures for Eva Jureníková in World of O Runners.

Click here to add competitions to World of O Wall Calendar / World of O Calendar!

About WoO Wall Calendar 2008

This is a preview of World of O Wall Calendar 2008: 12 runners - 12 countries. It will be available for free download as a high-quality PDF-file in January 2008. The preview of the calendar is shown to give organizers time (and motivate them) to add their competitions to World of O Calendar. All international orienteering competitions inside World of O Calendar at January 5th will be included in World of O Wall Calendar 2008. The pictures in the calendar are selected from World of O Runners - choosing 12 runners from 12 different countries to show the spread of orienteering around the world.

Please help by adding all relevant competitions in World of O Calendar before January 5th using this link!

Another small bonus leg - this time from the “Lang-SM” in Toppwald at september 23rd 2007 - the leg is leg 12 for the category HE.

First take a look at the map without routes - and think about how you would attack this leg (if the map is too small, you may click on it to get it larger - click again outside the map to close it):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Conclusion: Take the climb early - you won’t regret it afterwards!

Source: Routegadget at this location.

Just a small bonus leg from this years Norwegian Champs long distance at September 13th covered at December 22nd. The main thing here is not the route choices in themselves, but rather what happens when you are really tired (after the long leg covered on December 22nd and 17 more demanding legs) and have just passed the assembly area for the last small loop starting with an uphill through dense forest… Enjoy the holidays!

First take a look at the map without routes - and think about how you would attack this leg (if the map is too small, you may click on it to get it larger - click again outside the map to close it):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.

To celebrate the last day in this years “Route to Christmas”, I have chosen a really long leg from the Norwegian Champs in night orienteering with several different distinct route choice options. Organizers were NTNUI orienteering, and the venue was Trondheim north in Norway. The leg chosen is leg 4 from category H21.

First take a look at the map without routes - and think about how you would attack this leg (if the map is too small, you may click on it to get it larger - click again outside the map to close it):

Then you can take a look at how the runners who have drawn their route choice solved this leg:

Source: Routegadget at this location.