Athletes representatives elected

The elections for the IOF Athletes Advisory Groups (AAG) were completed yesterday July 15th, and the composition of the groups is now know. Voting was carried out digitally among all athletes who had participated in a World Championships or World Cup event in the years from 2018 to 2021 in each of the respective disciplines – Foot Orienteering, Ski Orienteering and Trail Orienteering. The AAG for the MTB Orienteering discipline was already know as the number of nominations exactly matched the number of available spots.

FootO AAG elections

860 athletes were eligible to vote, 436 athletes voted (51% participation rate). The 4 candidates receiving the most votes are elected to the AAG.

Athlete Votes received Result
Tereza Janosikova (CZE) 337 elected
Gustav Bergman (SWE) 320 elected
Florian Howald (SUI) 304 elected
Natalia Gemperle (RUS) 271 elected
Fryderyk Pryjma (POL) 185 not elected
Dudu Erol (TUR) 139 not elected

The FootO AAG consists of the 4 elected athletes above and Jan Eric Naess (CAN) who was automatically elected as a non-European region representative.

MTBO AAG

The MTBO AAG consists of Gabriele Andrasiuniene (LTU), Vojtech Ludvik (CZE), Grigory Medvedev (RUS) and Samuel Pökälä (FIN).

SkiO AAG elections

232 athletes were eligible to vote, 144 athletes voted (62% participation rate). The 3 candidates receiving the most votes are elected to the AAG.

Athlete Votes received Result
Erik Blomgren (SWE) 95 elected
Øyvind Watterdal (NOR) 82 elected
Lukas Deininger (SUI) 77 elected
Klaus Csucs (ROU) 67 not elected
Tero Linnainmaa (FIN) 51 not elected
Sergey Gorlanov (RUS) 29 not elected

The SkiO AAG consists of the 3 elected athletes above and Doris Kudre (EST) who was automatically elected based upon gender balance.

TrailO AAG elections

178 athletes were eligible to vote, 115 athletes voted (65% participation rate). The candidate receiving the most votes is elected to the AAG.

Athlete Votes received Result
John Kewley (GBR) 63 elected
Pavel Ptacek (CZE) 35 not elected
Andrius Jovaisa (LTU) 12 not elected
Pavel Schamtov (RUS) 5 not elected

The TrailO AAG consists of John Kewley (GBR) and David Irving (USA), automatically elected as a non-European region representative, Ekaterina Koltunova (RUS) and Ilze Lapina (LAT) both automatically elected based upon gender balance.

It is now up to the respective Athletes Advisory Groups to appoint 2 representatives each to the IOF Athletes Commission, as well as athlete representation in the respective Discipline Commission. From the Athletes Commission 2 members will then be appointed to the IOF Council, where they will participate as fully voting members on behalf of the athletes community.