80 athletes from 24 different federations will have a huge experience this week, where orienteering is once again part of the World Games, which this year takes place in Chengdu, China.
From August 7th to 17th, around 4000 athletes are gathered in the Chinese city of millions, where they will compete in 34 different sports with a total of 256 medal events.
This is the seventh time that orienteering is part of the event, which is for sports that are not in the programme of the Olympic Games.
Spain’s Ana Cernicharo and Maria Prieto during Thursday’s Model Event in Chengdu.
In Chengdu, orienteering includes a middle distance, a sprint and a sprint relay on Friday, Sunday and Monday respectively.
The World Games 2025 orienteering competitions are to be held in Chengdu’s Eastern New Area. The Middle distance competition takes place in the area surrounding Gaoming Town, while the Sprint and Sprint Relay competitions are organised along the Jiangxi River Ecological Greenway in a park built for the International Horticultural Exposition 2024.
The athletes will have to adapt to the Chinese terrain and get used to the weather, as the temperatures are well above 30 degrees and there is a towering humidity.
Strong fields set for racing
Several of the medalists from the last World Games in the USA three years ago are participating. The newly crowned world champion Simona Aebersold (SUI), who won both the sprint, middle distance and sprint relay with the Swiss team, is participating, as is Tim Robertson (NZL), who took the sprint title in Birmingham. The Czechs Tereza Rauturier and Tomas Krivda, who won silver and bronze in the sprint respectively, are also in China.
Also from Switzerland are the world champion in the Knock-Out Sprint, Riccardo Rancan, and the silver winner from last year’s sprint, Tino Polsini in Chengdu. Jonatan Gustafsson (SWE), who won bronze in the KO Sprint in Edinburgh, is also here, so there will be a fight for the World Games medals.
All three races can be followed via GPS tracking and live results in IOF Live, while Sunday’s sprint will be produced for TV with English commentary by Katherine Bett and can be followed via the World Games Live portal.
Orienteering at the 2025 World Games
Time zone: UTC +8
Friday, 8 August
Middle
9:41 First start M
10:20 First start W
Sunday, 10 August
Sprint
9:30 – 11:22 TV Broadcast in World Games Live
9:31 First start W
10:21 First start M
Monday, 11 August
Sprint Relay
10:10 – 11.30 Sprint Relay