When thousands of athletes travel to Chengdu, China in August 2025 to participate in The World Games, Orienteering will be part of the sports programme again.
That is clear after the Executive Committee of the International World Games Association (IWGA) unveiled the 2025 programme for the 12th edition of the Games on Wednesday during the IWGA Annual General Meeting in Madrid.
IOF Secretary General Sondre Gullord says:
– This is a very positive confirmation from IWGA. It follows a five-month application process based on consultation with the National Orienteering Federaitons in the Autumn of 2022, which confirmed that continued participation in The World Games is an important strategic investment for our members.
The World Games in Chengdu are to be held from 7th to 17th August 2025 and will feature 30 official sports and up to 5.000 performing athletes. The quota of athletes decided by IWGA is 40 Female Athletes and 40 Male Athletes.
Orienteering has been on the World Games programme since 2001, most recently this summer in Birmingham, Alabama where 79 athletes raced a sprint, a middle distance and a sprint relay.
Tim Robertson (NZL) won the men’s sprint ahead of Martin Regborn (SWE) and Tomas Krivda (CZE) at The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama.
IOF has proposed a program with the same disciplines for 2025 but the final layout has not yet been decided.