This past weekend, from Thursday October 13 to Sunday October 16, the South American Orienteering Championships 2022 brought together orienteers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay to compete for the medals, including also the South American Youth and South American Junior Orienteering Championships.
The event was organised in the Triple Frontier area that is the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, with the Event Center located in the Brazilian city Foz do Aguacu. The event was actually planned to be held in 2020 but due to the Covid-19 pandemic it was moved to 2022. The original plan had been to organise competitions in all 3 bordering countries, but due to lingering restrictions the Middle Distance event planned for Argentina had to be moved to a reserve area in Brazil.
The event started with a friendship relay competition held in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. This was a milestone event as it was the first major competition held in Paraguay following the entry of the Paraguay Orienteering Association to IOF membership in April 2022.
Championships medals were then awarded in Long Distance, Middle Distance and Sprint on the next 3 following days. Brazilian athletes dominated the top of the results board all days with Sirlana Medina and Clebel Vidal (Long), Edineia Roniak dos Santos and Claudinei Nitsch (Middle), Priscilla Vieira Goncalves and Leandro Nascimento (Sprint) claiming the Regional Champion starting spots at the World Orienteering Championships in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Of note also were Isara Soto Ramirez (CHI) with a 5th place in the Sprint and guest WRE participant Joseph Barrett (USA) who won the Middle Distance and had top 5 results in all competitions.
Long Distance
The Long Distance was held in area of hilly pasture terrain east of Foz do Iguacu. Heavy rains the days prior to the event made the courses physically challenging.
Results Women
| 1 | Sirlana Medina | BRA | 1:33:39 | |||
| 2 | Edineia Roniak dos Santos | BRA | 1:37:32 | +3:53 | ||
| 3 | Priscilla Vieira Goncalves | BRA | 1:38:29 | +4:50 | ||
| 4 | Maisa Szczypior | BRA | 1:41:05 | +7:26 | ||
| 5 | Thamara Diehl | BRA | 1:45:29 | +11:50 | ||
| 6 | Elaine Lenz | BRA | 1:46:46 | +13:07 |
Results Men
| 1 | Cleber Vidal | BRA | 1:41:24 | |||
| 2 | Fabio Kuczkoski | BRA | 1:46:39 | +5:15 | ||
| 3 | Flademir Groos | BRA | 1:48:05 | +6:41 | ||
| 4 | Jean Pretto | BRA | 1:49:25 | +8:01 | ||
| Joseph Barrett | USA | 1:56:00 | +14:36 | |||
| 5 | Tiago Cunha Souza | BRA | 1:56:50 | +15:26 | ||
| 6 | Douglas Schmitz | BRA | 1:58:52 | +17:28 |
Middle Distance
The Middle Distance races were held in a forest park within the city of Foz do Iguancu. A completely different area from the long distance and requiring shifting navigation skills to the low visibility and runnability conditions.
Mens results
| Joseph Barrett | USA | 38:22 | ||||
| 1 | Claudinei Nitsch | BRA | 38:52 | +0:30 | ||
| 2 | Flademir Groos | BRA | 39:22 | +1:00 | ||
| 3 | Jonathan Palinski | BRA | 40:53 | +2:31 | ||
| 4 | Cleber Vidal | BRA | 42:11 | +3:49 | ||
| 5 | Gelson Andrey Zago Togni | BRA | 42:43 | +4:21 | ||
| 6 | Vinicius M Wosch | BRA | 43:03 | +4:41 |
Womens results
| 1 | Edineia Roniak dos Santos | BRA | 49:38 | |||
| 2 | Thamara Diehl | BRA | 49:44 | +0:06 | ||
| 3 | Esther Marnet | BRA | 51:21 | +1:43 | ||
| 4 | Priscilla Vieira Goncalves | BRA | 51:24 | +1:46 | ||
| 5 | Elaine Lenz | BRA | 51:51 | +2:13 | ||
| 6 | Mariana Amadigi Ostetto | BRA | 53:42 | +4:04 |
Sprint
The sprint was held in a residential area within the city limits of Foz do Iguacu. An interesting historic note was that this was a residential area created for the construction of the nearby ITAIPU dam and hydroelectric plant on the Paraná River, until recently the largest hydroelectric plant in the world. The ITAIPU company was also one of the important sponsors for the event.
Womens results
| 1 | Priscilla Vieira Goncalves | BRA | 14:40 | |||
| 2 | Juliane Heinrichs | BRA | 15:36 | +0:56 | ||
| 3 | Esther Marnet | BRA | 15:55 | +1:15 | ||
| 4 | Gennhsa Sobreira | BRA | 15:57 | +1:17 | ||
| 5 | Isara Soto Ramirez | CHI | 16:43 | +2:03 | ||
| 6 | Maisa Szczypior | BRA | 17:54 | +3:14 |
Mens results
| 1 | Leandro Nascimento | BRA | 14:50 | |||
| Joseph Barrett | USA | 15:42 | +0:52 | |||
| 2 | Ariel Quim de Almeida | BRA | 16:23 | +1:33 | ||
| 3 | Gelson Andrey Zago Togni | BRA | 16:40 | +1:50 | ||
| 4 | Rodrigo Oliveira | BRA | 16:52 | +2:02 | ||
| 5 | Ronaldo Almeida | BRA | 17:07 | +2:17 | ||
| 6 | Fabio Kuczkoski | BRA | 17:08 | +2:18 |
Full results including the South American Junior and South American Youth Championships can be found here
Long Distance results
Middle Distance results
Sprint results
Meeting of the South American Federations
In connection with the championships an informal meeting was also held with Presidents and representatives of the South American orienteering federations. The meeting decided to investigate the creation of a formal South American representative body to be able to better represent the sport towards other sports bodies in the region. If all federations approved, the formal association would seek a Memorandum of Understanding with the IOF to set the ground rules for cooperation.
The meeting also discussed the new IOF Strategic Directions for the period 2022 – 2026 and specifically how the members could support youth activities and strengthening relations with the International School Sports Federation (ISF) and the International University Sports Federation (FISU) in the region. There is a significant opportunity for promoting schools orienteering in the region as the ISF U15 World School Sports Games will be held in Brazil in 2023.
At the meeting Colombia confirmed that they intended to host the South American Orienteering Championships in 2024 and Chile announced that they would apply for organising the South American Orienteering Championships in 2026. Both events would also include the Junior and Youth Championships also. Formal applications for the events would be made to the IOF Office.