KO Sprint

The 2024 Orienteering World Cup got underway in Switzerland under very variable weather conditions. As the first runners in the men’s qualification got underway the sun was shining, but halfway through heavy rain made the short tricky courses even more complicated.

Due to the weather being so bad, the Womens start was delayed by 30mins and the rain eased, so that the rest of the qualification could go ahead.

Of the British Team, Ralph Street, Nathan Lawson, Rachel Brown and Cecilie Andersen made it out of the qualification heats into the quarter finals the following day.

Fortunately, the previous day’s heavy rain was nowhere to be seen, and the sun shone in central Olten that hosted all of the Saturday’s races.

Joey Hadorn (SUI) and Tove Alexandersson (SWE) took the first Orienteering World Cup wins of 2024, on a flat and fast urban terrain course in the old town centre. The semi-finals featured “runner choice”, leaving the athletes with 20 seconds before the start to decide one of three course options. It was at this point that Ralph Street along with Sweden’s Hanna Lundberg missed out on the top 2 to earn a place in the final.

Unfortunately, Cecilie Andersen, Nathan Lawson and Rachel Brown did not make it out of the competitive quarter finals, all with close finishes.

In an extremely exciting development, the IOF have today announced that the World Orienteering Championships 2024, which is taking place from 12-16 July 2024 in Edinburgh, will be broadcast live via eurovisionsport.com in France, Germany and the UK.  

The news comes as the International Orienteering Federation, IOF, has entered a partnership with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the world’s leading alliance for public service media. 

This means that even if you are unable to attend the event as a spectator or participant in the WOC Tour 2024, you will be able to follow and support Team GB by watching all the live action for free! All you need to do is sign up to access the coverage.  

Follow the action together as a club! 

Get involved in the spirit of WOC 2024 from wherever you are based by setting up a WOC 2024 watch party for your club members! It’s a great opportunity to see Team GB in action as the events unfold and support the national team as they embark on the competition.  

Can’t wait until WOC 2024? Highlights from other International Competitions starts this weekend. 

 That’s right, from 25 May you will be able to catch all the highlights from the Orienteering World Cup Round 1 in Switzerland! Watch the event live via IOF TV.  

You will be able to watch back on how our athletes navigated the course around the ‘railway central’ of Switzerland – Olten. Here is the full upcoming programme of orienteering events that will be broadcast: 

2024 International Orienteering Programme 

May 25-26 
Orienteering World Cup Round 1, Switzerland – highlights only 

June 1-2 
Orienteering World Cup Round 2, Italy – highlights only 

July 12-16 
World Orienteering Championships, Scotland – live broadcast 

August 17-20 
European Orienteering Championships, World Cup Round 3, Hungary – highlights only 

September 26-29, Finland 
Orienteering World Cup Round 4, Finland – highlights only 

For full details, please read the IOF's press release. 

The International Orienteering season is finally upon us! This week the selected athletes for Team GB will travel to Switzerland for World Cup Round 1. Here is a reminder of who will be representing the squad and how you can watch the competition online. 

Event programme

Friday 24 May: KO Qualification

Start times are yet to be confirmed but it is likely the Men's teams will commence the race at 2pm and the Women at 2:50pm. All times CEST (UTC +2)

Representing Team GB are:

• Ralph Street
• Jonny Crickmore
• Freddie Carcas
• Nathan Lawson
• Peter Hodkinson
• Will Gardner

• Megan Carter-Davies
• Grace Molloy
• Charlotte Ward
• Fiona Bunn
• Cecilie Andersen
• Rachel Brown

Saturday 25 May: KO Sprint Final

Sunday 26 May: Individual Sprint- First Start 12:03

• Ralph Street
• Jonny Crickmore
• Freddie Carcas
• Nathan Lawson
• Peter Hodkinson
• Will Gardner

• Megan Carter-Davies
• Grace Molloy
• Charlotte Ward
• Fiona Bunn
• Cecilie Andersen
• Rachel Brown
• Mairi Eades

Good luck to each and every one of our athletes, we are very excited for the start of the international season and cannot wait to see all that it brings!

How to catch the action

Visit the IOF's website to learn more about how you can catch all the action from the event. Or, simply follow this link to IOF TV to choose which package you wish to purchase.