The 2024 World Orienteering Champs are in Edinburgh
In July 2024 (very probably 12th-16th) the World Championship Orienteering Races in Individual Sprint, Sprint Relay, and Knockout Sprint will be decided. They're in Edinburgh. Although that is a long way away for many people it is not so far for prospective competitors, so it may be fun to look at possible stepping stones for GB athletes. They will surely have done this already.
Let's name the recent World Cup Races in Czechia as the first stone. There there were both forest and sprint races; the sprints being the first at this level since last year's World Champs, whilst the forest races were the last ones at that level until after Edinburgh.
Stepping Stones to Edinburgh
This is to an extent a subjective list, and it is certainly a GB viewpoint. It is a list of public races (some with open entry, some not), whilst much of what goes on for athletes is the daily training, whether whilst working or whilst in training camps (and whatever the combination is called). The most significant competition is the European Championships in October. There are also other championships, organised training, a good programme of races particularly in Scotland, and the first two rounds of the 2024 World Cup, conveniently close together in time and space.
Czechia: 2, 3 August 2023
There were races in Individual Sprint on the 2nd and Sprint Relay on the 3rd. GB sent a "sprint focused team" of fourteen. Five GB men ran well in the individual sprint, well enough for top-25 places, and Ralph Street won a World Cup Race. He described it as a stepping stone to the European Champs. But the Sprint Relay didn't go so well.
Antwerp Sprint Meeting (ASOM) in Ghent: 18-20 August 2023
Night Mixed Sprint Relay (for pairs), Knockout Sprint, WRE Sprint. There are some very able orienteers from more than half a dozen national teams entered for the knockout sprint this year so it will be interesting to see how that goes.
Sprint Scotland: 2,3 September 2023
Knockout Sprint (in Alloa) and WRE Sprint (in Falkirk).
These are selection races for GB athletes for the European Champs and for Euromeeting. A further chance to see how knockout sprint is evolving.
British Sprint Relays: 17 September 2023
The British Sprint Relays are at Uxbridge in West London, hosted by London OK, and we can expect some GB athletes to run with their club teams. Last year (in Yorkshire) a guest team from New Zealand finished first. They are a day after South London Orienteers' London City Race.
European Championships: 4-8 October 2023
This is also the World Cup Final Round. Italy is hosting, with the event centre in Peschiera del Garda, and races in Verona, Soave, Creazzo and Vicenza. European Champs Bulletin-3.
The event pattern is Individual Sprint, Sprint Relay and Knockout Sprint, with rest days interleaved, as expected for Edinburgh.
Euromeeting: 13-15 October 2023
In Scotland, this is the rehearsal event for the World Championships. There are Sprint Relay, Knockout Sprint and Individual Sprint races around Stirling.
Scotland, Sprint Training Camp: 22-25 January 2024
Tieing in with the regular Edinburgh Big Weekend, Edinburgh University OC offers a training camp, including knockout sprint exercises.
JK Sprint: 29 March 2024
At Loughborough University, the JK Sprint is usually a selection race for GB runners, as well as a prestigious race in its own right.
Sprint Scotland: 4,5 May 2024
Followed by a Glasgow sprint festival the following weekend.
World Cup Round 1: 25,26 May 2024
In Switzerland, Knockout Sprint and Sprint Races
World Cup Round 2: 1,2 June 2024
In Italy, Sprint and Sprint Relay Races.
British Sprint Relay and Sprint Champs: 22, 23 June 2024
These are in the West Midlands.