2026 World Ski Orienteering Championships Event Recap

*The US team after the Sprint Relay (credit: Takako Hirokawa)*

The World Ski Orienteering Championships (WSOC) took place in Rusutsu, Japan from March 2-6. The US sent a team of four athletes to the competition, with veteran international ski-o competitor Chris Burnham (Green Mountain Orienteering Club) providing guidance to newcomers Tamra Kornfield (Arctic Orienteering Club), Lauren Wardwell (Green Mountain Orienteering Club), and Josh Yeaton (Empire Orienteering Club). The competition was based out of the Rusutsu ski resort, which meant lots of narrow tracks going up and down extremely steep climbs and descents with a ridiculous amount of snow. It wasn’t uncommon to see snow banks 6-10 feet high on the sides of the roads!

*The backdrop to the WSOC, Mount Yotei (credit: Josh Yeaton)*

Competition opened with an interval start sprint on fairly flat courses, starting in a forested area with narrow tracks before transitioning into a more open golf course with more track size variety. Ski-O route selection is often influenced by snow conditions on the day, and cutting across open areas (‘shortcutting’) was extremely simple, and in many cases faster than skiing on narrow track trails. The course designers also made the first leg extremely long and fairly complex, crossing the entire width of the map, so quickly determining the fastest route taking shortcutting into account was challenging. Despite finishing towards the tail end of the field, this day was a relatively successful performance for the US athletes with Tamra and Josh completing their first international event and some promising results when considering time back from the leaders.

*Josh Yeaton during the Sprint (credit: WSOC Organizers)*

The second day was a pursuit with over 1000m of climb. Racing started at one of the ski resort gondola base areas, with everyone ‘pursuing’ the winner of the sprint based on how many seconds back they finished the previous day. The course started with a steep climb to a map pickup board before heading off into extremely steep terrain criss-crossed with narrow tracks that were steep enough that it was safer and faster to simply head off trail and pick your own route down the mountainside. It was an atypical but extremely fun and challenging day, with all of the US athletes finishing safely with their gear intact (a not insignificant achievement!).

*Chris Burnham leads a group at the start of the Pursuit (credit: WSOC Organizers)*

After a rest day with 6” of snow, next was the interval-start middle distance. This day was a more typical European-style ski-o course, with a fairly complex maze section requiring quick decision making on narrow, twisty forest trails. The new snow served to complicate things and slow down skis. While shortcutting was possible, it was now harder going, so any shortcuts needed to save significant distance or allow you to maintain speed. For the US team, this was a tough day, with plenty of learning. In particular, there was a section with a narrow, ~25% grade 80m climb that was extremely difficult, and opportunities for alternate route selection existed.

*Tamra Kornfield skiing up the top of the wall (~25% grade) in the Middle (credit: WSOC Organizers)*

In Friday’s mixed Sprint Relay, the US fielded two relay teams, with Lauren making her international racing debut. With the mass-start format there was significantly more overlap with other racers on-course. Getting experience figuring out how to navigate the narrow tracks with so many other people without crashing is something that the newer members of the team will carry forward to future events. This was another tough day from a results perspective for the US athletes, but since the relay is against the four best athletes from the other nations it was extremely enjoyable to see how they tackle these sorts of courses. We’ll take those lessons on to next year!