Category: JWOC Team

2026 Junior World Orienteering Championships Recap

June 29-July 4, 2026

The US sent a full team of six young men and six young women to this year’s Junior World Orienteering Championships, which took place in Karlskrona, Sweden.

Read all about the event from the athletes’ perspective in the US Orienteering Team’s blog.

Sprint and Sprint Relay

All photos by Evalin Brautigam

The 2026 JWOC competition week kicked off with the Sprint competition in Trossö, the historic centre of Karlskrona. The courses proved challenging, as the organizers used artificial barriers to make selecting a route a little bit tricker.

The Mixed Sprint Relay is a race between teams of four athletes–two women and two men—in a fast, head-to-head competition with a total winning time of under one hour. The top US team was USA 2, with Sophie Howes, Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck, Mikhail Biryukov, and Anna Green, coming in 48th.

Long and Middle

The individual forest races took place in typical western Swedish terrain, which is to say that it was pretty tough! The women faced a 9.9 km course and the men a 12.6 km course, and the transition from sprint the day before to a long day in the forest was a challenging one for many.

Relay

The final race of 2026 JWOC was the forest relay, which consists of teams of three men and three women, racing separately. The best US women’s team finished 24th , while the best US men’s Team finished 21st.

Support the US National Team!

You’ve shared the woods with these athletes.

You’ve stood at the start line together, cheered near the finishes, and reviewed maps after the finish.

Now they’re representing the U.S. overseas, and you can still be part of the journey from home.

This fundraiser t-shirt gives back with a large portion of the proceeds supporting USA Orienteering National Team athletes: JWOC, WUOC, WOC, and EYOC.

Wear it while they race, and let’s show them their community is with them every step of the way!

The order window is short – through Friday, May 15 – so people traveling over to Europe will be able to pack them on their trip!

Order your OUSA fundraiser shirts here

EYOC competition is first on June 25-27 in Slovenia. JWOC athletes compete June 29-July 4 in Sweden. WOC competition is July 7-11 in Italy followed by WUOC on July 28-August 1 in Portugal.

A special shoutout to Enjoy Winter for assisting in getting this fundraiser going. They are the new Noname rep and sponsor of the National Teams and YDP uniforms!

OUSA Welcomes New National Team Members

The US National Orientering Team welcomes new members following their selection to either the World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC) or Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) Teams. We are pleased to welcome back returning member Annika Mihata (COC) and to introduce new member Grace Suhocki (DVOA), both joining the Performance Squad. We also extend a warm welcome to Nate Dunlap (OLOU), who has been added to the Junior Squad.

Announcing the 2026 US Teams to JWOC and WUOC

The combined WUOC/JWOC 20026 Selection Committee – Jon Torrance (Chair), Ali Crocker, Brenda Blacklock, Ioana Fleming, and Will Enger – is pleased to announce the OUSA Teams for the 2026 Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) and the 2026 World University Orienteering Championships (WUOC).

JWOC will be hosted in Karlskrona, Sweden, from June 27 – July 5, 2026, while WUOC will be hosted in Vila Real, Portugal from July 27 – August 1, 2026.

This being the third year of OUSA sponsoring a team to compete officially at the European Youth Orienteering Championships (EYOC), and the end of the event overlapping with the start of JWOC (accreditation, model event), athletes vying for a spot on both teams were asked to commit to one over the other team if qualifying for both.

All qualifying athletes except for Alex Eriksson chose JWOC, while Alex decided to focus on EYOC 2026. The EYOC team will be announced soon.

Congratulations to this year’s JWOC and WUOC Teams!

JWOC Team

Male
Alex Eriksson (declined in favor of EYOC 2026)
Ben Cooper
Ian Dunlap
Ludvig Hagwall
Mikhail Biryukov
Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck
Nate Dunlap (1st Alternate)

2nd Alternate Andrew Driscoll
3rd Alternate Jayden Suarez

Female
Anna Green
Danny Buchholz
Greta Leonard
Kate deBlonk
Paige Suhocki
Sophie Howes

1st Alternate Kendal O’Callaghan
2nd Alternate Lorelai Megery

WUOC Team

Male
Anthony Riley
Ben Cooper
Benjamin Conley
Collin Thompson
Keegan Harkavy
Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck

1st Alternate Josh Fike
2nd Alternate Victor Frolenko

Female
Anna Green
Annika Mihata
Grace Suhocki
Lily Addicott
Oriana Riley
Paige Suhocki

1st Alternate Ava Suhocki
2nd Alternate Kate deBlonk

Support Team USA this summer!

This summer Orienteering USA is providing support to 30 National Team and Youth Development Program athletes participating in events in Europe. Some, like Ali Crocker (CROC), are veterans competing for the last time at the World Orienteering Championships. Others, like youngsters Kendal O’Callaghan (RMOC) and Alex Eriksson (ICO), are part of OUSA’s first officially supported team to the European Youth Orienteering Championships. All of our athletes are training hard now and preparing for their summer competitions and training camps, and we’ll keep you updated on all the action.

Here’s a schedule of events featuring Team USA orienteers this summer:

In addition to cheering these athletes on from home, you can also lend a hand financially. Help these athletes reach their summer fundraising goal of $6,000 ($200 per athlete)!

Make a donation by using via OUSA’s donation page (select “4 National Team”) and then share the image above on social media to get others to pitch in!

2025 JWOC Team Selected

The JWOC Selection Committee is pleased to announce the team to represent the US at the 2025 Junior World Championships (JWOC), which will be held in Trentino, Italy, from 26 June to 4 July.

Men:

  • Ben Brady
  • Ben Conley
  • Ian Dunlap
  • Alex Eriksson
  • Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck
  • Ludvig Hagwall
  • 1st alternate, Ben Cooper
  • 2nd alternate, Lenni Kallela

Women:

  • Danny Buchholz
  • Anna Campbell
  • Anna Green
  • Greta Leonard
  • Paige Suhocki
  • Zariah Zosel
  • 1st alternate, Kendal O’Callaghan
  • 2nd alternate, Sophie Howes
  • 3rd alternate, Kate deBlonk

Congratulations to all the athletes! We wish them the best of luck in the European forests.

Peggy Dickison, National Team ESC Chair & Chair of WOC Review Panel
JWOC Selection Committee: Jon Torrance, Brenda Blacklock, Ethan Childs, Will Enger, Tyra Christopherson, and Julia Doubson

Western States Champs / US Team Trials

Feb 28-Mar 2, 2025

Host: Bay Area Orienteering Club

Venues:

  • Friday: Presidio, San Francisco, CA
  • Saturday & Sunday: Calero County Park, San Jose, CA

This event served as the Team Trials for the Junior World Orienteering Champs (Fri, Sat, Sun) and the World Orienteering Champs (Sat, Sun). Additionally, combined scores for the best two of three days were used to determined the winners of the Western State Champs, an informal competition for orienteers residing in one of the western states (those states with a peak above 10,000′).

Photos by Evalin Brautigam and Cristina Luis

Results, Photos, and Maps

2025 WOC & JWOC Team Trials Announced

The National Team Executive Steering Committee is pleased to announce that the WOC and JWOC Team Trials will be held together at BAOC’s event next March 1-2. The weekend events will take place in Calero County Park, with a middle race on Saturday and a classic on Sunday. There will also be a sprint on Friday afternoon, with the location pending permit approval. The sprint will likely be an NRE; the weekend events definitely will be (and will also serve as the Western State Championships). There will not be a European trials event for WOC this year.

Petitions will be accepted for both WOC and JWOC teams, but Trials attendance is preferred.
For WOC, the Saturday and Sunday events will count for the WOC Team selection. For JWOC, all three events will count for JWOC selection.

While the event is earlier than usual, we hope that knowing well in advance will allow athletes to train adequately. For the northern tier athletes this can be difficult if it’s a snowy winter; we understand but believe that our top athletes are up to the challenge.

More details will follow. The website doesn’t have a lot of information yet, but BAOC is looking forward to hosting the Team athletes and others who want to try out for one of the teams or be there to support them. The concurrent Western States Champs will include all courses and classes for the non-Trialers.

Please see the JWOC 2025 Selection Criteria for details on how the JWOC team will be selected. The 2025 WOC Selection Criteria will be published in early December.

TeamUSA Announces 2024 JWOC Roster

The JWOC Selection Committee – Jon Torrance, Andrea Berger, Eric Bone, Ethan Childs, and Ioana Fleming – is pleased to announce the 2024 US Team to compete at the Junior World Orienteering Championships in Pilsen, Czechia from June 30th-July7th, 2024.

Congratulations to this year’s JWOC Team!!

JWOC Women

  • Alex Merka
  • Astrid White
  • Danny Buchholz
  • Greta Leonard
  • Paige Suhocki
  • Zariah Zosel
  • 1st Alternate: Samantha Walker
  • 2nd Alternate: Ava Suhocki

JWOC Men

  • Ben Brady
  • Benjamin Conley
  • Ian Dunlap
  • Jackson Rupe
  • Ludvig Hagwall
  • Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck
  • 1st Alternate: Ben Cooper
  • 2nd Alternate: Collin Thompson
Alex Merka
Astrid White
Danny Buchholz
Greta Leonard
Paige Suhocki
Zariah Zosel
Ben Brady
Ben Conley
Ian Dunlap
Jackson Rupe
Ludvig Hagwall
Mori Finlayson-Johnecheck