Category: Ski-O National Team

Photos credits: Markku Vauhkonen, Takako Hirokawa, and the WSOC organizers.

Racing in Japan at the World Ski Orienteering Championships has concluded! 6” of fresh snow on the rest day contributed to a major change in skiing conditions. What had previously been fast and easily shortcutted was now extremely slow and soft. Comparing it to the mountainous Pursuit, veteran team member Chris Burnham described Thursday’s Middle distance as a more traditional Ski-O race, complete with a complex maze and plenty of challenging narrow track navigation.

In Friday’s mixed Sprint Relay, the US fielded two relay teams, with team member Lauren Wardwell making her international racing debut. This was the flattest course of all four days of racing, but with the mass-start format and six legs per team, complexity was high and the racing fast.  A maze section where shortcutting was not allowed also made for excellent spectating.

We’d like to extend a big thank you to the organizers for putting on an excellent set of races! For the majority of the team, this was their first exposure to international Ski-O competition, and they all left hungry for more and looking forward to next year’s championships in Lillehammer. Arigatou gozaimashita, Japan!

The US team of four athletes arrived at Rusutsu Resort in Hokkaido, Japan last week for the World Ski Orienteering Championships. Racing kicks off on 3/2 with the Sprint, but the team has been busy preparing with training and some public races. 

Some highlights from the preparation period:

• A warm, sunny training day with the impressive Mount Yotei in the background
• Two public races in a snowed-in amusement park on the slopes of the ski resort: roller-coaster descents underneath roller coasters!
• A model event with very easy shortcutting. Cold nights and warm days mean a solid crust layer which could make for some interesting racing.

Photos, numbered clockwise from top left, by Josh Yeaton (3) Takako Hirokawa (1, 2, 4), and Lauren Wardwell (5)

February 4-8, 2026

This year the US sent six young athletes to the 2026 European Youth Ski Orienteering Championships and Junior World Ski Orienteering Championships, which took place February 4 – 8, 2026, in Luleå, Sweden.

US Team for the 2026 Junior World Ski-Orienteering Championships
Liam Browne, Grizzly Orienteering Club
Erik Fey, Rochester Orienteering Club and NSK

US Team for the 2026 European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships
Boys Team
Euell Browne, Grizzly Orienteering Club
Espen Chitty, Grizzly Orienteering Club
Mark Fey, Rochester Orienteering Club and Nydalens SK

Girls Team
Caroline Chitty, Grizzly Orienteering Club

Read the team announcement here.

The team was accompanied by Kara Browne, who not only took all the photos featured in this post but also shared an inside look at the athlete experience throughout the competition.

The US Ski-O Junior Team has completed the first two weeks of their four week ski-a-thon! Team members have received pledges for a certain amount for each kilometer they ski (or a flat donation), and they’re doing great! This is despite the fact that some are dealing with limited snow and/or sickness. The distances skied so far are as follows:

Erik Fey 300 KM
Mark Fey 125 KM
Liam Browne 121 KM
Euell Browne 138 km
Espen Chitty 93 km
Caroline Chitty 90 KM

You can still donate to help the team raise money for their trip to Sweden to take part in Junior World Ski-Orienteering Championships and European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships and Program Accelerate 2033: https://app.99pledges.com/fund/SkiO

If you have any questions please contact Carl Fey (US Ski-O Team Coach), carlffey@nullgmail.com, or Kara Browne, binear@nullyahoo.com.

Orienteering USA’s vision is to create a single, unified orienteering community. A community committed to filling the forests, the woods, the parks, and the fields with enthusiastic orienteers. We are on a mission to enhance that vision on the snow! Program Accelerate 2033 has launched. This is a step by step plan to develop elite US ski orienteers. The goal is to have at least two American athletes in the top 10 at the World Ski Orienteering
Championships by 2033.

Honestly, it has been a while since the US garnered much attention in the world of SkiO. In 2011 Alison Crocker earned 8th place World Ski Orienteering Championships: the best ever American result! Our initial step to connect with those days was in March 2025. The youth team competed in Posio, Finland. Under the knowledge and enthusiasm of Coach Carl Fey two sets of American brothers represented the USA: Erik & Mark Fey with Liam & Euell Browne. Erik led the way with historic results, placing 5th in the long, 6th in the sprint, 6th in the middle, and anchoring the US boys to 6th in the relay—marking the best-ever individual finish by a non-European male in a major international SkiO event!

The USA’s 2025-2026 Junior SkiO team has grown from four to six athletes. They are fundraising for their upcoming travel to Luleå, Sweden where they will compete at Junior World and European Youth Ski Orienteering Championships. Donations will be used to help the team to take part in the races in Sweden and Program Accelerate 2033.

Our six athletes are seeking pledges for each training kilometer (km) covered by ski, roller ski, or foot during the month of December, 2025. Individual athletes receive pledges and all money raised goes to the overall team fund. Pledges and donations can be made at 99pledges.com. Donate $25 or more and we will send you an “Orienteering USA Junior SkiO Supporter” sticker! Very generously, Larry and Sara Mae Berman are matching donations for our first $2000!! We are very thankful for them helping make each donation make a greater impact.

Learn more about Orienteering USA SkiO.

We look forward to an amazing season!

For more information please contact: Coach Carl Fey at carlffey@nullgmail.com or Kara Browne at binear@nullyahoo.com, PO Box 8041, Kalispell, MT 59904.

Orienteering USA is pleased to announce that the US Ski Orienteering Team
Executive Steering Committee has completed selection of the US Team to the 2026 World
Championships in Rusutsu, Hokkaido, Japan, March 1–7, 2026. The following
people have been selected:

Men
Chris Burnham, Green Mountain Orienteering Club
Josh Yeaton, Empire Orienteering Club

Women
Tamra Kornfield, Arctic Orienteering Club

For more information about the US Ski-Orienteering Team please contact US Team
Coach Carl Fey at carlffey@nullgmail.com.

Orienteering USA is pleased to announce the teams to represent the US in the 2026 Junior World Ski Orienteering Championships and the 2026 European Youth Ski Orienteering Championships. Both competitions will take place February 4 – 8, 2026, in Luleå, Sweden.

The team was selected by the US Ski Orienteering Team Executive Committee. It is especially exciting that four of the six athletes selected come from Grizzly Orienteering Club in Montana, which is quickly becoming a hub of US ski orienteering talent.

US Team for the 2026 Junior World Ski-Orienteering Championships
Liam Browne, Grizzly Orienteering Club
Erik Fey, Rochester Orienteering Club and NSK

US Team for the 2026 European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships
Boys Team
Euell Browne, Grizzly Orienteering Club
Espen Chitty, Grizzly Orienteering Club
Mark Fey, Rochester Orienteering Club and Nydalens SK

Girls Team
Caroline Chitty, Grizzly Orienteering Club

For more information about the US Ski-Orienteering Team please contact US Team
Coach Carl Fey at carlffey@nullgmail.com.

The IOF Ski-O schedule for the winter of 2026 is out now!

The Ski-O World Championships will take place in Japan March 1-7, 2026; the Junior World Championships, Youth Championships, and a round of World Cup races will take place in Sweden February 5-8, 2026, and World Masters and a round of World Cup races will take place in Bulgaria January 21-25, 2026.  

Anyone can race in World Masters Ski-Orienteering Championships. Applications to race for the US in any of the other ski-o races should be sent to US Ski-O ESC Chair Adrian Owens (aowens@nullsterlingcollege.edu) by September 30, 2025.  

Applications for juniors and seniors must include: race results (ski-O, foot-O, X-C skiing), Training done for the past year (preferably in a standard like Strava or Attackpoint), training plans for the coming year, a brief statement of interest about joining the team, and biographical info (birth date, citizenship status, gender, Orienteering USA membership number as membership is a requirement to be on the US Ski-O Team).  Questions about the races or the US Ski-O Team more broadly can be addressed to Adrian or US Ski-O Team Coach Carl Fey (carlffey@nullgmail.com).  

Applications should be sent to ESC chair Adrian Owens by email before Sept 30, 2025.

The US Boys Youth Ski-Orienteering Team followed up their strong result from yesterday’s relay with top finishes again today in the Sprint race at the European Youth Ski-Orienteering Championships in Posio, Finland. American Erik Fey, age 16, placed sixth which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first time a male athlete representing a country outside of Europe has placed in the top six in an individual race at a major international ski-orienteering competition.

When asked about the race Erik said, “I am very happy to place in the top six today which was my goal for these races, but goals and dreams do not always come true. I have been training hard working towards this step by step for a number of years. I felt good and skied really fast today, but perhaps I went a little too fast. Thus, I made a few small mistakes which I hope I can eliminate in the remaining races by keeping my heart rate a little bit lower.” The race was won by Marek Lesak of Czech Republic ahead of Veeti Vippola from Finland in second place and Joakhim Savinanein of Finland in 3^rd place.

Euell Browne, a strong skier from Grizzly Orienteering Club in Montana, also skied especially well today. He was the US’s second fastest skier coming in 22^nd place– a very impressive result, especially considering that this is only Euell’s second major international ski-orienteering race (yesterday was his first international ski-orienteering race). Euell was followed by older brother Liam Browne in 24^th place and Erik’s younger brother Mark Fey in 26^th place. These all represent solid performances for the US. 

The races continue on Saturday with the medium distance race and end on Sunday, March 23^rd with the long race. You can follow the US Ski-Orienteering Team’s results at: Liveservices – Lapin Lumirastit & ESOC, JWSOC, EYSOC 2025. Enquires from the press or messages of good luck to the US Ski-O Team can be sent to: carlffey@nullgmail.com