17.11.2007.

IOF makes adjustments to World Cup 2008

At its recent meeting in Helsinki, the IOF Council decided to implement a number of adjustments to the foot orienteering World Cup 2008. The decision was made on proposal by a Project Group set down to evaluate the 2007 World Cup, with participants from the IOF Council, the Foot Orienteering Commission and the newly formed Athletes’ Commission. The project group made its recommendations after extensive consultation, where national federations, team coaches and athletes were invited to provide input and ideas.

The following notable adjustments will be made to the 2008 Orienteering World Cup:

More races in the programme
The programme will consist of 13 races. News is that all three individual finals in the European Orienteering Championships in Ventspils, Latvia will be included in the World Cup.

Quotas for participation adjusted
The number of athletes that each nation can enter (with the exception of the European Championships and the World Championships) will, as before, be based on the World Ranking List Federation League table. News is that the six best nations (separately for men and women) may enter 8 athletes. All other nations may enter 6 athletes. The reigning World Champions of 2007 have personal free places provided they are selected by their federations. These free places are additional to the national quota. Finally, in World Cup events outside the EOC and WOC, the organising nation (“home nation”) will be given the right to enter an additional 4 athletes of each gender (4 men and 4 women).

Qualification is minimised
The complicated qualification model that was used 2007 has been revised. News is that, with the exception of the European Championships and the World Championships, there will be no separate qualification races. Each round “stands alone”, meaning that participation in finals at a certain round is based on achievement in the same round. In several cases, athletes are allowed direct entry to the finals.

New format, chase start
World Cup 5, long distance at O-festivalen in Oslo, will be run as a chase start based on the results of World Cup 4, middle distance. The overall programme now has a good balance between formats, with 4 long distance (2 individual, 1 mass start and 1 chase start), 5 middle distance and 4 sprint races.

New model for total scores
The scoring model is changed in comparison to 2007. News is that the final total score is made up of the best 8 scores from the first 11 events, and the two scores from the final round. This means that it will be possible to include scores from all races at the World Championships in the total.

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