The 2016 World Orienteering Championships get under way today in Stromstad, on the west coast of Sweden near the Norwegian border. The Championships start with sprint races over the weekend before moving into the forest from Tuesday onwards, with the full program being:

Saturday 20 August – sprint qualification and final

Sunday 21 August – sprint final

Tuesday 23 August – middle

Thursday 25 August – long

Saturday 27 August – relay

In the sprint qualification, the first 15 competitors from each of three heats proceed to the final. With 36-37 competitors in each men’s heat and 31 for the women, competition to reach the final will be tough; historic experience suggests that the men will need to be within 40 seconds of the winner to be reasonably confident of making the final, and the women within a minute.

Australia will have three men and three women running in the sprint qualification. Their start times are:

Women – Aislinn Prendergast 9.06 (17.06 AEST), Krystal Neumann 9.11 (17.11), Natasha Key 9.26 (17.26).

Men – Simon Uppill 10.11 (18.11), Henry 10.18 (18.18), Leon Keely 10.29 (18.29)

The finals are run on Saturday afternoon (Swedish time), with the first starts for the women at 15.41 (23.41 AEST) and for the men at 16.46 (0.46 AEST Sunday morning).

Further information is available through the WOC website and World of O. Live results should be freely available through the WOC website with online TV coverage and GPS tracking at the IOF LiveCenter (fee applies).