The World Orienteering Championships (or WOC for short) is an annual orienteering event organized by the International Orienteering Federation. The first World Championships was held in Fiskars, Finland in 1966. They were held biennially up to 2003 (with the exception of 1978 and 1979). Since 2003, competitions have been held annually. Participating nations have to be members of the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).

Originally, there were only two competitions: an individual race and a relay. In 1991, a short distance race (roughly 20–25 minutes) was added and a sprint race was added in 2001. The middle distance (roughly 30–35 minutes) replaced the short distance in 2003. In 2014, a sprint relay was added with two men and two women participating and with starting order woman-man-man-woman.

The IOF was founded on 21 May 1961 at a Congress held in Copenhagen, Denmark by the orienteering national federations of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.^[1] Their main goal was to standardize the sport and streamline international competition rules. A group of people work with these tasks, and at the 1963 IOF Congress, the work was approved and a technical committee was created. This led to the first international orienteering competition; the 1962 European Championships in Løten, Norway. The first European Orienteering Championships (EOC) consisted of only one competition; individual. In the following EOC, in Le Brassus, Switzerland, the relay event was added to the competition program. These two EOCs are considered forerunners to the first World Orienteering Championships in 1966.

In 2019, the World Orienteering Championships was split into two events: Sprint WOC (even-numbered years) consisting of sprint events only, and Forest WOC (odd-numbered years) consisting of forest events only.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the first sprint only WOC 2020 was cancelled. Instead Sprint and Sprint Relay was added to the WOC program for 2021 following the old championship program, otherwise there would not have been sprint comptitions in the world championships for four years (2019-2022). In 2022 the first sprint only WOC was organized in Denmark, and the new competition format Knockout Sprint made its debut.

The competition format has changed several times. From the beginning in 1966, the World Championships consisted of only two competitions: an individual race and a relay. In 1991, a short distance race (roughly 20–25 minutes) was added and a sprint race was added in 2001. The middle distance (roughly 30–35 minutes) replaced the short distance in 2003. On IOF's 23rd congress in Lausanne in 2012, it was decided that a sprint relay event would be added in the 2014 World Championships in Italy.^[2] The sprint relay is competed in urban areas and consists of four-orienteer mixed-gender teams with starting order woman-man-man-woman.

Event timeline

(Updated after WOC 2022)

More information Rank, Nation ...

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Sweden	68	59	57	184
2	Norway	52	51	46	149
3	Switzerland	47	38	43	128
4	Finland	24	43	32	99
5	France	14	7	11	32
6	Denmark	12	10	7	29
7	Russia	11	12	15	38
8	Great Britain	4	6	5	15
9	Czech Republic	3	4	5	12
10	Hungary	3	1	2	6
11	Czechoslovakia	2	5	8	15
12	Ukraine	1	3	5	9
13	Austria	1	1	0	2
14	Latvia	1	0	2	3
15	Australia	1	0	0	1
–	Independent Athletes[43]	0	2	0	2
16	New Zealand	0	1	1	2
17	Soviet Union	0	0	2	2
18	Belarus	0	0	1	1
	Belgium	0	0	1	1
	Germany	0	0	1	1
	Italy	0	0	1	1
	Netherlands	0	0	1	1
Totals (22 entries)		244	243	246	733

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• List of World Orienteering Championships medalists (men)
• List of World Orienteering Championships medalists (women)
• List of World Orienteering Championships medalists (mixed events)