The global Corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic continues to create changes in the orienteering calendars around the world. This week it was unfortunately necessary to cancel the World Orienteering Championships 2020 in Denmark, see the separate news article.
In addition to this the Asian Orienteering Championships 2020 (AsOC) which had been postponed to August 21-25 in the Republic of Korea have been cancelled. The Asian Working Group is discussed the re-scheduling of events for 2021 and 2022, but most likely Korea will organise the AsOC in 2022.
This is the list and status of events remaining in the IOF Calendar for 2020
| July 14-18 | European Trail Orienteering Championships | Finland | The final decision about organising the event will be made by June 2 |
| September 10-13 | World Cup MTB Orienteering and World Masters MTB Orienteering Championships | Finland | The entry deadline for WMMTBOC has been extended to May 31. |
| October | Junior World Orienteering Championships | Turkey | The exact dates and program have awaited the decision about WOC. We hope to communicate these next week. Most likely the first or second week of October. |
| 2-8 October | World MTB Orienteering Championships Junior World MTB Orienteering Championships and European Youth MTB Orienteering Championships | Portugal | No additional news at this time |
| 23-25 October | European Youth Orienteering Championships | Hungary | No additional news at this time |
| 28 November – 5 December | World Trail Orienteering Championships | Hong Kong | An assessment of the situation for the event will be made in June. |
All IOF World Ranking Events are cancelled until July 31. The IOF Council will make a new decision about WREs for the remainder of 2020 approximately July 1.
Other information about IOF event planning
With the re-scheduling of The World Games to 2022 and the cancellation of WOC 2020 the IOF Foot Orienteering Commission is reviewing the qualification rules for The World Games. The new qualification rules will be announced after the IOF Council meeting scheduled for June 12.
There is also some good event news to convey in these challenging times. The Ski Orienteering season in 2021 has had a World Cup and pre-WSOC event added. It will be organised in Kemi, Finland March 18-21, 2021. This means that the international Ski Orienteering season will consist of the European Ski orienteering Championships and World Cup in Bulgaria in early February, the World and Junior World Ski Orienteering Championships in Estonia in late February and the World Cup in Finland in March.
The General Assembly of the IOF was planned to be held in connection with the World Orienteering Championships in Denmark. Due to the cancellation of the event the IOF is currently looking into solutions to be able to carry out a virtual General Assembly on the orginally scheduled date July 10. The documents for the General Assembly will be distributed in accordance with the original schedule, prior to May 10, and the IOF will confirm as soon as possible the final date and timing for the General Assembly and pre-General Assembly seminar.