It’s been a week. Thank you, and come again!

Can you believe it? A week has already passed since the last relay crossed the finish line at Orienteering World Cup Czechia 2026 in Vyšší Brod. We sincerely hope you liked racing here (or cheering for your favourite athletes) as much as we loved putting on this event for you.

Being able to welcome the world’s best orienteers in our forests is fantastic. What is even better is being able to let the community and the locals know what a great sport orienteering is. Thank you all for being a part of that story. The winners are celebrated, but everybody matters.

There were many things that made this round of World Cup special. We are sure you, too, will find your own. We would love to mention just a few:

• The undisputed king and queen of the World Cup: Viktor Svensk, who stood on all three podiums (first, second, first), and Simona Aebersold, with her double individual victory.
• It was the Swedes with their five podium placements who ruled the event, closely followed by the Norwegians.
• The home team scored the best World Cup performance in many years with one win, two third places and one second place.

The races were broadcast to 13 countries; Czech TV alone brought 12 hours of live coverage. Social media content reached over 1 million viewers. The World Cup brought over 300 athletes to Czechia and the accompanying GAPP Czech O-tour attracted more than 2000 racers ranging from newbies to national team members. We needed 244 volunteers to make this all happen; they cheered for you, and we are sure you cheered for them.

What else can we say? Maybe a few more points:

• We placed 184 controls on 22 different object types – and you found most of them just fine.
• The wasps stung quite a few people.
• The heat bothered everybody but you all managed.
• We had to shuffle the schedule because of storms that never came, but nobody seemed to mind.
• The fun labyrinth in Vyšší Brod was tested by 388 inquisitive souls, one Simona Aebersold among them.
• We talked in 56 organiser WhatsApp groups, and the arena burnt through 3.65 TB of data.
• Your coaches enjoyed 86 cups of coffee in the quarantine. We get that. We brew a damn fine cup of coffee.

So thank you all for coming. And don’t be strangers. There’s plenty more orienteering in Czechia. Watch this space, even though we think you already know.