Pisa will host the Italian Sprint Orienteering Championships, individual and relay events, scheduled for Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May 2026. The event will bring athletes from all over Italy and abroad to the historic city center for two days dedicated to orienteering, a sport that combines running, map reading, and orientation skills.
The competitions will take place in the streets and squares of the historic center, which will become the competition venue for the national competition for the occasion. Athletes will start at individual intervals and receive the map at the start, with the aim of reaching the control points distributed along the course in the shortest possible time.
The event will be attended by leading Italian athletes in the discipline, along with foreign athletes who have chosen Pisa as their training ground for the World Championships scheduled for July in Genoa. Among the participants was Ilian Angeli, an athlete of the Italian national team, born in 2002, who had already won a bronze medal at the Youth World Championships.
The event will involve athletes of different age groups, from under 10 to over 80, confirming the spread of orienteering among different generations. The event includes the individual sprint event on the afternoon of Saturday 23 May, while the relay race will take place on Sunday 24 May. More than 800 participants are expected from numerous countries, including Australia, Brazil, Turkey, Paraguay, New Zealand, France, Norway and Switzerland, as well as other European nations. The presence of athletes, companions, and enthusiasts also represents an opportunity to promote the area and sports tourism-related activities.
The organization invites citizens, schools, tourists, and enthusiasts to follow the races along the city route. For the event, thanks to the support of the Municipality of Pisa, a detailed map of the historic center was also created, which will be made available to local schools and visitors interested in learning about the city through orientation trails.
https://www.orienteeringonline.net/
