Europe’s elite are already trying out Lithuanian forests: signs of intense competition coming this fall

The second official training camp for the 2026 European Orienteering Championships has just ended in the Lazdijai area. More than 120 athletes from 16 countries, including representatives of the strongest orienteering countries, trained here from April 7th to 12th.

This is not yet the scale of the championship, but it is already clear that the highest level of competition awaits Lithuania in September.

The composition of the participating teams showed that the strongest orienteering countries sent athletes from their forest disciplines: representatives of such traditionally strong orienteering countries as Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and France arrived.

“This already shows that the competition at the European Championships will be really strong. And it will be even more interesting because the European elite will be joined by athletes from the Baltic region. “This weekend we had the opportunity to see for ourselves that Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians are very competitive in this type of terrain – they feel at home here and can compete on equal terms with the most powerful competitors,” said Vilius Aleliūnas, Executive Director of the Lithuanian Orienteering Federation and Competition Director of the European Orienteering Championships 2026, reviewing the trends emerging at the camp.

This camp has become the first serious technical rehearsal after the winter season. In winter, athletes strengthen their physical base, and now the real work with the map begins. In orienteering, physical form isn’t the only important factor; orientation itself – the ability to read the terrain and make decisions – is equally important.

It is precisely these decisions, according to V. Aleliūnas, that will not be easy in Lithuania even for the strongest: “This camp has shown one thing very clearly: even the strongest athletes in Europe or the world make and will make mistakes in these forests. This is not an easy or “standard” area. Especially considering that the countries dominating orienteering are from Scandinavia, and the forests of the Baltic region are quite different – more continental, with a unique terrain.”

Authentic conditions

Speaking of training, it was special as the athletes got acquainted with the special terrain of Lithuania. At the European Championship, athletes in the forests of Lithuania will encounter extremely detailed, fine terrain, which is depicted on maps not at the standard 5-meter horizontal interval, but at 2.5 meters – for many athletes, this is a much less common dimension, which still needs to be accustomed to and mastered.

Another important aspect: not only the terrain itself is important, but also the style of the map creator. Orientation maps are created by human cartographers, not artificial intelligence, so each map is also a human interpretation. Athletes need to train in the country where the championship will be held in order to understand how the author sees and conveys the terrain,” says V. Aleliūnas.

Lithuanians – close to the elite

The camp was crowned by the World Ranking competition, which was also full of sporting intrigue. In the men’s group, Lithuanian representative Tautvydas Rimkus won 6th place, and in the women’s competition, Judita Traubaitė took 5th place, competing with the strongest European athletes.

Finnish athlete Syrjäläinen Topis won the men’s group, and second place went to young Estonian athlete Joonas Jürgen, who demonstrated excellent preparation for the season. In the women’s group, Danish athlete Annika Gautschi Simonsen won, and Sandra Grosberga, the representative of neighbouring Latvia, took second place.

According to V. Aleliūnas, the Lithuanian terrain itself can level the playing field.

“We can already see that Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians compete on equal terms with the strongest athletes in the world in this type of terrain. These are our forests, we are used to them. This means that the competition in the championship will be even more interesting – both for participants and spectators,” he says.

Preparations for the championship are gaining momentum

The second camp is just one of the stages in preparation for the largest orienteering event ever held in Lithuania. At the end of August, the third and final, official camp will be held in Lithuania at the end of August. This camp will serve as a decisive test before the championship and is the last step during which countries will finally select athletes for their national teams.

This will also be the last opportunity for the Lithuanian national team to finalise its composition: eight men and eight women who will represent Lithuania at the European Championship will be determined. According to V. Aleliūnas, Lithuanian athletes at this championship will strive to enter the top six in the team relay competition and the top ten in the individual classification for both men and women.

The European Orienteering Championship will be held on September 22–27, 2026 in the Druskininkai area and the Lazdijai district. In total, over 300 athletes from more than 35 countries of the Old Continent are expected. The organisers invite you to watch the competition and support our athletes both live and via event broadcasts.

The European Orienteering Championships are partially financed by state funds, administered by the Lithuanian National Sports Agency.