Olli Ojanaho (born February 25, 1997) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...

competitor. He was born in

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the Rovaniemi su ...

and started his youth career representing the club Ounasvaaran Hiihtoseura. As of 2017 Ojanaho lives in Helsinki"Olli Ojanaho will orienteer more than ever"
(Retrieved on July 25, 2017) and represents

Helsingin Suunnistajat Helsingin Suunnistajat is a Finnish orienteering club in Helsinki, Finland. It was founded in 1943. History The club won the 10-mila relay in 1954 and in 1970. Its team won the HD18 relay in the ''10-mila of the youth'' in August 2013. In April ...

Junior career

Ojanaho made his debut at the

Junior World Orienteering Championships The Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) are an annual orienteering competition. They were first held in 1990. Entry is open to national teams aged 20 and below as of 31 December in the year of competition. Representative countries mu ...

(JWOC) in 2014 in

Borovets Borovets ( , known as Chamkoria ( ) until the middle of the 20th century) is a mountain resort in Samokov Municipality in Sofia Province in Bulgaria. Geography Borovets is situated on the northern slopes of Rila mountain, at an elevation of ...

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. At the age of 17, three years younger than his oldest competitors, he won a bronze medal at the middle distance. The following year, at the 2015 JWOC in

Rauland Rauland is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1860 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Vinje Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Raulandsgrend (also known ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, he won three gold medals after winning all three forest races: the long distance, the middle distance and the relay. At the 2017 JWOC on home soil in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

, Ojanaho won all three individual races: the two individual forest races and the sprint."Tre VM-guld på tre försök"
(Retrieved on July 25, 2017) This feat was matched the same year by

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runner

Simona Aebersold Simona Aebersold (born 13 April 1998) is a Swiss orienteering competitor. She is the daughter of Christian Aebersold, who won the World Orienteering Championships 3 times. Career Aebersold dominated the Junior World Championships between 2015 a ...

. He is the most decorated male orienteer ever at the junior level after having won six gold, one silver and two bronze medals at the JWOC.

Senior career

Ojanaho debuted at the senior championship level in 2017 when he represented

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

at the

2017 World Orienteering Championships The 34th World Orienteering Championships were held in Tartu, Estonia in June/July 2017. The official name of the event is Nokian Tyres World Orienteering Championships 2017 after the title sponsor Nokian Tyres. Event dates and locations R ...

(WOC) in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. The senior WOC was scheduled just one week ahead of the JWOC as doubling of the events and hence a conflicting programme for the athletes is normally not an issue. Ojanaho finished 27th in the middle distance."WOC 2017 - Official results for middle distance"
(Retrieved on July 25, 2017) At WOC 2021 in Czech Republic his best position was a 4th place in relay. At WOC 2023 in Switzerland he won a bronze medal at long distance and a silver medal in the relay together with Topi Syrjalainen and Miika Kirmula

World Championship results

References

External links

* 1997 births Living people Finnish male orienteers Finnish foot orienteers Sportspeople from Rovaniemi Junior World Orienteering Championships medalists 21st-century Finnish sportsmen {{Finland-orienteering-bio-stub