# 1966 World Orienteering Championships

The 1st World Orienteering Championships were held in the village of Fiskars, Finland, 1–2 October 1966.
Participants from eleven nations competed in the championships: Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East Germany, Finland, Great Britain, Hungary, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. The medals were distributed between Sweden (3 gold, 1 bronze), Finland (3 silver, 1 bronze), Norway (1 gold, 2 bronze) and Switzerland (1 silver medal).
The men's individual course had 11 controls over 14.1 kilometres, while the women's individual course had 10 controls over 8.1 kilometres.
The first individual world champions in orienteering came from Norway and Sweden. Winner of the men's competition was Åge Hadler from Norway. Hadler regarded the eighth control, which was located in thick forest, as the most difficult, where the last part of the leg required meticulous map reading and frequent checking of the compass. Ulla Lindkvist from Sweden won the women's competition. Sweden won the men's relay, which had four legs, with a margin of nearly eight minutes. Sweden also won the women's relay, which had three legs, with a margin of 21 seconds to silver medalist Finland.
The championships were attended by President of Finland, Urho Kekkonen, who was present at the finishing area.

## Medalists

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| Men's individual | Åge Hadler (NOR) | 1:36:05 | Aimo Tepsell (FIN) | 1:38:47 | Anders Morelius (SWE) | 1:40:05 |
| Women's individual | Ulla Lindkvist (SWE) | 52:45 | Katharina Perch-Nielsen (SUI) | 1:00:30 | Raila Hovi (FIN) | 1:00:51 |
| Men's relay | Sweden (SWE) Bertil NormanKarl JohanssonAnders MoreliusGöran Öhlund | 3.51.42 | Finland (FIN) Erkki KohvakkaRolf KoskinenJuhani SalmenkyläAimo Tepsell | 3.59.34 | Norway (NOR) Dagfinn OlsenOla SkarholtÅge HadlerStig Berge | 4.26.35 |
| Women's relay | Sweden (SWE) Kerstin GranstedtEivor Steen-OlssonGunborg Åhling | 2.42.58 | Finland (FIN) Anja MeldoPirjo RuotsalainenRaila Hovi | 2.43.19 | Norway (NOR) Astrid HansenRagnhild KristensenIngrid Thoresen | 2.54.29 |

## Results
### Men's individual

WOC 1966 – Individual – Men (14.1 km) :
| Rank | Competitor | Nation | Time |
| | Åge Hadler | Norway | 1:36:05 |
| | Aimo Tepsell | Finland | 1:38:47 |
| | Anders Morelius | Sweden | 1:40:05 |
| 4 | Dagfinn Olsen | Norway | 1:40:37 |
| 5 | Juhani Salmenkylä | Finland | 1:40:38 |
| 6 | Göran Öhlund | Sweden | 1:41:05 |
| 7 | Rolf Koskinen | Finland | 1:41:11 |
| 8 | Stig Berge | Norway | 1:42:23 |
| 9 | Karl Johansson | Sweden | 1:42:48 |
| 10 | Heino Avikainen | Finland | 1:45:38 |
| 11 | Erkki Kohvakka | Finland | 1:45:52 |
| 12 | Ola Skarholt | Norway | 1:45:57 |
| 13 | Hans Ekberg | Sweden | 1:48:10 |
| 14 | Jostein Nilsen | Norway | 1:48:26 |
| 15 | Hannu Haarma | Finland | 1:49:10 |
| 16 | Alex Schwager | Switzerland | 1:50:08 |
| 17 | Bertil Norman | Sweden | 1:50:26 |
| 18 | Erik Engebråten | Norway | 1:50:30 |
| 19 | Sven-Ola Darell | Sweden | 1:51:19 |
| 20 | Keld Olsen | Denmark | 1:54:41 |
| 21 | Leif Nörgård | Denmark | 1:55:16 |
| 22 | Flemming Nörgård | Denmark | 2:00:16 |
| 23 | Svatoslav Galík | Czechoslovakia | 2:03:41 |
| 24 | Max Jüni | Switzerland | 2:06:06 |
| 25 | Finn Faxner | Denmark | 2:07:20 |
| 26 | Christian Jaggi | Switzerland | 2:08:57 |
| 27 | Fritz Maurer | Switzerland | 2:12:02 |
| 28 | Helmut Conrad | East Germany | 2:12:26 |
| 29 | Roland Hirter | Switzerland | 2:12:27 |
| 30 | Peter Nilsen | Denmark | 2:13:17 |
| 31 | Jindrich Novotny | Czechoslovakia | 2:13:25 |
| 32 | Jörn Esbensen | Denmark | 2:16:21 |
| 33 | Harald Grosse | East Germany | 2:16:45 |
| 34 | Andreas Örsi | Hungary | 2:17:42 |
| 35 | Antonin Urbanec | Czechoslovakia | 2:17:47 |
| 36 | Gustav Bartak | Czechoslovakia | 2:20:03 |
| 37 | Iwan Skerletz | Hungary | 2:20:34 |
| 38 | Alois Lasnicka | Czechoslovakia | 2:27:27 |
| 39 | Georg Schönviszky | Bulgaria | 2:30:05 |
| 40 | Franz Trampusch | Austria | 2:32:08 |
| 41 | Ernst Saxer | Switzerland | 2:32:27 |
| 42 | Alistair Patten | Great Britain | 2:33:09 |
| 43 | Ladislaus Deseö | Hungary | 2:33:27 |
| 44 | Rolf Heinemann | East Germany | 2:33:37 |
| 45 | Michail Galov | Bulgaria | 2:36:06 |
| 46 | Gordon Pirie | Great Britain | 2:43:48 |
| 47 | Thomas Balogh | Hungary | 2:45:48 |
| 48 | David Griffiths | Great Britain | 2:47:07 |
| 49 | John Disley | Great Britain | 2:48:56 |
| 50 | Georgi Gealtov | Bulgaria | 2:51:24 |
| 51 | Achim Zemanek | East Germany | 3:01:56 |
| 52 | Haralan Haralanoff | Austria | 3:05:55 |
| 53 | Michael Murray | Great Britain | 3:16:52 |
| 54 | Raimund Sobotka | Austria | 3:23:57 |
| 55 | Tony Walker | Great Britain | 3:29:12 |
| 56 | Grigor Kaloianov | Bulgaria | 3:55:30 |
| DSQ | Nikola Bedelev | Bulgaria | |
| DSQ | Sepp Michael Pacher | Austria | |

### Women's individual

WOC 1966 – Individual – Women :
| Rank | Competitor | Nation | Time |
| | Ulla Lindkvist | Sweden | 52:45 |
| | Katherina Perch-Nielsen | Switzerland | 1:00:30 |
| | Raila Hovi | Finland | 1:00:51 |
| 4 | Kerstin Granstedt | Sweden | 1:01:30 |
| 5 | Eivor Steen-Olsson | Sweden | 1:02:54 |
| 6 | Ingrid Thoresen | Norway | 1:03:29 |
| 7 | Annakäthi Grieder | Switzerland | 1:04:58 |
| 8 | Anja Meldo | Finland | 1:05:06 |
| 9 | Sarolta Monspart | Hungary | 1:05:25 |
| 10 | Gunborg Åhling | Sweden | 1:05:33 |
| 11 | Ragnhild Kristensen | Norway | 1:09:36 |
| 12 | Vibeke Såbye Christensen | Denmark | 1:11:44 |
| 13 | Barbara Cser | Hungary | 1:12:18 |
| 14 | Astrid Hansen | Norway | 1:13:07 |
| 15 | Erika Wauer | East Germany | 1:14:05 |
| 16 | Marianne Selbo | Denmark | 1:16:20 |
| 17 | Nadezda Linhartova | Czechoslovakia | 1:16:59 |
| 18 | Pirjo Ruotsalainen | Finland | 1:17:38 |
| 19 | Anna-Liisa Nissi | Finland | 1:17:50 |
| 20 | Ulrike Heinemann | East Germany | 1:18:08 |
| 21 | Dobruse Novotna | Czechoslovakia | 1:19:40 |
| 22 | Karin Ågesen | Denmark | 1:23:10 |
| 23 | Ria Meyer | East Germany | 1:24:29 |
| 24 | Ludmila Kumbarova | Czechoslovakia | 1:28:23 |
| 25 | Delia Stoeva | Bulgaria | 1:28:44 |
| 26 | Irene Köhli | Switzerland | 1:29:15 |
| 27 | Bjørg Knudsen | Norway | 1:38:05 |
| 28 | Eliza Stoianova | Bulgaria | 1:39:35 |
| 29 | Olga Tascheva | Bulgaria | 1:40:52 |
| 30 | Eva Hohausova | Czechoslovakia | 1:44:52 |
| 31 | Christine Lüdin | Switzerland | 1:49:34 |
| 32 | Bodil Jakobsen | Denmark | 1:51:43 |
| 33 | Margarete Babay | Hungary | 2:10:58 |
| 34 | Gisela Haralanoff | Austria | 2:25:14 |
| 35 | Magdalene Molnar | Hungary | 2:25:59 |