# Characteristics of the Medallists of the World Masters Orienteering Championships
###### Abstract  
This research aimed to investigate morphological parameters (body mass, height, BMI) of medallists at the World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC), alongside their sports achievements and results. Fifty medallists from the 2022 WMOC, aged 35 to 80, were surveyed using a questionnaire, with non-parametric statistics (Mann-Whitney U test and \(\rho\)-Spearman test) applied for analysis. The average height was 179 cm for men and 165 cm for women, with average weights of 70 kg for men and 54 kg for women. BMI was 21.5 (SD = 1.43) for men and 20.4 (SD = 1.74) for women, with significantly lower BMI values in women (\(Z\) = 2.054, \(p\) = 0.04). Men's BMI decreased with age (R = \(-\)0.534, \(p\) < 0.01). The BMI value of masters foot orienteers is typical for middle-distance runners. Women are closer to the somatotype of 1500 m athletes and men to 800 m athletes. Lack of earlier elite success does not preclude being on the podium at the WMOC (only 3 of the 50 medallists surveyed had won a medal in elite competition in the past). morphological parameters; foot orienteering: BMI; aging +
Footnote †: journal: Applied sciences  
people much younger than them, for whom they can be a motivation to undertake regular physical activity [16]. Orienteering involves finding control points in the terrain as quickly as possible in a given order based on the content of a specialized map [17]. Orienteering is an endurance sport in which the final result depends on a number of factors other than endurance--both those determining the running speed and those influencing the ability to quickly and accurately choose a variant based on the information contained in the map [18]. The quality of orientation techniques and tactics is the result of the efficiency of specific cognitive processes that influence not only the ability to choose a variant but also the ability to remember the content of the map, find one's way in the field based on comparing the image created in the head with the real one, and quickly correcting errors made [17; 19; 20; 21]. Orienteering seems to be a sport \"perfectly tailored\" to the needs and capabilities of older adults due to several characteristic features that favor participation until old age [22; 23; 24]. According to [PERSON] et al. [24], orienteering could be seen as an interesting sport from a lifelong participation perspective because it is a low-cost sport that has a positive impact on cardiovascular health. The World Masters Orienteering Championships (WMOC) is one of the mass orienteering events and has been held every year for nearly 40 years (the first one took place in Lahti, Finland in 1983). The WMOC attracts several thousand participants at the start. Over 2500 people from 37 countries in 25 classes took part in the 2022 WMOC. The class for the oldest women was W95 and M90 for men. The oldest 2022 WMOC participant was a 96-year-old woman. Participation in the competition is open to all interested people who are 35 years of age or older. Participants compete in classes divided by sex and age at intervals of 5 years. During the championships, there are three individual competitions, over three distances (sprint, middle, and classic distance) preceded by qualifications. Holding three final heats makes it possible to select more than three medallists in one class (a maximum of nine--assuming that none of them is repeated and that there is no more than one competitor in each place). However, many medallists win medals in more than one distance [25]. This study aimed to characterize the medallists of the 2022 WMOC and to determine their typical morphological parameters (body height, body mass, BMI) and also the highest and current performance and previous sports achievements. For this purpose, an analysis was carried out to answer the following questions:  
1. \"What are the typical body height, body mass, and BMI values of the 2022 WMOC medallists, and are they similar to the body structure of athletes?\"
2. \"Do these parameters change with the age of the participants?\"
3.