Starting 26 May 2025, a new format, PreO Sprint, has been approved by IOF as the third format of trail orienteering. It is the equivalent of a “middle distance” orienteering event, where PreO is a “long distance” event and a TempO is a “sprint distance” event.
Similar to traditional PreO, a competitor in a PreO Sprint race also moves along a course and answer multiple-choice questions within a time limit, with the number of correct answers being the primary ranking criteria. However, there are a few distinguishing differences between a PreO Sprint and a traditional PreO race:
- The time limit is much shorter. The standard decision time is 1 minute per control, plus the time required to move along the course. The time limit of the whole course must be 30 minutes or less. In contrast, the standard is 3 minutes per control in a traditional PreO course.
- There can only be A and Z answers, i.e. all the decisions made is to decide whether there is a flag placed at the control or not, unlike in traditional PreO where there can be up to 5 flags (A to E) to choose from.
- There are no timed stations. The time used on the course is the tie-breaker, unlike in traditional PreO where the time used is irrelevant as long as it is under the time limit.
- In order to be fair between able-bodied and paralysed competitors, the course should be set to be as short as practicable, with minimal movement from the decision points required to solve the tasks correctly. The total course length must not be longer than 15 m per control. Furthermore, there is also a handicap factor which is applied to P-class competitors on the time used.
The challenge of PreO Sprint is to read and interpret the map in complex terrain and make accurate decisions quickly, therefore, simple terrains suitable for TempO, like urban areas and parks, may not be appropriate for PreO Sprint.
The first PreO Sprint World Ranking Event was successfully held in March 2026 in Dolný Lopašov, Slovakia, in the same terrain used for the relay race in World Trail Orienteering Championships 2025. The following was the race map in the first race.