Denmark and hosts Sweden dominated the individual disciplines at last year's event, which was held in the Stromstad and Tanum.

Sweden's Jerker Lysell will be aiming to retain his men's sprint crown while compatriot Tove Alexandersson, who was named as the International Orienteering Federation’s (IOF) athlete of the year for 2016, will be defending her women's long and middle distance titles.

Maja Alm of Denmark will also be in Estonia, attempting to win back-to-back women's sprint gold medals.

Norway's Olav Lundanes is back, hoping to retain his long distance men's title, while Matthias Kyburz is the current men's middle distance champion.

Organisers claim 50 nations have athletes registered for the event, with all continents represented. 

The championships will be broadcast live in Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Sweden while highlights programmes will be available in 139 countries around the world. 

"We are very happy that we have been able to further increase the visibility of orienteering and the World Orienteering Championships through several new broadcasting deals," said IOF chief executive, Tom Hollowell.

"We have also established a consistent quality in our live productions and are glad to see a continued interest from core markets.

"We are still awaiting last-minute answers from several other broadcasting partners, among others in North America, so the above numbers might grow slightly."

The first medals are due to be awarded tomorrow in the sprint event.

The sprint relay then takes centre stage on Sunday (July 2) with the long and middle distance races pencilled in for July 4 and 6 respectively.

Competition will then come to an end on July 7 with the relay event.