The IOF will introduce a new sprint format to their competitions ©Getty Images

The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) have announced the addition of a third sprint format for the IOF World Championships.

The decision has been confirmed following an initial IOF Council meeting in October.

The new sprint format will take the form of a one-day competition, with qualification taking place before quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final - known as elimination rounds.

The IOF Council believe that the qualification round will open up the possibility of broad participation.

The Council, however, did not decide on a splitting method for elimination rounds and have requested further testing.

Sweden's Tove Alexandersson has won the last four women's IOF World Cup competitions ©Getty Images
Sweden's Tove Alexandersson has won the last four women's IOF World Cup competitions ©Getty Images

The three proposals that have been put forward are - "no forking", a "course choice model" where each competitor would pick one of three options and, finally, "butterfly forking".

The IOF are inviting clubs and national teams to test the new sprint format and submit feedback to the organisation before the event is introduced at the World Cup in the Czech Republic later this year.

A final report regarding the new format is due in November 2018.

They then plan to add it to the World Orienteering Championships programme, which currently involves individual sprint and mixed sprint relay races, from 2020.