The 2024 Dinghai Foot Orienteering World Ranking Event officially kicked off on December 28 in Dinghai District, Zhoushan City. Elite orienteers from countries and regions such as Belgium, Czech Republic, and Sweden, along with professional orienteers from 27 provinces and cities across China, gathered in Dinghai, an "Ancient Maritime City with Thousands of Years of History" to share an annual sports extravaganza integrating culture, sports, and tourism.

It is reported that the Foot Orienteering World Ranking Event has been held in Dinghai, Zhoushan for two consecutive years. Dinghai's diverse topography, along with its elegant towns and villages, provides unique conditions and a solid foundation for orienteering. The high level of competition, professional event operation, and excellent event organization have garnered praise from many participants and widespread media attention. This two-day event adopts a format of "Orienteering + Public Participation," including both highly watchable and challenging professional orienteering competitions, as well as the concurrent Dinghai City Orienteering Event, which involves a larger crowd, wider scope, and stronger element of fun. This seamlessly integrates orienteering with urban three-dimensional scenes, continuously narrowing the distance between orienteering and the general public, and constantly injecting vitality and dynamism into this innovative branded sports IP.

With the sound of the starting horn, elite international and domestic orienteers used maps to complete positioning check-ins in the designated order. The complex and ever-changing road conditions and the competitive state of racing against the clock made the entire event full of anticipation and excitement.

After fierce competition, Tomas Krivda from the Czech Republic ultimately took first place in the men's elite short distance group on the first day of competition with a time of 15 minutes and 4.4 seconds. Yannick Michiels from Belgium and Oystein Kvaal Osterbo from Norway won second and third place, respectively. In the women's elite group, the champion was Jana Pekarova from the Czech Republic with a time of 16 minutes and 33.2 seconds, with Hao Shuangyan from China and Aniko Koren from Hungary taking second and third place, respectively.

This is the second year that Dinghai has held the Foot Orienteering World Ranking Event. Relying on Dinghai's profound historical and cultural heritage and stunning island scenery, the event aims to promote "Sports + Culture & Tourism" and practice the concept of "Traveling with Events," cleverly combining cultural and tourism resources, urban construction, and orienteering, promoting the harmonious interaction and common development of urban socio-economic, cultural, sports, and tourism industries. In recent years, Dinghai District has utilized its natural endowments, adhered to using event economy as a key driver, leveraged the comprehensive social and economic effects of high-level events to continuously accelerate the integration of related industries and the construction of beautiful villages, empowering high-quality urban-rural development, and adding new momentum to Dinghai, the "Ancient Maritime City with Thousands of Years of History," and has become a dazzling new star in the Zhoushan island tourism circle.