Harald Thon (1954 – 28 December 2019) is a Norwegian orienteering competitor who represented the club

IF Sturla Idrettsforeningen Sturla is a Norwegian sports club from Drammen, founded in 1923. It has sections for athletics, orienteering and skiing. The athletics uses Marienlyst stadion as their home field. Among its most prominent members are long-dista ...

and the Norwegian national team. He was part of the Norwegian winning team in relay at the

World Orienteering Championships The World Orienteering Championships (or WOC for short) is an annual orienteering event organized by the International Orienteering Federation. The first World Championships was held in Fiskars, Finland in 1966. They were held biennially up to 2 ...

in 1981 and 1983.

Career

Thon became Norwegian orienteering champion in relay with

seven years in a row, in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985. He became Norwegian champion in the long distance in 1979 ( course length 23.3 kilometers, 22 controls), and again in 1980 (course length 27.0 kilometers, 25 controls). He was awarded ''Bjarne Bjerckes pokal'' for his results in the long distance national championships. He won an individual silver medal in the Norwegian championships in 1982 (course length 12.1 kilometers), behind

Egil Iversen Egil Iversen is a Norwegian orienteering competitor. He received a bronze medal in the ''individual'' event at the 1985 World Orienteering Championships in Bendigo. National championships Iversen became Norwegian champion (individual event) in ...

, and an individual bronze medal in 1983 (course length 13.3 kilometers). Thon competed at the 1981

Thun , neighboring_municipalities= Amsoldingen, Heiligenschwendi, Heimberg, Hilterfingen, Homberg, Schwendibach, Spiez, Steffisburg, Thierachern, Uetendorf, Zwieselberg , twintown = , website = www.thun.ch Thun (french: Thou ...

, Switzerland, where he placed 10th in the individual competition, and won a gold medal in the ''relay event'', together with Øyvin Thon, Tore Sagvolden and

Sigurd Dæhli Sigurd Dæhli (born 6 May 1953) is a Norwegian orienteering competitor. He became Relay World Champion in 1981, by participating on the Norwegian winning team in Thun, Switzerland.

. At the 1983 World Orienteering Championships in

Zalaegerszeg Zalaegerszeg (; hr, Jegersek; sl, Jageršek; german: Egersee) is the administrative center of Zala county in western Hungary. Location Zalaegerszeg lies on the banks of the Zala River, close to the Slovenian and Austrian borders and west-south ...

, Hungary, he won his second world championship relay, together with Morten Berglia, Øyvin Thon and Tore Sagvolden. Thon was running the last (fourth) leg, and started 1.17 minutes behind leading Switzerland. He passed the leader when the Swiss runner had a miss at the tenth

control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controllin ...

, and won the relay with a margin of one and a half minute ahead of the Czechoslovak team. Harald Thon died in 2019, on 28 December. He was an older brother of Øyvin Thon, a seven-times world champion in orienteering.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thon, Harald 1954 births 2019 deaths Sportspeople from Drammen Norwegian orienteers Male orienteers Foot orienteers World Orienteering Championships medalists 20th-century Norwegian people