Kristian Jones or Kris Jones (born 3 April 1991) is a competitor in

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a s ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

, competing for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. He also competes for

Lillomarka Lillomarka is an area located to the northeast of Oslo, Norway. It is a part of Oslomarka and serves as a popular recreational area. Lillomarka is bordered by Maridalen and Nordmarka in the west, Nittedal and Gjelleråsen in the east, the suburb ...

OK in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, Forth Valley orienteers and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Orienteering

Jones has had most success in Sprint Orienteering, winning medals in the European Championships and the Junior World Championships, and winning the Jan Kjellstrom Orienteering Festival Sprint 3 times in a row from 2016 to 2018. He also has success in the

British Orienteering Championships The British Orienteering Championships are the highest level of competition in Orienteering in the United Kingdom, along with the Jan Kjellström International Festival of Orienteering, JK Orienteering Festival. 1967 saw the first British Champion ...

, winning both the Middle and Sprint twice. in 2016, Jones came 4th in all 3 disciplines he competed in (Sprint, Mixed Sprint Relay and Relay) at the World Championships in Stromstad,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, the closest he has come to a medal in 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 20 ...

. In 2018, Jones received a bronze medal at the European Championships, after

Daniel Hubmann Daniel Hubmann (born 16 April 1983 in Eschlikon, Thurgau) is a Swiss orienteering competitor, world champion in all three individual disciplines and multiple winner of the overall Orienteering World Cup. He is the brother of Martin Hubmann. ...

and

Matthias Kyburz Matthias Kyburz (born 5 March 1990) is a Swiss orienteering competitor, junior world champion, European champion and multiple world champion. On 16 April 2020, Kyburz attained the world record in quickest time reaching 50km on a treadmill, in a t ...

(both from

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

) shared the gold medal. He also won the first leg of the Jukola relay, although his team were eventually disqualified. In 2022, Jones was a part of the Great Britain team that came second in the Sprint Relay at the

, along with Charlotte Ward,

Ralph Street Ralph Street (born 1990) is a British orienteering competitor. He was part of the British team that came second in the sprint relay at the 2022 World Orienteering Championships. His team included Megan Carter Davies, Kris Jones and Charlott ...

and

Megan Carter Davies Megan Carter-Davies (born 1996) is a British orienteering competitor. She became sprint world champion at the 2022 World Orienteering Championships. This made her only the third British athlete to become world champion in an individual disciplin ...

. Jones finished the penultimate leg with a one second lead over the Swedish team, but

Tove Alexandersson Tove Alexandersson (born 7 September 1992) is a Swedish orienteer, ski orienteer, skyrunner and ski mountaineer. She has won a total of 17 gold medals at the World Orienteering Championships and 10 gold medals at the World Ski Orienteering Champ ...

won the last leg, leading Sweden to victory. Jones also placed third in the sprint discipline before being disqualified.

Athletics

In Athletics, Jones was selected to run the 10,000m at the European Cup for Great Britain in 2017, held in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

. He did not finish due to a calf injury. The injury also forced him to miss the World Sprint Orienteering Championships three weeks later. In December 2018, Jones was a last minute call up for the British team at the

2018 European Cross Country Championships The 2018 European Cross Country Championships was the 25th edition of the cross country running competition for European athletes. It was hosted in Tilburg, Netherlands.Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

. He exceeded expectations, coming 12th in the senior men's race and becoming the 2nd counter for Great Britain as they won the silver in the team competition. On 17 October 2020, Jones competed in the 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships for Great Britain. The race was held in

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, having been postponed due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Jones placed 60th in the Elite race, in a time of 1:03:05. In 2022, Jones came fifth at the

2022 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships The 2021 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (abbreviated WMTRC 2021) was an inaugural event which combined the World Mountain Running Championships and IAU Trail World Championships. The event was organised by the World Mountain Runni ...

in the 40k event, and won a Bronze medal in the Team Short Trail with

Jonathan Albon Jonathan Albon (born 19 April 1989) is a British sky runner and obstacle course racer who has won three Skyrunner World Series. Biography Originally from Great Dunmow in Essex, Albon later moved to live in Bergen, Norway. He twice won the fin ...

and Billy Cartwright. Jones also competed in the 2023 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, where he came 8th in the short trail competition and won the gold medal for the team competition in the same event along with Jonathan Albon and Thomas Roach. https://www.innsbruck-stubai2023.com/en/

References

External links

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Kristian Jones
at World of O Runners {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Kristian 1991 births Living people British orienteers Male orienteers Foot orienteers Junior World Orienteering Championships medalists