Harald Thon (1954 – 28 December 2019) is a Norwegian

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 ...

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 Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreati ...

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 Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

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

Thun Thun (french: Thoune) is a town and a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located where the Aare flows out of Lake Thun (Thunersee), southeast of Bern. the municipality has almost ...

, 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. At the 1983 World Orienteering Championships in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary, he won his second world championship relay, together with

Morten Berglia Morten Berglia (born 3 August 1958) is a Norwegian orienteering competitor. He won a gold medal in the individual competition at the 1983 World Orienteering Championships,

, 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, 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