Brent Langbakk is no stranger to the World Orienteering Championship.

Just eight short years after he first took up the sport, Langbakk has represented Canada on four separate occasions at this event.

This week will mark the fifth time the Whitehorse native has donned the maple leaf at the championship, but despite his frequent appearance rate in recent years, Langbakk says participating is always special.

"It's sort of a unique opportunity," he said. "Not very many people get a chance to participate in this event, so it's pretty special. It's mostly just great to share the whole experience with other people who enjoy the sport as much as you do."

Langbakk qualified for this year's championships at a selection race held in Ottawa at the end of May. At the selection race, he competed in the three different distances for the individual category, being short, middle and long.

The top three Canadians in each discipline qualify for the world championship and with a third place in the sprint event, Langbakk locked down a spot on Team Canada. Langbakk also finished in the top five for the middle distance, which placed him as an alternate on the team.

The sprint is the shortest among the three races and usually has a 15 minute winning time. The sprint distance focuses on running at a really high speed and making quick decisions, while having to deal with a variety of different direction changes.

The middle distance event is more focused on technical orienteering. It normally uses a really intricate style of course. The middle distance also involves being able to interpret the map very precisely and has around a 35 minute winning time.

The long discipline usually has a 90 to 100 minute winning time and the two main challenges faced by orienteerers in this category involve the route choice as well as being able to focus through the fatigue of the longer distance.

Langbakk, who normally excels in the long distance category, will compete in the sprint for the first time at the world's. This year's competition will be held in the Czech Republic and the sprint event will feature a more urban environment.

Langbakk's best finish at the world's was 21st in the long distance in Japan in 2005 and he had the same result last year in the long category. The 2007 competition was held in the Ukraine.

There are three heats for each discipline at the worlds, which usually have 40 to 50 participants in each one. The top 15 competitors in each heat qualify for the final. If Langbakk qualifies for the final, he will compete in another sprint race, which will also be held on the same day.

Langbakk said his only goal is to improve upon his previous results at the world's.

"I think the goal is to improve upon my previous results even though it's a different discipline," he said. "So that's sort of what I am going in there with, but really if I perform well for me then I will be totally happy."

Although this will be the first time Langbakk has competed in the sprint event at the world's, he has taken part in more than a few urban sprints in other prestigious meets. These competitions include the North American Championships and world cup races.

In preparation for the sprint category, Langbakk has been focusing his training towards improving his overall speed. He has also been doing some mental preparations and using sprint maps for his orienteering runs.

Langbakk's training is year round and in the winter months he does other aerobic activities to keep in shape, such as cross-country skiing. As soon as the snow is gone, he participates in a variety of exercises that practice orienteering. The different aspects of the sport include navigation and running.

Langbakk said there is a lot of pride with representing Canada at the world's.

"I think any time you get to run for your country and run with Canada on your back it's pretty exciting," he said "So I'm really looking forward to it, it should be fun."