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Jan Alvar Kjellström (12 April 1940 – 12 January 1967) was a Swedish orienteer who played an important role in the development of the sport of orienteering in Great Britain.

Kjellström was the son of Silva compass co-founder Alvar Estrid Petrus Kjellström and Ebon Hulda Anna Eugenia Kjellström. He was the nephew of Björn Kjellström.

He travelled to Great Britain to promote the sport of orienteering. There, he helped to accelerate developments in orienteering competition, mapping and coaching. Kjellström went back to Sweden, where he was killed in a car accident in January 1967.

Jan Kjellström International Orienteering Festival

1967 saw the first Jan Kjellström International Orienteering Festival or "JK", held in memory of Kjellström. The annual JK moved to Easter in 1969, and now regularly attracts a field of four thousand or more. The 1974 JK was the first British event to attract more than one thousand entrants. It now attracts around 4000 people from the UK and abroad.

See also

• British Orienteering Federation
• Björn Kjellström

References

1. Sweden, Births from the Swedish Death Index, 1901-2006
2. "JK 2017". Jan Kjellström International Orienteering Festival. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
3. Bryant, John (2012). Chris Brasher: The Man Who Made the London Marathon. Aurum Press. p. 178. ISBN 9781845136840.
4. The Orienteer, Jan 1970, Vol. 2, No. 4, page 9.
5. Sveriges befolkning 1950, ArkivDigital
6. ^ "How orienteering began". Retrieved 16 April 2016.
7. https://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/page/the_jk#:~:text=It%20takes%20place%20each%20year,both%20the%20UK%20and%20abroad.

• 1940 births
• 1967 deaths
• Sportspeople from Stockholm
• Orienteering innovators
• Swedish male orienteers
• Orienteering in the United Kingdom
• Road incident deaths in Sweden
• 20th-century Swedish sportsmen