IRO Judges WCH 2025
Supervising judge
JERNEJA TERNOVEC (SI)
has been active in the sport of search and rescue since 1995. She has been a rescue dog trainer since 2003, a national rescue dog judge since 2006 and an international IRO performance judge since 2008. She is an active dog handler and trainer, and is currently Spokesperson for Training and Judges in the IRO board.
Main judge OB/DX
Pavla Foltynova (CZ)
She began training search and rescue dogs in 2006. With her Flatcoated Retrievers, she has passed several IRO tests in the disciplines of area, rubble search and water rescue, including World Championships in area and rubble search. She has taken part in MRTs in rubble search and in natural MRTs in rubble and area search as well as in several real searches in the field. Her career as an IRO judge began in 2022.
Co-judge OB/DX
Hannes Hiltpolt (AT)
has been an active dog handler since 1995 and recently retired. He has been an international judge for rescue dogs (FCI) since 2008 and an international IRO judge since 2015.
Main judge rubble
Alois Russegger (AT)
has been an active rescue dog handler since 1981 and was a military dog handler for protection and rescue dogs until 2017. Among other things, he is an active mantrailer and instructor at the IMTAK9 (International Mantrailing Academy). In 2007 he became an international IRO judge and trainer.
Co-Judge Rubble
Kazuhiro Sawada (JP)
has been active in dog sport and training since 1976. He founded a private dog school in 1981. He has taken part in several IRO World Championships, is an active dog handler and became an international IRO judge in 2005.
Main Judge Area
Kaori Oshima (JP)
has been active in rescue dog work since 1994. She is a founding member of RDTA Japan and has completed numerous missions in area searches, after earthquakes or landslides. She has also been a training officer at RDTA since 2005. The 7-time world championship participant (search and rescue division) has already trained ten dogs up to level B. She has been an IRO performance judge since 2009 and an IRO classifier for MRT debris since 2017.
Co-judge Area
Astrid Laner (IT)
Her canine CV began as a child, as her father was an enthusiastic shepherd breeder. In 1983, she began working in the rescue dog field (area and avalanche search). Since 1985 she has taken part in numerous search operations. IRO judge since 2002. Last passed MRT 2017, as well as 3rd place at the IRO World Championship 2017 in rubble search.
Main judge Tracking
Detlef Kühn (DE)
started dog sport at the age of 16. After being a national judge for several years, he became an international IRO judge in 1993. He was a member of the IRO Board for many years and is judge and classifier at numerous IRO testing events, World Championships and MRTs worldwide.
Co-judge Tracking
Margot Luukas (EE)
Involved in SAR dog work since 2008, she has served as an operational dog handler in several national search missions as well participated successfully in IRO tests and World Championships. She became an international judge in 2018 and joined the IRO international judges’ community in 2023.