When the summer world championships for biathletes slowly pick up speed on Thursday with the first junior competitions, there is more at stake for the skiers than the hunt for world championship titles. The event in the Chiemgau Arena in Ruhpolding could become a milestone for the sport. We took a look at the most important questions in advance.
What is the Summer Biathlon World Championships?
In 1996, the biathlon governing body IBU decided to take the discipline of summer biathlon under its wing. In the same year, the first World Championships were held in the Austrian biathlon Mecca Hochfilzen, but at that time the stars of the scene still had to leave their skis in the closet.
Winter serial winners such as Ole Einar Björndalen, Vladimir Drachev or Liv Grete Skjelbreid, who started at the first event, had to complete a cross-country course and complete shooting bouts with small-bore rifles, as in winter. One penalty loop must be completed for each missed target.
Only ten years later, in the Russian UFA, competitions on roller skis were included in the program, in 2010 cross-country disciplines were removed from the World Cup program.
Incidentally, whether the sun is shining is completely irrelevant, even in summer. Competitions in summer biathlon are held in the winter biathlon-free period from April to October.
What can we expect at the World Championships in Ruhpolding?
In addition to the biathlon elite, youngsters are also chasing after World Cup medals. The super sprint for the juniors will start on Thursday, followed by the super sprint for men and women on Friday and the classic sprint competition for all age groups on Saturday. The 23rd Summer World Championships will be rounded off on Sunday by the pursuers of the juniors and the gala mass start for men and women, which will be held for the first time.
In the Super Sprint, which was included in the Winter World Cup in 2020/21, the top 30 of a previously individually held qualification compete against each other in the mass start. In the final competition, two prone shots and two standing shots are fired, the athletes have a spare to avoid the 75-meter penalty loop.
The sprint will be held in the same way as in winter (men: 7.5 kilometers, two shooting bouts; women: 6 kilometers, two shooting bouts), the final mass start will also take place in the familiar format (men: 15 kilometers, 4 shooting bouts; women: 12.5 kilometers , 4 shooting bouts) takes place, but becomes a gala mass start due to special qualification requirements. For the youngsters there is a pursuit instead of the mass start.
Are the top stars at the start?
That’s where the Gala Mass Start comes in! Even without having previously taken part in the World Championships, the top 15 in the overall World Cup for the 2021/22 winter season are eligible to start. All medal winners and the starters with the best points from the Ruhpolding World Championships fill it up. In doing so, the IBU is leaving a back door open for the stars who choose not to participate.
In 2022, however, a strikingly few winter greats will be absent. Only the dominant Norwegians and the French elite decided not to start. With the DSV, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and the Ukraine numerous biathlon nations have confirmed their participation.
A total of 190 juniors from 23 nations and 200 men and women from 25 nations will fight for the medals. Compared to the last event in Nove Mesto in 2021, this means that the starting field has almost doubled – a new record.
Specifically, the fans can look forward to stars like Denise Herrmann, Johannes Kühn (Germany), Elvira Öberg and Sebastian Samuelsson (Sweden), Dorothea Wierer (Italy) and Lisa Hauser (Austria). DSV biathlete Benedikt Doll gives up at short notice because of the birth of his first child.
Why is the Summer Biathlon World Championships in Ruhpolding so special?
For a long time, summer biathlon was smiled at more as a fun sport, but the new record starting field, the associated flood of stars and the resulting increased media interest could now raise the sport to another level.
“The response from the nations is impressive. […] This shows us that Ruhpolding is the right place for this event,” emphasizes IBU Sports Director Daniel Böhm in an interview with “chiemgau24.de“. Summer biathlon reached “a new dimension” with the World Championships in Ruhpolding.
“The topic of summer biathlon is already very important to us as an association. We want to develop it further in the coming years, we see great potential here,” says the 36-year-old, who won gold at the 2015 Winter World Championships with the DSV relay could win. However, the “core product” remains “undoubtedly still winter biathlon”.