The women’s singles was actually supposed to take place in Oslo on Thursday. But the visibility made the race impossible.
Rain and especially fog at the legendary Holmenkollen in Oslo led to the cancellation of the women’s individual 15 km race on Thursday. The International Biathlon Union (IBU) announced this shortly before the start of the World Cup. The race is scheduled to take place on Friday.
“Everything was tried up until the start of the shooting. But the visibility got worse and worse. That doesn’t make sense, especially in the individual with four shots. That’s the only right decision to try to do it tomorrow,” said DSV sports director Felix Bitterling.
Of course, “the girls were prepared for it,” added women’s coach Kristian Mehringer. But implementation “was not possible” given the poor conditions. Now we’re just preparing “for Friday. Then we’ll step on the gas again.”
When the race will take place now
The women’s race is now planned for around midday, as IBU race director Borut Nunar told ZDF. The men’s individual 20 km race, originally scheduled for 2:15 p.m., may be postponed slightly. However, the forecasts for the coming days in Oslo are not particularly good either, with rain and temperatures above zero degrees.
The mass starts for women (1:20 p.m.) and men (3:20 p.m.) are planned for Saturday at Holmenkollen. On Sunday, at the end of the competitions in Oslo, the single mixed and mixed relay are on the program before the teams head overseas. At the end of the winter, two more World Cups will take place in Soldier Hollow (USA/March 8th to 10th) and Canmore (Canada/March 14th to 17th).