Coach icon Wolfgang Pichler sharply criticized the planned changes to the Biathlon World Cup in Ruhpolding.
“I had to read in the newspaper that there will be no Champions Park at our World Cup in 2023 and that all celebrations will be moved to the Chiemgau Arena, that’s a stab in the heart of every biathlon fan,” Pichler said “Upper Bavarian People’s Journal”. “Opening ceremony with marching in of the nations, award ceremonies and atmosphere in the village, those were the prime pieces of the Ruhpolding World Cup and they are now being violently torn out.”
The Champions Park, which is also very popular with the many international guests, gave the municipality or the Chiemgau Arena GmbH it supports a massive financial deficit when it was last held in January 2020.
The municipality does not want to provide financial compensation to continue operating the Champions Park, as Mayor Justus Pfeifer recently confirmed.
“This is how the Ruhpolding Biathlon breaks down”
“Our strength has always been the celebrations in the village with the lifting of the curfew and all of that should now break away. The atmosphere here has set us apart from all other World Cups. That’s how the Ruhpolding Biathlon breaks down,” Pichler fumed.
He appealed to those responsible to reconsider the new concept and reported on 200 Swedish fans who had already booked the trip to the World Cup. “40 are staying in Ruhpolding, 160 in Salzburg, but they want to party in the village like they used to,” said the 67-year-old.
40 percent fewer tickets sold for the Biathlon World Cup in Ruhpolding
Pichler, who was born in Ruhpolding and has worked as a highly successful national and international biathlon coach for several decades, pointed out that he and his family helped build the World Cup in his home town.
The biathlon circus will be making a guest appearance in Ruhpolding from January 11th to 15th, 2023 in the upcoming season. Fan interest is significantly lower than before the corona pandemic.
So far, around 40 percent fewer tickets have been sold than in 2019, when the event last took place with spectators.