National coach Kirchner sees the length of the season exhausted
National coach Mark Kirchner used to be a biathlete himself. He knows the last trimester as an active player and also as a coach. The 51-year-old has been contributing since 2010 DSV the responsibility for the biathletes. “Overall, we’ve evolved to the point that we’ve certainly reached a limit where athletes can’t handle any more competitions.”Kirchner describes the current situation: “Both from the physique as well as from the costs for the nations. It is also not insignificant, what always comes up to us. That is already the limit of what is feasible.”
When Kirchner himself was still racing across the trails, the number of World Cups per season was significantly lower. At the beginning of the 1990s, when Kirchner started out as a top athlete, six World Cups plus a World Championship were the norm. “Here you have to clearly point out how biathlon has developed since then”puts Felix Bitterling, Sports and Event Director of the International Biathlon Union: “Many parties are now interested in having as much biathlon as possible.”
These include, due to the very good ratings, the big television stations, in Germany ARD and ZDF, as well as advertising partners and sponsors, of course. It is not surprising that the athletes also benefit from a greater media presence and thus become interesting for sponsors.
From 210 to 335 racing kilometers in the past 30 years
To illustrate the development of the biathlon workload in numbers: In the 1992/1993 season, Mark Kirchner completed all 14 individual races and covered 210 racing kilometers. The individual disciplines that were held back then – exclusively individual and sprint. For comparison: If a biathlete had run all individual races in the current season, i.e. excluding the relays, he would have 26 races and 335 kilometers in his legs.
“We have fixed the current number of competitions as a maximum number”says Felix Bitterling from the IBU: “To show very clearly that we have reached the limit of what is possible for the athletes.” For ten years now, the World Cup has started at the end of November instead of in December as before.
From ten to nine World Cups in the year of the World Cup
For two years now, the International Biathlon Union has established the so-called Season Opening, i.e. an additional World Cup weekend at the start, which made ten out of nine World Cups. That will change again next season.
“We are in very close contact with the associations and have responded to the feedback: After two years with ten World Cups, we will return to a system with nine World Cups next year”reports Felix Bitterling: “For us as the IBU, this is also the ideal number in terms of feasibility for the athletes and also to satisfy the interests of the other stakeholders.”
Between the end of the season and a look into the future
What remains is the discussion about the final trimester. “I don’t find it difficult to motivate myself at all”reports Erik Lesser in the mixed zone of the Otepää biathlon stadium: “I have some things to make up for after the Olympics.” His gaze is determined. For the veteran, who will end his career after this season, one thing is clear: the course of the season for every athlete plays an important role when looking at the last trimester.
“I think it’s just right that we still have something after the Olympics. Of course it’s a strange feeling to keep the tension high, especially for athletes who won the big medals at the Olympics. But for all the other 100 athletes it’s the motivation definitely still there”says Lesser and laughs.
With the exception of Johannes Bö, everyone is there – and performing
The world elite, as the two World Cups after the Olympics have shown so far, still take the final sprint of the season very seriously in terms of sport. Except for the Olympic high-flyer and four-time gold medalist Johannes Thingnes Bö from Norway, who ended his season after Beijing Who’s Who of the biathlon elite still at the start. And a look at the podium finishes shows that there were no big surprises in either the relays or the individual races. The biathletes don’t give away.
But not everyone finds it easy to focus on the competitions. “Well, I’m already noticing that I’m extremely exhausted this year, I don’t burn for it anymore”, reports Franziska Preuss. After a complicated season with health setbacks, she is in 22nd place in the overall World Cup: “I don’t really have a specific goal anymore.” She smiles and adds another sentence: “I’m still looking forward to the snow in Oslo and then it can be spring.”
Biathlon World Cup in March?
What could be alternatives to the current model? Frequently discussed: Moving the peak, i.e. the World Championships in normal years, to March. “We already had World Cups that took place in March”remembers Mark Kirchner: “Those weren’t the worst years either. Then we only had one World Cup weekend to finish. That makes sense.”
This was the case in 2019, for example, but this fact had logistical reasons. In 2019, both the Alpine World Championships and the Biathlon World Championships took place in central Sweden – in the immediate vicinity of each other. A parallel event would have been impossible due to insufficient accommodation options. So the Biathlon World Cup slipped into March.
World Cup finale in Oslo, Norway
“Basically, a model with a World Cup in March is only an alternative in exceptional cases”states Felix Bitterling: “Such an extraordinary case would be, for example, if the World Cup takes place in a country where temperatures prevail in February that make the competitions extremely dangerous or impossible.” As an example, Bitterling cites Siberia with temperatures below minus 20 degrees. Bitterling adds: “We’ve been in extremely close contact with the national associations and the teams, especially since 2018. The feedback is very clear: the high point of the season should be in February, although the best external conditions are to be expected.” National coach Mark Kirchner agrees: “In March there can be unfair conditions for the entire field. If it’s too summery. That’s why February is the better month.”
The season finale in Oslo is coming up next weekend. The weather there is still wintry enough. The biathlon-mad Norwegian fans will give the athletes an atmospheric finale. Then it will certainly be secondary whether it is still about something sporty or not, or whether it was a (too) long season.