World Cup in Germany
Is a biathlon tradition about to end?
Jan 13, 2025 – 7:54 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
The first Biathlon World Cup of the year traditionally takes place in Oberhof. But that could soon come to an end.
The alpine ski season begins in Sölden, the New Year’s ski jumping takes place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen – and the first biathlon world cup of the year in Oberhof. For many winter sports fans, this is the law. But the start of the year in Oberhof is not set in the future, revealed Bernd Wernicke, the head of the organizing committee. “I can also well imagine that Oberhof can be a good location at the beginning of the third trimester,” said Wernicke after the World Cup weekend in Oberhof. This is explicitly about the period 2027 to 2030; the traditional event is scheduled for next year shortly after the turn of the year.
One thing is clear: Oberhof should remain part of the biathlon calendar. The same applies to Ruhpolding, the second German location in the World Cup. “We submitted our application documents in the summer of last year,” said Wernicke.
However, it could be that Oberhof moves further back. Because last year the weather caused a lot of problems. In 2016, the World Cup even had to be canceled completely because there was a lack of snow and low temperatures.
This year the conditions largely cooperated. “We were well prepared. Everything went as we had planned,” said Wernicke: “On Thursday we couldn’t influence the weather. But everything we could influence worked.” During the women’s sprint there were significantly plus temperatures and constant rain, which caused chaos in the field. The overall World Cup leader Franziska Preuß then complained about the conditions. “Then you’re trudging through this wet mess and you notice that you can’t move, even though your legs don’t feel that bad,” she said.
However, on the following three days the conditions were right. A total of 57,700 fans flocked to the track over the four days of competition. The weekend in particular was well attended; the Arena am Rennsteig was even sold out with 20,500 tickets for the two pursuit races on Saturday. The organizers hope for the same in the future, but perhaps not at the beginning of January.