In the World Biathlon Cup in Kontiolahti, snow had to be removed.
Tens of cents of snow were shaved off the Kontiolahti shooting range. Santtu Silvennoinen
There is too much snow in the ski race!
That is ridiculous news.
– Tell me about it. I thought what would be done now that the matter became topical, laughs the competition director of the Kontiolahti World Cup Kimmo Turunen.
What was done then?
– I stood next to the excavator and said it was shoveling snow away. At the same time, I think that the snow cannons in the stadium area made new artificial snow for next season, Turunen continues.
That is the point
The piles of snow are several meters high. Santtu Silvennoinen
The operators of the Kontiolahti biathlon center make a cannon snow track about 70 cm thick every year. It allows the season to start from October to November and serves as a guarantee for the World Cup races. For example, in March 2020, there was no more than five cents of natural snow in North Karelia when the World Cup was held.
According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, there is currently 71 cents of natural snow at the Joensuu measuring point.
– Kisalatu has an easy snow mattress. If you jump aside from a hard banana, time goes deep. The race wheel is machine driven and shaped and has no thickness restrictions. But we had to remove the snow from the shooting range in accordance with the rules, Turunen explains.
Shooting boards are standardized for a certain height. The athlete’s shooting height tolerance in the World Cup must be between 80 and 100 centimeters.
– It would be great if the boards could be regulated with electricity. Since it doesn’t work out, we had to plan tens of cents of snow off the firing range to get the shooting height within tolerance.
Snow also had to be removed from auditoriums, parking lots and temporary buildings.
– The snow didn’t fit anywhere. Heaps were made at the edges of the forest and pushed far into the forest.
Snow removal required an excavator and transportation equipment.
– The price tag was at least several tons, possibly a five-digit amount.
The cannon snow is preserved
The snow removed from the stadium area has been transferred to the forest. Santtu Silvennoinen
During the snowfall, 60,000 cubic meters of artificial snow were made in Kontiolahti for the next season. Despite advanced conservation methods, natural snow does not survive over the summer.
– This season is a rarity for us when we hold the World Cup in March. Usually, due to snow safety, we are at the beginning of the season in November-December – as in the period 2022-23.
Kontiolahti will also host the opening of the 2024–25 World Cup, and the locality is applying for the 2027 World Cup.
– A decision was made with the Biathlon Association and its partners that it might be time to have the competition. They are not jokingly sought after, and certainly the struggle is fierce, but that’s where we start to get the races.
The last time World Cup medals were awarded in North Karelia was in the period 2014–15.
Kontiolahti hosts the World Cup from Thursday to Sunday. Santtu Silvennoinen