Lack of snow – Quo vadis biathlon?

The temperatures have been too high for weeks. The World Cup in Nove Mesto can just take place. But the prospects for snow reliability in the future are bleak.

A thin layer of white snow on Thursday (February 8th, 2024) provided a bit of a wintry atmosphere, at least for a short time, but hosting the Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto is a feat of strength. Temperatures in some cases well above freezing, constant rain and storms made preparations more difficult and raised the question once again on the first day of the competition: How long will professional winter sports be possible in Central Europe far from Alpine regions if there is no longer any reliable cold and snow even at the beginning of February gives?

Biathlon expert Lesser: January was an absolute disaster

“IOf course I’m worried about the future of our sport“, said Julia Simon. The Frenchwoman had just been presented with her gold medal for winning the mixed relay. To do this, she trudged through the cross-country ski trail in the Czech forests in deep artificial snow in relentless rain on Wednesday. ARD expert Erik Lesser also did recognized the problem. The weather, or rather the heat, is causing problems for the biathletes.”The entire month of January was an absolute disaster. Ruhpolding was bad, Oberhof was just a white ribbon and now in Nove Mesto they are lucky that they have a huge snow depot“, he states soberly to the former biathlete in the Sportschau podcast. “It’s not winter in Central Europe, zero point zero.“

Going overseas?

This isn’t the first time Simon has experienced such a bad winter either. “It’s not easy to see this and it’s happening more and more often and faster“, said the 27-year-old about the changes caused by advancing climate change. World Cups have recently been on the brink several times, and courses in Germany and France have also been prepared with great effort. Already in 2016, there was a complete cancellation in Oberhof due to the weather. No snow per trucks more “We have to think about the future, how we can still do biathlon“, said overall World Cup winner Simon. Lesser sees a change of location as a solution, we have to look,”where there are now cold temperatures“. He names Scandinavia or overseas as possible regions.

The next few years will be challenging because the climate crisis is likely to mean that there will be less snow and increasingly shorter periods of cold in many places. In France, snow was delivered by truck at the end of 2022 to save the event. Such scenarios should be prevented at all costs in the future. So what to do? A biathlon calendar for the future is being discussed at the world association. The program has been finalized until the 2025/2026 season; the first adjustments will probably only be made in the period up to 2030. Even then, a revolution is still not to be expected, we hear. Because taking the interests of all organizers into account is difficult. Among other things, it’s about hotel capacities, but also about a lot of vanities.

Postponing the World Cup calendar?

It remains to be seen whether the length of the season will be changed, new regions will have to be opened up or whether hosts will lose their World Cup status. There are also considerations in Germany. The German Ski Association (DSV) is starting a debate about the future calendar and would like a date for the races in Oberhof later in January and not directly after New Year’s Eve. “What is important is that we ultimately find a solution that ensures that the best possible conditions are available at each location“, said Stefan Schwarzbach, Director of Communications at DSV.

There is no question that Germany wants to keep both World Cups in Thuringia and Ruhpolding in Bavaria from the winter of 2026/2027. “The areas where snow is guaranteed are becoming fewer“, climate researcher Werner Aeschbach from the Institute for Environmental Physics in Heidelberg said last year: “But there will still be a lot of snow at 2,000 meters. However, this security will no longer exist below 1,000 meters in the medium term.”

ARD expert Arnd Peiffer believes that organizers will have to become even more flexible in the future. “Then at some point you have to say, ‘OK, we now have a cold period in Scandinavia, so we’ll do three World Cups’“, said the ex-biathlete in the Sportschau podcast on the sidelines of the World Cup. Peiffer sees “big challenges” for the world association and the individual organizers.

Future of roller skis? – Peiffer is skeptical

Will rollerskis replace real skis? This can also be seen in Nove Mesto, which is almost 600 meters above sea level. It is only thanks to a large snow depot, which is standard in many places, that the World Cup can be held despite significantly plus temperatures. 20,000 cubic meters of artificial snow have been applied to the trails, and a further 50,000 cubic meters are available for the eleven remaining races until February 18th.

It’s not expected to get much colder than five degrees this weekend, and more rain is forecast. “The greatest possible praise goes to the organizers for organizing World Cup-level competitions under these conditions“, said IBU media director Christian Winkler. At the upcoming 2025 World Cup in Lenzerheide/Switzerland and at the Winter Olympics a year later in Antholz/Italy, there will be well over 1,200 meters into the high mountains, which promises guaranteed snow. After the first World Championships in 2027 in Estonia It is not yet clear who will host the next title fights.

Due to the lack of snow, training on roller skis has long been a reality. In warm months there are already world championships in summer biathlon on the compact ski replacement. It still seems a long way off that this will eventually replace waxed boards in winter. Ex-professional Peiffer fears that the attractiveness of the sport could suffer as a result and with it the young talent: “The cool thing about cross-country skiing is, of course, it’s the fastest way to get around on snow. And of course that is not the case with roller skis. I can also take a bike there.“At least the ski hunters would then have a future without snow – which will certainly take some getting used to – and which does not exist, for example, in alpine ski racing or other disciplines.