Winter sports are facing a major problem: due to the comparatively high temperatures, there is a lack of snow in many places. The biathlon season opener in Norway, for example, could only be set up thanks to great efforts. Nevertheless, superstar Johannes Thingnes Bö does not believe in a proposal that could turn the biathlon calendar upside down.
The season starts for Norway’s biathletes in Sjusjöen this weekend. But beforehand, the organizers had their difficulties to be able to let the competitions take place at all. Because there isn’t enough snow.
In the end, 2,000 cubic meters of snow were transported to the Natrudstilen ski stadium east of Lillehammer. Together with Sjusjöen’s snow depot, the amount was just enough for a 1.5 kilometer stretch.
In the winter sports nation of Norway, there has long been a heated discussion about whether the season shouldn’t start later in the year and end later. In view of the energy crisis, the German sled association BSD also openly spoke out in favor of a return to the competitions in the winter months.
Biathlon: Bö brothers don’t think much of the proposed change
Meanwhile, Norwegian Arne Idland, organizer of the Blinkenfestivalen, where biathletes race through the streets of Sandnes on roller skis in the summer, caused a stir with another proposal. “The winters are getting shorter and I think that neither cross-country skiing nor biathlon can survive with a three-month season, which could be the case in the long run. Then I think you have to think new and unconventional and also use the summer,” says Idland, who thus proposed World Cup races on roller skis. Competitions on roller skis could be a good “complement” to winter sports.
However, mental games like this do not go down well with biathlon figurehead Johannes Thingnes Bö and his brother Tarjej. “We must never start with that,” said the three-time Olympic champion to “NRK“: “We have to differentiate between the two things.”
His younger brother Johannes Thingnes Bö became even clearer: “That’s the dumbest suggestion I’ve ever heard. Those are two different things.” Instead, the five-time Olympic champion suggests holding a “own roller ski cup, which could perhaps last a little longer into the fall.”