Biathlon IBU World Cup 2022 - 2023

[Orangehair43 177]

Women’s biathlon is not in a great shape really with so many retiring and not many younger names coming through. 

[OlympicsFan 783]

1 hour ago, Orangehair43 said:

Women’s biathlon is not in a great shape really with so many retiring and not many younger names coming through. 

I think women's biathlon has less depth than in past year (Which had to be expected given all the developments concerning athletes from Russia/Belarus/Ukraine), but there are a lot of younger athletes coming through and the average age of the top 20 for example is clearly lower than it was 5 years ago. Simon, Vitozzi, E. Öberg, H. Öberg, Tandrevold, Davidova, Braisaz, Jeanmonnot, Voigt, Kebinger, Chevalier, Colombo, Chauveau are all young enough to go at least until 2026 and then you have younger talents like Grotian, Kirkeeide, Richard, Vorobnikova and also Lampic coming through. Would be interesting to hear your prediction for who will finish top 10 in the standings next year (Given that you, if i understood you correctly, don't seem to think that there will be much movement at the top)?

[Monzanator 3,594]

Top nations have the resident problem that newcomers are blocked by veterans who can keep up the relative high standard for several years even if they're #5 or #6 on the depth chart. Sometimes there comes a fortunate break with a pregnancy pause or it has to get drastic like the Italians did with Sanfilippo to make room for the youngsters. It's never a problem for minor biathlon nations where talented & successful juniors can immediately move into World Cup level full-time (see Żuk in Poland, Davidova in Czech Republic or Todorova in Bulgaria).