Biathlon IBU World Cup 2023 - 2024

[Grassmarket 4,102]

5 hours ago, Bohemia said:

It's time they got rid of the Oberhof stage...

 TV €€€€€€€€.  But you are correct, once in every five years it’s great, other times problems problems problems.

[RobtheAggie 340]

Could anyone get the Eurovision stream to work today?  On mine it looks like nothing has been updated since Pre-Christmas.

[OlympicsFan 860]

On 1/4/2024 at 6:11 PM, Grassmarket said:

 TV €€€€€€€€.  But you are correct, once in every five years it’s great, other times problems problems problems.

Stupid take obviously. Germany is the biggest market for biathlon, so getting rid of a german world cup stage would be a clear sign of mental retardation. The beginning of January isn't the right time for Oberhof though, it should host a world cup at the end of January or beginning of February. Sadly there aren't many places left with guaranteed snow at this time of the year. Canada, the US and Japan are irrelevant in biathlon + the problem with travelling. Russia isn't an option for obvious reasons and a country like Kazakhstan also isn't really an option. Maybe they should (have less world cup stages and) don't go to central Europe until the end of January, only Finland/Sweden/Norway before that. Maybe something like:

December: Östersund + Trondheim (not sure if they have a venue)

January: Oslo + KontiolahtIi + Antholz + Annecy

February: Oberhof + Ruhpolding + Nove Mesto

March: World championships (Hochfilzen, Lenzerheide, Pokljuka)

[OlympicsFan 860]

Number of individual world cup podiums (world championships included) for the german team:

2019/2020: 14

2020/2021: 13

2021/2022: 14

2022/2023: 12

2023/2024 with 32 races left: 12

 

[Olympian1010 8,274]

47 minutes ago, OlympicsFan said:

Canada, the US and Japan are irrelevant in biathlon + the problem with travelling.

I’ve said it before, but if an IF’s main competition tour is only going to be in one continent (Europe or Asia in most cases), then they shouldn’t be allowed to use the term “World Cup.”

 

European teams/athletes/fans always complain about competitions outside Europe, but just imagine how athletes from Pan America, Africa, Asia, or Oceania feel.

[Monzanator 4,828]

38 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

I’ve said it before, but if an IF’s main competition tour is only going to be in one continent (Europe or Asia in most cases), then they shouldn’t be allowed to use the term “World Cup.”

 

European teams/athletes/fans always complain about competitions outside Europe, but just imagine how athletes from Pan America, Africa, Asia, or Oceania feel.

 

If NBA can use the term "World Champions" for mere 32 basketball teams from TWO countries (the second having a total of one team) when there actually is a basketball World Championships taking place elsewhere then using the term "World" for a sports competition is not subject to anyone's approval

[Biathlonfan 802]

 Vytautas was apparently the fastest he's been all season long,which is great,i'm hoping the shooting comes back to form soon aswell.,and yay for Fomin's best result ever in a sprint.

[Biathlonfan 802]

Lidia devoured,31 place for a Lithuanian women in Biathlon is crazy good,and she did it in the SPRINT,not an individual.Best sprint result for a Lithuanian women in ten years,let's see how things go today.  

[Federer91 3,080]

Biathlon isn't usually a sport, where the calendar is a problem, but interesting where to put the German rounds, so they don't have problems every year. Early January was great for them 10-15 years ago.

 

A nice idea for me would be to move the World Championships to the last third of January. Have 1 World Cup after New Years, then a week off, then the 2 weeks of the Worlds. You could then schedule the 2 German rounds in February. But IBU wouldn't like to go against the Australian Open i reckon.

[OlympicsFan 860]

12 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

I’ve said it before, but if an IF’s main competition tour is only going to be in one continent (Europe or Asia in most cases), then they shouldn’t be allowed to use the term “World Cup.”

 

European teams/athletes/fans always complain about competitions outside Europe, but just imagine how athletes from Pan America, Africa, Asia, or Oceania feel.

You can have that opinion, but your opinion doesn't really make sense. Biathlon isn't really a thing outside of Europe, so the best athletes are all european and pretty much only european fans care about biathlon. "World cup" doesn't have to stand for "All over the world cup", it can stand for "Best in the world cup" and that is exactly what it is. The only plausible reason to host world cups outside of Europe would be to try establish the sport in countries like China, USA or Canada, but if that isn't really a realistic goal (because biathlon never will be a thing in Canada/USA/China), then it wouldn't be in anyone's best interest to host world cups outside of Europe. Athletes from Pan America, Africa, Asia and Oceania are irrelevant in biathlon and i doubt that they will ever be relevant, so they don't really matter. Fairness isn't a relevant category. If hosting world cups outside of Europe is a bad business decision, then they shouldn't host world cups outside of Europe.