Biathlon: Renewed Criticism of Start Rule - "How Am I Supposed to Warm Up?"

Renewed Criticism of New Rule

Elvira Öberg joins the critics of the new start rule in Biathlon. The Swedish athlete suspects an increased risk of injury for biathletes.

Once again, the new start grouping rule for the 2024/25 Biathlon season is meeting with criticism. After numerous female and male biathletes have already voiced their concerns publicly, Swedish athlete Elvira Öberg has identified an issue that has hardly been addressed.

Background: This coming season, the Biathlon World Federation (IBU) has decided to change the starting order for distance and sprint competitions. The top 15 in the World Cup standings will no longer be able to choose their starting group.

"I am dissatisfied with the result. This does not benefit me," criticized Öberg in an interview with the Swedish newspaper Expressen.

Samuelsson: "Trying to Compromise"

Particularly criticized is the way the IBU pushed through this rule change unilaterally, which has not been well-received by Öberg, who finished seventh in last year’s overall World Cup.

"How the process went down is very sad. The IBU believes it was a long and good process, in their opinion, everything was done correctly," said Öberg.

Swedish athlete Sebastian Samuelsson also noted: "We worked hard to minimize changes and really tried to come to a compromise, but unfortunately, there was none."

Öberg: "Hoping to Stay Injury-Free"

According to Öberg, a central issue relates to the preparation for the start. "Nothing can be done if conditions deteriorate, but this concerns warming up. The risk is that I have start number 75 in Nove Mesto, where there is no warm-up course. How am I supposed to warm up there?" the Swede asked, adding, "There is no snow where you can warm up because we do this on the track where the race takes place."

Alternatively, one can jog alongside the track, "but then you have to hope to stay injury-free and that you can even do that," or switch to a bicycle. "Being on a bike is not preferable as a warm-up," concluded Öberg.

Another indication that the rule change may not have been thoroughly thought out, according to Samuelsson, is the possibility for the federation to change regulations from race to race.

"I would claim it could affect every other race. A system that only works half the time is a bad system. But the IBU sees it differently," he lamented, expressing his opposition to the rule as an athlete representative.