IBU is testing a revised biathlon World Cup calendar this season, adding a 2-3 January stop in Pokljuka, Slovenia, while keeping the total number of races unchanged. Swedish biathlete Sebastian Samuelsson argues that the extra venue still adds a meaningful burden because people and equipment must travel more.
Dagens Nyheter reports that the four-year trial spreads the same number of World Cup races across more locations. Pokljuka will host one sprint and one relay for women and men immediately after New Year, before the next World Cup week in Ruhpolding on 6-10 January.
Samuelsson's criticism is directed at the travel behind the race programme. He told DN that an added venue means extra movement for athletes, wax teams, trucks and journalists. Anna Magnusson also told the newspaper she fears the calendar could lead more athletes to miss selected events, despite biathlon's tradition of broad participation across the World Cup.
According to DN, IBU says the redesign aims to maximise fan engagement and future-proof the sport. The longer pre-Christmas break may help athletes, but it does not remove the logistical cost of inserting a short stop after New Year. An unchanged race tally is therefore a poor measure of whether the calendar asks more of the people who must follow it.
Samuelsson said skipping Pokljuka could give an athlete an additional week at home to train and arrive fresher in Ruhpolding. Athletes competing for the overall World Cup may be less able to pass up the points; others may see a different trade-off.
His hope that nobody turns up in Pokljuka was a provocative way of exposing the flaw in the experiment. DN reports no planned mass absence. Yet the stop will test IBU's premise: a schedule designed for a valuable television window loses sporting value if its format makes participation less attractive to leading athletes.
Source: Dagens Nyheter.
Sources
- Dagens Nyheter · Source date: 2026-11-12
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-12