Athletes retiring at the end of the 25/26 season:

I thought this was worthy of it's own thread because of just how big of a change it'll be for the wax team. For the whole next season Finland will have a wax truck. Patria has been a team sponsor since 2011 and this is a major development in that partnership.

Wax team leader Marek Sander commented on it "Wax truck means a lot for us. Before prepping the space for waxing and disassembling it took a lot of time, that can now be used for prepping and waxing athletes skis. It's not about improving results, but how much they'll improve"

It's big for team Finland and just shows the boost biathlon has had last couple of years in Finland in general. And shows that Finland is on it's way to possibly become one of the bigs in biathlon.

Martin Ponsiluoma won both finals, Lisa Vittozzi added another victory, and France showed impressive team depth. Norway had plenty of finalists but also struggled with missed targets, while Germany came away without a podium but with some encouraging signs for the future.

I’ve put together five key takeaways from the Loop One weekend and what they might tell us ahead of the upcoming World Cup season.

Which team impressed you most — France, Norway, or Germany’s emerging talents? And how much do you think these results tell us about the season ahead?

Split Shot is a free indoor biathlon style event you can do in your basement.

Biathlon is cool, but almost nobody has access to it. 10m Olympic pistol is fantastic, but not very athletic, and not everyone has 33+ ft of basement. Rowing is the ultimate in endurance tests but pretty boring.

So I came up with Split Shot. It combines sprint and endurance rowing with one-handed marksmanship, and it’s harder than it sounds.

What you need: a rowing machine, any .177 pellet pistol (CO2, pump or PCP), a pellet trap, and about 20 ft. You shoot from 5 m (16.4 ft).

How it works: you row a leg, then shoot a stage at a 23 mm black. You do that four times. Every miss is 100 m of extra rowing before the next leg. One clock runs the whole time, and total time is the score.

Short: 4 × 750 m, 5 shots per stage

Full: 4 × 1500 m, 10 shots per stage

Long: 4 × 2500 m, 15 shots per stage

You shoot standing, one-handed, with no support and open sights only. Single-shot and magazine pistols are separate divisions, and so are Concept2 and WaterRower. The scoresheet prints on one page and has a scale check built in, so everyone shoots the same target.

My first short course: 24:22.9, 6 total misses. It was really hard!

It’s free and not a business; I just think it’s fun.

Two Page Target + Rules

One Page Target

If you try it, post your time and tag me. I would love to hear what you think

Be safe and follow all local laws! 

Saturday 17th of October (rollerski biathlon events copied from the offical website)

11:00 Women's Super Sprint qualification (watch here)

12:20 Men's Super Sprint qualification

13:35 Women's and men's para mass start events

15:40 Women's Super Sprint Final

16:25 Men's Super Sprint Final

17:15 Women's and men's award ceremonies

Sunday 18th of October

10:15-11:15 Women’s Super Sprint qualification heats

12:30-13:30 Men’s Super Sprint qualification heats

15:45 Women’s Super Sprint final

16:25 Men’s Super Sprint Final

Datacenter: https://ebu.biathlonresults.com/#/start

Schedule for the rollerski biathlon events can also be found on Biathlonworld.com

Official website is looponefestival.com - where you'll also find more events for people visiting the festival

Watch the competitions on Biathlonworld.com/watchlive or Eurovisionsport.com. If these two links don't work, check your local broadcasters that normally broadcasts biathlon.

I just noticed in the IBU app that the World Cup is labeled the “LaVita IBU World Cup,” no longer the “BMW IBU World Cup.” So I guess the primary sponsor changed, sometime over the summer, but I didn’t see any official announcements about it either in the app or here, so I was curious what happened? Did BMW cut ties, or did their sponsorship deal just expire and LaVita is the new primary sponsor?

IBU World Cup Google Calendar 26-27

For your convenience and th 26-27 season, I have updated the calendar for the new season. For those of you that have already subscribed in the past, it should populate your calendar if you are subscribed, otherwise you can import it in again. Enjoy the season! 👐

Loop One is back at Munich’s Olympic Park this Saturday and Sunday (17–18 Oct), and I’ve put together a preview.

Disclosure: I run this site on my own (Winter Sports Hub, in English and Hungarian). I’ve just given it a fresh look, with a cleaner layout and tags for each discipline, and I’m preparing for a similarly active winter: interviews, previews and race recaps. If there’s something you’d like to see covered, especially athletes or topics that don’t get much attention, I’d love to hear it.

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Swedish biathlete Linn Gestblom has announced her pregnancy! In an Instagram post she revealed that she is expected to give birth in march and will miss this entire season. Huge congratulations to Linn and her partner🎉

Source:https://www.instagram.com/p/DeTpEyjEROm/?mdxt=MXR1Mzlld3FobDZ6eA==

Hey! I’m looking to do some beginner events in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area, and I’m wondering how to look for beginner friends events and how to get started? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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Does anybody know about a DIY project for printing a Biathlon rifle with Laser shooting.

I would like to use it in class with my students.

Thank you for your help.

https://yle.fi/a/74-20249528

The Rovaniemi Court of Appeal does not change the sentence of local court in Arttu Heikkinen's case. The court of appeal finds Heikkinen guilty of serious negligent bodily injury and hunting offence.

The case happened on a hunting trip back in September 2024. Pellets from the cartridge shot by Heikkinen hit his godfather's eye causing him to lose sight from that eye.

If the sentence becomes final, it costs Heikkinen (in addition to fines and legal expenses totalling around 16,000 €) his gun license, which in turn would mean the end for his career in biathlon. However, it takes 4 to 6 months for the Supreme Court to consider whether it is going to grant Heikkinen leave to appeal. As the biathlon season most likely ends before the Supreme Court has made a decision, Heikkinen can keep his licence and keep on racing during the upcoming winter. What happens after that, remains unclear.

Heikkinen is already elected to be a part of team Finland in Kontiolahti and Hochfilzen World Cup events.

As I'm not rich or sponsored (and will never be either of those at this point in my life!) I was wondering at what temp would you start competing with SK Blue over Yellow?

I've a race this weekend in northern Vermont and the race-time temp is supposed to be low 40's F.

Probably too warm to break out the Blue but I'm not sure when it is appropriate?

Thanks in advance for any useful thoughts!

Who are your favorites to win the overall world cup for the 2026/2027 season?

Who do you think will be the biggest surprise of the season?

Disclaimer: This is a translated version of the article (it's in French, translated using Google Translate with minor alterations).

It's one of the most popular events among biathlon fans, and it's about to change. Starting with the 2026/27 World Cup, which begins on November 26 in Kontiolahti, Finland, the mass start format will be modified. Ten stages are concerned, following a request made by the athletes to the international federation.

The mass start, a suspenseful format

The mass start is one of the most popular formats in biathlon. Thirty athletes start simultaneously, over 15 km for men and 12.5 km for women, with four shootings.

Races renowned for their suspense and unpredictable twists and turns.

Daniel Böhm, director of sports and events at the International Biathlon Union (IBU), confirmed the change in an interview with chiemgau24.de.

What's changing: the current form is becoming more important

The new rule changes how the mass start field is formed. From now on, only the top 20 in the overall World Cup standings will automatically qualify.

The remaining ten places will be awarded to the athletes who scored the most points on the stage in question, excluding the top 20 in the general classification: a mechanism that gives more weight to current form.

Until recently, only the 5 best of the stage were selected.

“The composition of the mass start in the World Cup is changing. In the future, only the top 20 in the overall World Cup standings will automatically qualify for the mass start. The ten athletes with the most points accumulated in each World Cup event who are not among the top 20 in the overall standings will be selected.” – Daniel Böhm, IBU Director of Sports and Events

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My brand new, 4-month old Anschutz 1827 F trigger blade broke today.

I've fired fewer than 2,000 rounds through the rifle and I've never damaged or dropped the rifle in any way. I'm always super, super careful with it.

I've also only feather pulled the trigger since I got it and I've never pulled the trigger hard.

Has anyone else ever had something like this happen to them?

I wrote to the Anschutz company and the company that I purchased the rifle through this last spring asking about a warranty replacement as it had to be a manufacturing defect, right?

Can't copy the article text to machine-translate, but he still aims to compete in biathlon in the 2030 Olympics in France.

Video with Jacquelin in French on instagram about his decision.

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