The relays at the Biathlon World Championships should be one of the highlights, now their holding on Saturday is questionable.
Due to an official weather warning of gusts of wind with speeds of up to 85 kilometers per hour, the world association will only decide on Saturday morning whether the men’s races will be held from 11.45 a.m. and the women’s races at 3.00 p.m. (both ARD and Eurosport). This was announced by the IBU and the organizing committee.
The gusts of wind could lead to dangers on the competition course, it said. “The safety of all athletes and our fans is our top priority, both on arrival and at the competitions,” said OC boss Thomas Grellmann.
Track suffers from external influences
On Friday in Oberhof it rained long and hard with strong winds and temperatures of up to eight degrees. Even during training on the day before the team competitions, the conditions were difficult and the track suffered from the external influences.
It wouldn’t be the first time that the weather had an impact on the World Cup programme. In 2004, the men’s singles had to be relocated in the past title fights in Oberhof. In 1999, the start of the World Championships in Kontiolahti was postponed by six days due to freezing temperatures down to minus 35 degrees Celsius, and in the end there were only three days of World Championship decisions in Finland. The IBU then subsequently held the WCH individual and mass start competitions at the end of the World Cup in Oslo.
At the World Championships a year later in Oslo, the final decision, the men’s relay, was canceled in the middle of the race due to the fog getting thicker and thicker. It was then made up for at the subsequent World Cup in Lahti, Finland.
