CONFIRMED! THE ELITE WILL MEET IN NOVÉ MĚSTO NA MORAVĚ FOR TWO FOLLOWING YEARS
Three World Cup events in the four-year-long Olympic cycle was what the International Biathlon Union promised. And such will be the reality, as is obvious from the calendars that have been revealed recently.
World Cup three times in a row
Vlastimil Jakeš, the director of the competitions in NMNM, saw the creation of the schedules from a close distance. “Since I am the member of the IBU Technical Committee, I was involved in the calendar creation. Sure, I must be disinterested, but on the other hand, I try to advance interests of Czech biathlon.”
Creating the calendar has been a bit more complicated this time, as Jakeš described: “We worked with two versions, one including Russia, the other not. We were waiting for the decision on further steps regarding the return of full IBU membership and other rights.”
Eventually, the version excluding Russia and including Nové Město na Moravě was selected, which means that NMNM will host a World Cup event in a month from now, then in March 2020 and February 2021. That means three times in a row. Jakeš also acknowledges the fact that NMNM got other than pre-Christmas dates.
Ondřej Rybář, the sports director of the Czech Biathlon Union, was satisfied: “This will greatly increase popularity of biathlon, and it was one of the things that we fought a lot to achieve. It is not easy to assert oneself, as the number of candidates who wish to organize a World Cup event is increasing. And the fact that we have succeeded is a proof that the previous World Cup events at Nové Město na Moravě had been good.”
In case you missed it last night: the IBU has announced the BMW IBU World Cup Calendars for the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 seasons 🥳😍 pic.twitter.com/DvS0eV9dCr
— IBU World Cup (@IBU_WC) 8. listopadu 2018
SUMMER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AND IBU CUP ARE RETURNING TO THE CZECH REPUBLIC
To say that the success of Nové Město na Moravě has been ultimate is no exaggeration. In addition to the World Cup events, the Vysočina Aréna shall host two more events, which is appreciated by Vlastimil Jakeš. “We had applied for three World Cup events and other races were awarded at the last Technical Committee meeting. For us it presented an opportunity to organize IBU Cup and Summer Biathlon World Championships in 2021. We are very satisfied.”
The Summer World Championships are returning to NMNM after a three-year-long break. By awarding it again, the IBU has acknowledged quality organisation of this year’s championships. IBU Cup in NMNM shall take place at the beginning of February 2022.
And what more is ahead? “Once again, we shall attempt to win the organisation of World Championships and further three World Cup events in the next Olympic cycle. By achieving this, we would become an equal partner to the best centres, though it is no doubt that we can count ourselves into this group,” Jakeš concluded with optimism.
Complete calendars can be viewed at biathlonworld.com.
Karel Halberštádt
Foto: Petr Slavík
