Vysočina Arena to host IBU Cup Biathlon
The only peak of this year’s biathlon season in Nové Město na Moravě will be two IBU Cup competitions at the beginning of February. The event will overshadow the beginning of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Although there will be no elite stars in the Vysočina Arena, the IBU Cup starting field still promises high-quality racing. For example, the teams of the biathlon super-powers of France, Germany, Norway, Russia or Sweden have all registered top athletes for the event.
The current season of the eight-edition IBU Cup has its sixth stop in Nové Město. On Thursday, February 3, there is a 7.5 km women’s sprint scheduled from 10:30 and a 10 km men’s sprint from 14:00. Two days later, on Saturday, February 5, the biathletes will do the exactly same sprint program with the same start times.
In the last season’s IBU Cup competition so far in Osrblie, Slovakia, Tomáš Krupčík drew the most attention from the Czech biathletes placing fifth in 15 km Short Individual with Milan Žemlička coming home in ninth. He also drew attention to himself in sixth place in the sprint. Of the Czech women, Eliška Teplá, fourteenth in the sprint, was the best in Slovakia.
Before the two IBU Cup races in Nové Město, the European Championships in Arber, Germany, are waiting for biathletes next week from 26 to 30 January.
The Biathlon IBU Cup returns to the Vysočina Arena after six years. In the middle of January 2016, the identical program of two sprint competitions was waiting for the athletes. As a reminder, Jessica Jislová was the best of the Czech women at the time, finishing 11th in both events. Matěj Krupčík was the best of the Czech men finishing 22nd and 16th.
Za OV Jiří Pošvář
