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The Biathlon World Cup has always been held during the winter years starting from 1987 (women’s) up to this day. It was also previously called the European Cup, but participants were not limited within the European region. Today, people are able to bet on the Biathlon World Cup with the use of the provided overall odds below.
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The Biathlon World Cup is a series of international biathlon competitions held during the winter and is the highest competition class in biathlon. The IBU-Cup is also held internationally and is the second highest competition series for biathletes after the World Cup. The races are organized by the biathlon world federation IBU. The first official World Cups took place for men in 1978 and for women in 1987. In addition to the overall World Cup classification, there have also been separate classifications for the disciplines run in the World Cup since 1989.
Organization
The competition series today consists of nine World Cups with at least two, but mostly three competitions per event. The season usually consists of about 22 individual races, four relay races and four mixed relay races (“mixed relay” and “single mixed relay”). In addition, there are competitions at Olympic Winter Games or Biathlon World Championships. Unlike the winter sports regulated by the FIS, these can also be included in the World Cup rankings. Currently, however, this only applies to the competitions of the World Championships; the 2014 Winter Games were no longer classified as World Cups. Over the years, the number of events and competitions has gradually increased compared to the initial times. From the 2008/09 season, the schedule was even planned to be extended to ten seasonal stations, but the IBU moved away from this again after protests from the coaches.
Qualification criteria
In order to participate in individual or relay competitions in the World Cup, World Championships or Olympic Games, an athlete must have fulfilled certain minimum requirements in the current or previous season. The athlete must either achieve a time in a sprint or individual competition within the framework of the European Cup or the European Championships that does not exceed the average time of the three best placed athletes by more than 20 percent or, alternatively, achieve a place in the first half of the result list in the Junior World Championships.
In order to maintain their eligibility for the following season, each competitor in a World Cup competition must also achieve a sprint or individual competition time that does not exceed that of the best by more than 20 per cent (exception: individual women with 25 per cent). At the request of a national association, an athlete may be granted an exemption in the event of injury or pregnancy, for example.
Allocation of starting places
The IBU has constantly changed and adapted the allocation of starting places, and from the 2015/16 season new starting quotas and rules will be applied. Now there is only a fixed starting quota for the best 25 nations of last year’s nation classification. The best nation of the IBU Cup, which is not among the top 25 in the World Cup classification, will receive a starting place. Instead of three, four wildcards will now be awarded. The total number of starters will increase from 108 to a maximum of 110 per sprint and individual race.
World Cup points system
The IBU World Cup points system for the women’s and men’s individual races determines the overall and discipline classifications in the Biathlon World Cup. It differs from the FIS points system normally used in Nordic and Alpine skiing in that consistency at a high level is rewarded more strongly throughout the season than a constant change between top positions and placings at the end or outside the points. For example, a biathlete who wins five out of ten races and does not score points in the remaining five races receives fewer points than a competitor who always finishes tenth in these races (300 vs. 310) – under the FIS system, on the other hand, he would score almost twice as many points as his opponent (500 vs. 260).
The leading athletes in the overall World Cup wear a yellow jersey in the races modelled on the Tour de France, the leading athletes in the respective discipline classification are identified by a red jersey, and there is also a yellow-red combination for athletes leading in the overall and discipline classification. The trophies awarded at the end of the season for the victory in these classifications – the so-called large and small crystal balls – become the property of the respective winners.
Biathlon competitions at World Championships and Olympic Games are also part of the World Cup, which is why these races are evaluated according to the same points system and are included in the evaluation. However, there are exceptions, the results of the World Championships and Olympic Games are not always included in the World Cup ranking. They were not evaluated:
- World Championships 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993
- the Winter Olympics up to and including 1994 and since 2014
Coating results
A special feature of the Biathlon World Cup are the stroke results. At the end of the season the three worst results of each starter were cancelled and afterwards the final overall World Cup classification was calculated. In the discipline classifications there was one strike result for each minimum of four races. Especially in the overall standings, the strike results were usually due to missed competitions or competitions that ended outside the points rankings, so that the overall score of the athletes did not change in most cases. However, if an athlete remained without points in less than three races, his ranking could deteriorate because the World Cup points he had actually achieved were deducted. Because this could be associated with financial losses, this regulation was not uncontroversial.
Ole Einar Bjørndalens, who voluntarily gave up seven competitions in the 2004/05 season, won the overall World Cup, with 16 points eliminated by the long-leading Sven Fischer. On the other hand, athletes who have to give up participating in one or more races of the season through no fault of their own and thus possibly miss out on a better place, could be compensated by the strike results of their competitors. In the 2006/07 season, Andrea Henkel won the women’s overall standings, although she had missed four competitions due to illness, after deducting the strike results, as she had collected only twelve and six points less than Kati Wilhelm and Anna Carin Olofsson, respectively, thanks to a significantly higher average of points. For the 2010/11 season, the strike results in the World Cup have been abolished. Since the following season the two worst results in the overall World Cup have been cancelled. In contrast, the abolition of the strike results in the discipline classifications remained in place.
Nations classification
In addition to the World Cup ranking, points will also be awarded for the “Nations Cup”. The total number of points collected determines the number of starters of the respective nation in the following World Cup season. The results from individual races, sprint races, relay teams and mixed relay teams will be used for the nation classification, whereby a separate points system exists which is structured differently from the World Cup points and is managed separately. Half of the points from the mixed and single mixed relay teams are used for the men’s and women’s nations. For each individual race, only the points of the three best placed athletes of a nation are included in the classification. Since the 2008/09 season, the following distribution of points has been applied:
Disciplines
The sprint is the most frequently run discipline in the World Cup and takes place at almost every venue. The athletes usually start at intervals of 30 seconds on the 7.5 km long track for women and 10 km long track for men. Two shots are fired in a horizontal-standing sequence; for each miss an athlete has to complete a 150 m penalty round, which means a loss of time of a little more than 20 seconds.
After the sprint, pursuit is the second most common discipline in the World Cup. It always follows a previous competition. This is usually a sprint, less often an individual competition. The best 60 participants of the so-called qualification competition – namely the sprint or individual – go into the pursuit race in the order of their placement and with the respective – in a preceding individual race, however, previously halved – time delays. If qualified athletes do not start, the field will not be filled. The distance of the pursuit race is 10 km for women and 12.5 km for men. Shots will first be fired lying down twice, then standing up twice. As in the sprint, there is one penalty round per missed shot.
The individual competition is the discipline with the longest tradition, but it is now the least common in the World Cup apart from the mass start. The shooting is alternating between standing and lying and shooting a total of four times. For each miss a minute of penalty is added to the competition time. The distance is 15 km for women and 20 km for men. As in the sprint, the athletes take up the race in the interval start.
The mass start is the youngest discipline in the World Cup. Since the 2014/15 season, it has been started simultaneously in ten starting rows with three athletes each. Previously, the start took place in three rows of ten, which first had to cover a short distance in the classic style. This classic style at the start of the race has also been replaced by the skating style since 2014. On the track, which is 12.5 km long for women and 15 km long for men, the riders shoot first twice lying down and then twice standing up, as in the pursuit, as well as one penalty lap for each missed target. According to the current regulations, the best 25 athletes of the current overall ranking as well as the five athletes who are not ranked among the top 25 and who have won the most World Cup points in the respective World Cup week in which the mass start took place are eligible to start. According to the old rules, the top-30 of the overall World Cup classification were eligible to start. Special rules exist for World Championships and Olympic Games.[10] If qualified athletes waive their participation, which they must confirm up to two hours before the start of the race, the starting field will be filled with the next athletes in the World Cup to 30 starters.
In the relay competitions, four women or four men from one nation form a team. There will be one horizontal and one standing shot. In addition to the normal five rounds of ammunition, each runner will have three spare cartridges available per shot. These spare cartridges must be carried on the rifle and reloaded individually if necessary. One penalty round must be run for each target not hit after eight shots. For men the distance for each runner is 7.5 km, for women 6 km.
In the mixed relay (also: mixed relay) a team consists of two women and two men. The women cover a distance of 6 km, the men 7,5 km. The rules correspond to those of the normal relay competition.
The Single-Mixed Relay is a competition that combines the elements biathlon mixed relay and cross-country team sprint, in which a woman and a man run alternately. The women complete the first section with 2x 1.5 km and a prone and a standing shooting. Directly after the standing shooting no more running round is completed, but directly afterwards to the man is handed over, who completes the same distance and then again to the woman. The last position of the relay is again occupied by the man, after the last shooting insert an additional round with 1.5 km of running distance must be completed. This results in a total running distance of 6 + 7.5 km. As in the other relay competitions, there are three spare cartridges per insert, the length of the penalty lap is 75 m. If a mixed and a single mixed relay take place on the same day, then no athlete may participate in both competitions. This competition was held for the first time in the 2014/15 season as part of the World Cup in Nové Město na Moravě in the Czech Republic.
The team competition will no longer be run. Here four athletes of a team ran together, the four shootings were always carried out by only one shooter. The resulting penalty rounds for missed shots were run by the entire team.
Development and special features
Individual competitions
In the early years of the women’s biathlon the sprint was held over 5 km, the length of the individual race was 10 km with three shots. Already in 1989 the sprint course was extended to the 7.5 km run today. The individual race was extended to four shooting insoles and the course was extended to 15 km.
The pursuit competition in the mid-1990s was the first single discipline in which athletes compete directly. The pursuit competition was held for the first time at the beginning of the 1996/97 season. In Lillehammer, Norway, Simone Greiner-Petter-Memm and Sven Fischer were two German winners of the new competition. Since the athletes go into the competition according to the time intervals of the qualification race, this can lead to a very large lead of the first place to a very low tension start-finish victory. In the pursuit race in Hochfilzen in December 2001, the Swedish rider Magdalena Forsberg managed to extend her lead of 59.4 seconds from the sprint race to 3:13 minutes ahead of the runner-up Alena Subrylawa. Such races are the exception, however, as Forsberg had one of the fastest running times and was the only athlete without a shooting error. From time to time it happens that the winners of the sprint race fall behind in the pursuit race and do not occupy any of the top positions, despite some big leads. The races are particularly exciting when the intervals between the athletes’ races are relatively short. If an athlete enters the race with a large time gap, he will usually no longer be able to finish at the top. Nevertheless, these athletes can still improve considerably in the pursuit race. At the beginning of the 2005/06 season, after finishing 60th in the Östersund Sprint, Frenchman Julien Robert started last in the pursuit race, but improved by 50 places by the end of the season and finally finished 10th. At the 2009 World Championships, Darja Domratschawa from Belarus managed to move from 53rd place in the sprint to 5th place. At the same time, Marie Laure Brunet from France, who had started 52nd, ran to 7th place without a shooting mistake.
Another new form of competition was the mass start. As a test competition, the mass start was held for the first time at the World Cup final of the 1996/97 season in Novosibirsk, Russia. The first winner was the Austrian Wolfgang Perner, the first winner was Anna Sprung, who was still competing for Russia at that time. For the first time as a regular World Cup race, the mass start took place in the 1998/99 season. On 13 January 1999 the Frenchman Raphaël Poirée and the German Uschi Disl won in Ruhpolding.
At World Championships and Olympic Winter Games, qualification criteria deviating from those of the World Cup will be used for the mass start: Only the 15 best placed athletes of the overall World Cup will be eligible to compete, as well as all medal winners of the current title competitions. The missing 30 places will be supplemented by the athletes who have scored the most World Cup points during the championships. Therefore the mass start race is also the last single discipline in the competition program. This is of particular benefit to weaker athletes. Anastasiya Kuzmina from Slovakia won the silver medal at the World Championships 2009, although she was only able to collect 34 points before the World Championships. Due to her good performances during the event she was able to qualify for the competition.
With the introduction of the pursuit and mass start competition, the number of individual races over 20 and 15 km respectively was reduced. In the meantime, the longest track in the biathlon circus is rarely run at World Cup events due to its relatively unspectacular tension curve for television and is usually only at the beginning of a season or at major events in the competition programme. In order to reduce the duration of the race, it is often discussed to limit the number of starters.
Relay race
While in the individual disciplines athletes from many countries have a chance of winning, in the relay races the big biathlon nations such as Norway, Russia and Germany, which have a much larger number of successful athletes at their disposal than smaller nations, are often victorious despite occasional exceptions. Although there is often a tendency during the race as to which relay team will emerge from the race as the winner, some races are only decided shortly before the end. In the 2005/06 season, the Russian women’s relay could only be determined as the winner by a photo finish between the Russian Olga Saizewa and the German Simone Denkinger. With only one reloader the Russian relay team showed an extremely safe shooting result in this race.[13] At the women’s relay of Ruhpolding in the 2007/08 season the German final runner Kati Wilhelm was 51.1 seconds behind the leading Norwegian Ann-Kristin Flatland at the beginning of her race, but caught up more than 70 seconds and crossed the finish line with a lead of 24.3 seconds. Despite three penalty laps, the German relay team won the race.
For women, the distances over which the relay race is held have changed several times over the years. Initially, the relay consisted of three female runners, each of whom had to complete 5 km. In 1989, the distance for each of the three runners was increased to 7.5 km. In 1991, the women’s relay was extended to four athletes per nation, and the 7.5 km distance was maintained. Thus the relay was the only competition in which women and men had to complete the same distance. In 2003 the distance was changed again, currently 4 × 6 km are run. This step was carried out by the IBU in order to give shooting a higher priority and thus to increase the chances of runners of weaker nations.
Another measure to offer better opportunities to countries with a small number of good athletes was the introduction of the Mixed Relay, which was held for the first time in the 2004/05 season. The importance of the Mixed Relay, however, varies from nation to nation and athlete to athlete. While the Swedish Mixed Relay, which won in Antholz, explicitly trained for this race, many athletes who started in the other races, such as Kati Wilhelm, Magdalena Neuner, Ole Einar Bjørndalen or Nikolai Kruglow, were not used in the Mixed Relay. Since the Mixed was included in the official world championship programme, however, its importance has been steadily increasing. Since the 2014 Winter Olympics, the Mixed Relay has been included in the Olympic Games. In the 2014/15 season, the Mixed Relay was supplemented by the Single-Mixed Relay and was held for the first time as part of the World Cup in Nové Město na Moravě in the Czech Republic. So far, this competition is neither part of the World Championships nor the Olympic Games.