THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL BIATHLON ...

IBU EVENTS IBU VERANSTALTUNGENThe Kontiolahti Biathlon Stadium is an anomaly in today’smodern world of biathlon. It is not very close to atown of any size, as Joensuu is 15 km away. It is actuallyin the middle of the forest in a large military area and unlikethe mega-stadiums of Oslo, Oberhof, and soon Ruhpolding,the Kontiolahti stadium is a rather small, oldfashionedplace, with a rustic log competition building asits hub.Yet, Kontiolahti has hosted frequent Biathlon World Cupsfor the past twenty years. Esa Haapala, long-time Kontiolahtiorganizer and now Project manager for the World Cuprecalled how things have changed in twenty years. “It istotally different from 20 years ago! Obviously, the WorldCup was much smaller then. But the first things that cometo mind are the technical differences. The draw for startnumbers was done by hand. There was a test Pursuit com-Crowds and a Youth MovementPublikumsrekord und Nachwuchs-Triumphein KontiolahtiEditor AutorJerry KOKESH – USAMember IBU Information CommitteeMitglied IBU InformationskomiteeOriginal language EnglishOriginalfassung Englisch7petition then, but it was not exactly like it is now. We alsohad ropes to reset the targets.”In even the best of the past twenty years, if 500 spectatorsshowed up at this remote, but beautiful location, theday was a big success. After being away from Kontiolahtisince December 2008, the World Cup returned this year forthe first of the post-Olympic World Cups.Not much had changed from previous years. The stadiumconfiguration was different, and it was March, not deepdark December. However, in its 20th anniversary week, thecrowds showed up. Each day had around 5,000 boisterousfans, waving mostly Russian flags. Kontiolahti is close tothe Russian border and offered a great opportunity for Russianfans to drive over and cheer for their heroes, and thee.on Ruhrgas IBU World Cup BiathlonKontiolahti fin10.03. – 14.03.2010Olympic stars. Of course, there were Finns and the fanaticsfrom central Europe as well, but a tunnel vision view of thegrandstand looked a lot like Khanty Mansiysk. Still, the bigcrowds definitely made it a lively three days. If a Russianathlete was in the lead or winning, it was pandemonium.Sprint winner Ivan Tcherezov commented on the fans, “Itis nice to see so many fans from Russia. I want to say a bigthank you to all of them.”Along with the change in the stadium atmosphere camea shift in the results in some of the competitions. The youthmovement gained serious traction over the three days ofcompetitions, in the persons of Darya Domracheva of Belarusand Martin Fourcade of France.The Mixed Relay was a bit of youth and veterans. Norwaywon with strong concluding legs by 40-year old HalvardHanevold and 21-year old Tarjei Boe. At the same time, thesecond place German team used a World Cup “rookie”, ErikLesser on the third leg. Lesser commented, “This was myfirst World Cup and my first Mixed Relay; it was hard on bothmy mind and body. I did not really know what to expect.”Italy unexpectedly finished third, after Belarusian SergeyNovikov fell on the final loop and broke a ski pole. He was32 biathlonworld The official Magazine of the IBU 20 I 2010