Raubichi to host IBU European Open Biathlon Championships

The IBU European Open Biathlon Championships, which originally had been allocated to Estonian Otepaa, have been reallocated to the Raubichi Olympic Center, from the official IBU website.

Raubichi will also host the IBU Cup.

The European Championships were reallocated as the organizers could not guarantee the conditions required for hosting the event because of the warm weather in Estonia. The Belarusian Sport and Tourism Ministry and the Raubichi Olympic Center have declared they are ready to hold the event.

“The IBU would like to thank the organizers in Minsk-Raubichi for hosting this event on such a short notice. Since Belarus is hosting the IBU Cup final shortly after, this solution is the most sustainable and cost effective for the athletes, organizers and national federations,” IBU Sports Director Felix Bitterling commented the Belarusian decision to host the European Championships on the official website of the IBU. He also noted that the event will be a welcome test for the Belarusian organizers as the BMW IBU World Cup will take place in Belarus in March 2022.

Initially the IBU was supposed to make a decision about the reallocation of the championships on 15 February, but they did it earlier as the weather forecast was not promising for the organizers in Otepaa.

The Belarusian Raubichi will host the European Championships for the second year in a row. The competitions will start on 26 February and will finish on 1 March.

Earlier the FIS canceled the Nordic Combined World Cup due in Estonian Otepaa on 8-9 February.

Source: BelTA