Get ready for even more excitement in biathlon! Starting in the 2024/25 season, top athletes in Individual and Sprint events will compete in designated start groups based on their World Cup rankings, keeping the action intense until the very last shot.

This new seeding system promises unforgettable moments and even greater stories for fans to follow! Check why.

Explanation of the New Draw Group System

For Individual and Sprint races, athletes will be divided into four groups:

Red Group: Top 15 athletes in the BMW IBU World Cup Total Score standings.

Blue Group: Athletes ranked 16-30 in the BMW IBU World Cup Total Score standings.

Green Group: Athletes with high enough IBU qualifying points (for the 2024/2025 season, the qualifying barriers are over 80 points for men and 90 for women).

Non-Designated Athletes: All other athletes, placed into the Draw Groups 1, 2, and 3 by their NF - based on the quota the NF earned in the previous season - according to the following rules: each NF can put one non-designated athlete in Group 1, while the rest gets evenly distributed between Groups 2 and 3.

Draw and seeding procedure

Random Draws Within Groups: Each group (Red, Blue, Green, and Non-Designated) will have a random draw to decide the starting order.

Non-Designated Athletes: These athletes are drawn first, filling the early start numbers (e.g., bibs 1-15).

Blue Group: Starts next, alternating with the remaining non-designated athletes (e.g., bib 16 is a Blue Group athlete, bib 17 is from the non-designated list, and so on).

Red Group: Joins after all Blue Group athletes, alternating with non-designated athletes until all are included.

Green Group: Green Group athletes will start after all athletes in Draw Group 3. If there aren’t enough non-designated athletes left to alternate with the Red Group, Green Group athletes will fill those spots.

First Event Rankings: For the first World Cup event of the season, last season’s World Cup rankings will decide who goes into the Red and Blue Groups. From the second event onward, the latest rankings from the current season will be used.