The 2022/23 BMW IBU World Cup season gets underway on 29 November in Kontiolahti, Finland and looks set to promise thrilling sport set against a backdrop of iconic biathlon venues and electric fan atmospheres.

The 2022/23 season will be the first in two years not to be held under COVID-19 regulations allowing for the return of fans across all World Cup venues, as well as at the World Championships. The World Championships will take place in Oberhof – a heartland of biathlon – on 8-19 February 2023.

The new season will also see the implementation of a number of significant changes to the IBU’s Event and Competition rules. The following rules will come into effect from season 2022/2023 onwards:

• the IBU World Championships will no longer be included in the World Cup Total Score. Thus, there are no more World Cup points collected at World Championship events. This is in line with IBU’s general direction to make the World Championships a stand-alone flagship event

• there will be no more dropped results in the World Cup Total Score. Every competition in the World Cup will count toward the Total Score

• the point system for the Total Score and the Discipline Scores will be adjusted to increase the value between the top results ensuring that if athletes are forced to miss a race due to sickness they will still have the possibility of being able to win the Crystal Globes

• prize money for the BMW IBU World Cup and IBU Cup will be adjusted in a way to widen up the group of recipients in the first stage until 2024 and to increase the amount for top results in a second stage from 2024-26

The 2022/23 season also marks the first time that the entire IBU Cup season is going to be live-streamed, starting with the first competitions on 29 November in Idre Fjäll, Sweden.

IBU President Olle Dahlin, who was unanimously re-elected alongside a new IBU Executive Board at the IBU Congress in September, said:

“We cannot wait for the new season to get underway and for all the excitement and drama it will bring. Having hosted the last two seasons under strict COVID-19 regulations we are looking forward to the return of our amazing fans and the incredible atmosphere they always deliver for our athletes. We have a fantastic World Championships lined up in Oberhof, which is one of the most iconic biathlon locations in the world, as well as many excellent World Cup hosts. All of this combined gives us plenty of reason to expect a thrilling biathlon season.”

The IBU Congress in September also saw the election of a new IBU Technical Committee and the election of Otepää, Estonia as the host of the IBU World Championships Biathlon 2027.

The Congress voted in favour of the IBU Executive Board recommendation to maintain the suspension of the Russian and Belarusian National Federations until certain conditions are met. And followed the Executive Board’s separate recommendation not to allow the participation of any Russian or Belarusian athletes or officials at its international events until further notice including non-sports events organised by the IBU in order to guarantee the safety and integrity of such events.