The IBU today elected Oestersund, SWE as the host of the IBU World Championships Biathlon 2031 during the first day of the 17th Ordinary Congress in Berchtesgaden.

Oestersund is the capital of the mid-Swedish region Jämtland. The Oestersund biathlon arena, located just 2km from the city centre, is a modern, compact stadium that regularly hosts the world’s best athletes during the World Cup season. Picked as the season opener in four out of the last six seasons (2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025), Oestersund, which also hosted the World Championships in 2008 and 2019, promises athletes and fans an incredible experience in 2031.

The Congress unanimously approved the Icelandic Ski Association as a Full Member, following confirmation that it had fulfilled the full membership requirements and confirmed the change of status of the Biathlon Union of Serbia to provisional membership.

The Congress received a full update from the Monitoring Group of the IBU Executive Board (EB) on the current status of both the Russian Biathlon Union and Biathlon Federation of Belarus and the EB’s considerations regarding their suspension as decided by the 2022 Congress. The membership status of the federations was not a decision item on the agenda and was therefore not considered.

A status report was provided on Target 2030 as the IBU prepares to move into the second phase of delivery following a successful period of mobilisation and implementation over the last two years. The Congress also confirmed the final budget for 2026/2027 and the budget frames for 2027/2028, 2028/2029 and 2029/2030. The annual reports of the Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) were approved along with approval of the BIU Board members.

The Congress will reconvene tomorrow (19 September), where National Federations (NFs) will elect the IBU President and Executive Board as well as Technical Committee. For the first time ever, the IBU organised an Open Forum and Q&A the day before the Congress (17 September), to give National Federations the opportunity to learn and ask questions about the visions of each of the Executive Board candidates ahead of the election.

Photo: IBU/Manzoni