For the first time since the Paralympic Winter Games, some of the world's best para biathletes will go head-to-head once again at the Loop One Festival in Munich. Saturday's races will reignite rivalries from Milano Cortina, offering the first opportunity to turn the tables on their Paralympic rivals and setting the stage for an exciting start to the new season.

As at the inaugural edition, para biathletes will play an important role at Loop One Festival, where Paralympic medallists have the unique opportunity to shine alongside Olympic medallists at the same venue. Fans will be treated to five mass start races, featuring seven Paralympic champions from Milano Cortina 2026. Altogether, the athletes competing at the festival won an impressive 29 Paralympic biathlon medals in March this year.

The first to appear in front of the Munich crowd will be the men's sitting athletes. The race promises a thrilling showdown between Taras Rad and Zixu Liu, both of whom claimed three medals at the Paralympic Winter Games. The Ukrainian triumphed in the sprint, while the Chinese star took gold in the individual race. However, they will face strong competition from last season's Crystal Globe winner, Derek Zaplotinsky of Canada; Ukraine's ever-dangerous World Championships medallist, Vasyl Kravchuk; and Spain's Higinio Fernandez. While the Spaniard may not boast the same achievements as his rivals, he has something they don't - experience from last year's Loop One, where he teamed up with Anja Wicker to finish third in the Single Mixed Relay.

Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated para biathlon race of the day will be the men's standing mass start. The line-up features Jiayun Cai, the standout star of the Milano Cortina Paralympics, who claimed three gold medals in Val di Fiemme. The 25-year-old Chinese athlete will face Germany's Marco Maier, winner of last year's Loop One, Canada's World Cup Total Score winner Mark Arendz, as well as the unpredictable Karl Tabouret of France and Serhii Romaniuk of Ukraine. The strength of the field is underlined by the fact that all five athletes won at least one race last season.

Four athletes will battle for victory in the women's standing category. The main favourites are Natalie Wilkie and Oleksandra Kononova, who shared all the gold medals between them at both the 2025 World Championships in Pokljuka and the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games. The Ukrainian also claimed the World Cup Total Score in the 2024/25 season, before the Canadian took the overall title a year later. Completing the field are China's three-time Paralympic medallist Zhang Zhao and Ukraine's Bohdana Konashuk, who won two world titles in 2024.

The men's vision impaired race will offer Nico Messinger a chance to bounce back from a disappointing Paralympic Winter Games, this time in front of his home crowd in Munich. The German won the World Cup Total Score last season but could finish no higher than eighth in Italy. His Saturday rivals, however, all returned home with Paralympic medals. China's Shuang Yu claimed gold in the Sprint Pursuit, Ukraine's Maksym Murashkovskyi took silver in the individual race, while his compatriot Anatolii Kovalevskyi collected two bronze medals. Looking to challenge them all will be Sweden's Zebastian Modin, who also won two medals in Val di Fiemme, although both came in cross-country skiing. On a good day at the shooting range, he is always capable of producing a surprise.

German fans will have particularly high hopes for Leonie Maria Walter, Linn Kazmaier and Johanna Recktenwald. The formidable German trio has dominated the women's vision impaired category, sharing all the gold medals between them at the last three editions of the Para Biathlon World Championships. In Munich, they will face Czechia’s Carina Edlingerova, the reigning Paralympic champion in the Sprint Pursuit, and Ukraine's Oleksandra Danylenko, who narrowly missed out on a medal with a fourth-place finish in the individual race at Milano Cortina 2026.

The men's sitting mass start will be contested over 3 km, while the remaining four races will cover just under 6 km. All athletes will visit the shooting range twice, with para biathlon shooting taking place only in the prone position.

Unlike in traditional biathlon, not all athletes in para biathlon mass starts leave the starting line at the same time. Instead, they start at intervals determined by their sport classification, which reflects how their impairment affects their ability to compete. For example, in the men's sitting race, Higinio Fernandez and Derek Zaplotinsky will set off first, followed by Vasyl Kravchuk 42 seconds later. Zixu Liu and Taras Rad will begin their race 1 minute and 32 seconds after the first starters. However, the principle remains the same: the first athlete across the finish line wins.

Para Biathlon Races Schedule – Saturday, 17 October

13:35 Men's Mass Start Sitting

14:10 Men's Mass Start Standing

14:11 Women's Mass Start Standing

14:30 Men's Mass Start Vision Impaired

14:45 Women's Mass Start Vision Impaired