IBU Social Media Awards 2025

"By using popular dances, sounds, and reactive formats, we created content that felt native to the platform and relatable to Gen Z. Posting in real time during key moments of the Junior World Championship helped us stay relevant and emotionally in sync with our audience. Being agile and present allowed us to tap into excitement as it happened, increasing engagement."

The first-ever home World Cup (december 2023) and the first-ever home World Championships (February 2025) - both held in Lenzerheide - were landmark events for Swiss biathlon. With the four-part short documentary, we aimed to connect both events and provide insights into the Swiss team. The goal of our social media strategy is to create a sense of closeness with the athletes (and other team members). In addition, the documentary served as a kind of countdown leading up to the World Championships and helped draw attention to the major event. The focus was deliberately placed on young athletes who still have long World Cup careers ahead of them.

We tried to follow a few guidelines:

1) Be the first publish

2) Don't copy but expand on Czech Television's broadcast

3) Our tone of voice - We see the Czech biathlon as a funny and friendly guy. We're not afraid of humor, which worked even better now.

4) Team first - We showed the joy of the whole staff

5) Integrate partners naturally into communication

"Centered around the theme “The Mission is Simple,” it follows the raw, unfiltered story of an underdog biathlete from Australia—one of the sport’s most unlikely nations. The campaign shares authentic, day-in-the-life moments that highlight the grind, setbacks, and small wins behind Olympic preparation, aiming to inspire athletes worldwide and grow interest in biathlon through consistency and honesty. "

In the video, you can see me during the final seconds of a lactate treadmill test, giving it everything I’ve got. I intentionally didn’t add any background music because I wanted to show people the raw reality of what we athletes go through — not just in winter training, but also during these kinds of tests.

"In February 2025, I created a humorous short video titled “How Norwegian Athletes Are Born”, blending biathlon culture with playful stereotypes. The clip went viral, reaching 2.3 million views across Instagram and TikTok, sparking comments and shares from fans and athletes worldwide. Its simple, replicable concept encouraged others to create their own versions, generating organic engagement beyond my own audience.

The post not only entertained but also raised awareness of biathlon in a fresh, accessible way, aligning with IBU’s Target 26 goals of growing the sport’s visibility and connecting with younger audiences through creative, relatable digital storytelling."