The IBU Mentorship Program is a true GameChanger

Mentoring stands for a dynamic and supportive relationship between experienced and less experienced individuals, focusing on personal and professional development. In the spirit of gender equality, IBU has already launched a mentorship program in 2021 in collaboration with SheSkillz Global.

The IBU Mentorship Program undoubtedly represents a decisive turning point and aims to identify mentees' individual strengths and potential. The main goal is to provide the mentees with the best possible support for their professional development within the biathlon community. In addition, participants are shown what career prospects are open to them after their athletic career.

The current group of mentees are former biathletes who want to develop their skills and competencies. Here are the 14 participants for this year: Änais Bescond,Kaisa Mäkärinen, Karin Oberhofer, Karolina Dusilova, Kristina Skjevdal, Malin Joranil, Michaela Visinski, Mina Illic, Monika Hojnisz, Nika Blazenic, Sanja Kusmuk, Susan Dunklee, Theresa Heisinger and Anna Kitzbichler. These highly motivated women have diverse experience in biathlon and aspire to develop professionally in the current biathlon community or become even more involved in the organization.

Mentees benefit from extensive support, both from SheSkillz Global and from experienced IBU mentors within the biathlon family. These mentors not only share their expertise, but also provide guidance and are always available for open dialogue. They provide constructive feedback, support mentees in their professional performance and discuss important leadership issues with them. The program includes several meetings to develop management and leadership skills next to self-development.

This year's mentorship program officially launched on September 1, although meetings between mentors and mentees were already possible prior to that date if profiles were already set up on the SheSkillz Global platform. In line with previous practice, each mentee will receive support from two mentors, more specifically a SheSkillz Global mentor as well as a mentor from the IBU who has extensive biathlon knowledge. All the meetings are coordinated individually through various platforms such as TEAM, Zoom or Skype. Similar to previous programs, each mentee will have at least four sessions with each of their mentors.

In addition, we are also offering a series of exciting webinars with workshops on various topics, and participants are encouraged to actively share their insights and experiences. The first webinar on the topic of "Communication and Storytelling" on September 5 was already very well attended and well received.

The IBU Mentorship Program is a powerful catalyst for women's career advancement in biathlon and plays a critical role in promoting gender equality in the sport.

“Together, we are shaping a better future for the biathlon community” and work towards “A world where talent has no gender.”