Photo: Bildbyrån
The biathlon association has changed the rules regarding the starting order next season.
Several skaters rage against the IBU’s new decision, one of them is Hanna Öberg.
– They haven’t listened to us riders at all, but really ran over us completely, she tells Längd.se.
Years ago, the biathletes who were ranked best had to choose which starting group they wanted to be part of during the sprint and distance competitions. Then they have often placed themselves in one of the first two groups. But now the IBU, the International Biathlon Union, has decided that the best skiers must start in the penultimate group – mostly to make it more exciting for the TV viewers. This has upset many.
Öberg and Samuelsson disappointed
Several of the Swedish stars have spoken out on the matter. Elvira Öberg thinking that it will be more difficult to time the warm-up when you don’t know exactly when to start. It will take time to get used to the new system.
– I am dissatisfied with the outcome. This is nothing that will benefit me. I think it’s very sad how the process has gone. Where the IBU, from what I have read about it in retrospect, themselves think that it has been a long and good process. According to them, everything went right. You don’t get all that impressed by that, she told Expressen.
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Also Sebastian Samuelsson is dissatisfied. He is chairman of the active committee, but realized early on in the meetings with the IBU that he would not be able to influence the union with the skaters’ opinions. They had already made up their minds.
– There are many who are happy to express their opinions, many are very angry I would say. It feels very much like they have decided on this. And constantly falls back on the fact that if conditions are bad, you should change the system. I would like to argue that this is about every second competition and a system that works half of the time is a very bad system, but the IBU has not agreed with that, he said.
Hanna Öberg does not believe the explanation
Now also Elvira’s older sister, Hanna Öbergcame out and criticized the IBU for the new rule changes. She does not believe that the television viewers will benefit at all from the decision.
– I understand their intention, but do not necessarily agree that you will get more viewers for a longer period of time. I think instead that there is a risk that the viewers will not see the competition from the start, when the best riders go later, she says to the site Längd.se.
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She does not like that the association has made the decision over the skaters’ heads. That they have not taken into account the views of the activists at all.
– Now they have made the decision, so it’s just a matter of making the best of it. It’s more the process and how it happened. The IBU has not listened to us skiers at all, but really ran over us completely, she says.
Sad that everyone feels disappointed by this decision. It is not a fun start to the new season that the riders are dissatisfied with the association’s actions. It’s just a matter of taking new steps and trying to do your best anyway.
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