Switzerland-Biathlon World Cup: Lenzerheide could become a Mecca

It seemed as if they wanted to send a clear signal home from Saalbach-Hinterglemm, who is number 1. On the first day of competition of the historic world biathlon championships in Switzerland, six Confederates in the team combination in the Alpine Champion in Austria raced to podiums one to three. Departure world champion Franjo von Allmen won his second title with Loic Meillard and underlined the dominance of the Swiss men. In the Lenzerheide, the hosts’ ski hunters ended up in sixth place in the mixed season at the start. On Friday, fourth place in the women’s sprint by Lena Häcki-Groß followed.

Andere Liga

“It is clear how the headlines are distributed when the podium is full of Swiss in one place and they stand next to it,” says Philipp Bärtsch, press officer of the biathlon World Cup with a smile-and gives a realistic assessment: »Alpin is the undisputed number 1 in Switzerland, especially with such successes. They play in another league. ”But, he adds, also” his “Biathlon World Cup generates” extremely much interest “and” huge attention “. “People want something different and new.”

This can be seen in the number of spectators. At the start, the grandstand in the Roland Arena of Lenzerheide with 7500 spectators was almost completely filled. A total of 55,000 tickets have so far been sold for the twelve World Cup decisions, so that according to Bärtsch, one can already make the twelve million Swiss franc budget balanced: “But we hope that we will end up with 80,000 spectators:” For classification: At the classification: The title fights in 2023 in Oberhof came 152,000 fans, last year in the Czech Nové Město Na Moravě even 210,000.

Big step

»Of course, we cannot play in the dimension of traditional organizers because we do not have a biathlon stem audience in Switzerland. But the World Cup is a huge step to popularize the sport, «says Bärtsch. Although there was only a World Cup in 1985 for women in Egg on the Etzel, the rapid combination of running and shooting a shadowy existence in the Alpin-Mecca Switzerland for a long time.

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The fact that this has changed in the past decades is essentially only three families. Once the Baselgias, which were already in the forefront at the project for the Biathlon Arena in Lenzerheide in 2006 and are now involved in the third generation. Silvio Baselgia is Head of Sport of the World Cup. The sports-loving couple Michael and Carola Hartweg has invested millions in the further development of the World Cup arena. This paid off not only because of the awarding of the title fights to Lenzerheide: her son Niklas belongs to the extended top of the world and stormed up the “Hartweg Hill” named after his family on Wednesday.

Three sisters

The three gas-parin sisters with Selina performed the biggest sporting contribution at the top: they won the first two World Cup victories and in 2014 with Olympic silver the only Swiss biathlon medal so far at a major event. At the World Cup, Selina has now resigned as an ambassador, her sisters Elisa and Aita are still active. The “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” devoted a lot of space to the family history of the gas parins these days and recalled that at the turn of the millennium, all professional structures had been lacking and the association had stood before the bankruptcy.

“As an athlete, I felt constantly as if I had to make fire with wet wood. Now the fire is sparked, «says Selina Gasparin. The new Swiss Biathlon Mecca Lenzerheide continued to develop from competitions in the youngsters to European Championships and the first World Cup 2023-in the quality of the organization and in the number of spectators.

Good level

»Everything has grown here and at a good level. This also applies to the development of biathletes from Switzerland, «says Felix Bitterling. The sports director of the German Ski Association only has to criticize small things in organizing this World Cup and demands fairness for the Swiss: »The traditional locations in biathlon such as Ruhpolding, Antholz or Oberhof have been with us for 40 years and have developed their event every year. The Swiss have been doing this for ten years now and the culture for biathlon must certainly develop in an alpine country like Switzerland. «

However, they are undoubtedly on the right track in Switzerland, which they want to continue. »The World Cup is a perfect advertising platform. But you have to keep the fire, which is why we have already submitted our candidates for the organization of World Cups in the coming years, «reports Philipp Bärtsch. The National Association Swiss Ski will continue to rely on biathlon in the future. In the primary schools of the canton of Graubünden, the project »Biathlon 4 U« was started, in which children receive a lesson of this sport with laser rifles.

There were also many positive feedback from the television stations and the international biathlon scene because of the fantastic mountain scenery around the routes at 1400 meters. The tourism goal with its more than 20,000 guest beds has so far been popular with Swiss people. According to Bärtsch, this could change with this World Cup: “Munich is only a good three hours away, the hosts hope for more international visit after the World Cup.” After all, the Lenzerheide Arosa ski area offers 225 snow -safe kilometers of slopes. It would then be the first time in Switzerland’s history that the large alpine scene gets an impulse from the biathlon warehouse.