“A great danger”: The biathlon superstar’s doubts

On Tuesday it was decided that from the 2022/23 season, the results at World Championships will no longer be included in the overall World Cup ranking. In addition, there will be no more cancellation results from next winter. This means that in the future all races will be taken into account in the fight for the big crystal ball. For this purpose, the points system for the overall ranking and the discipline rankings will be adjusted. A World Cup victory is therefore given more weight. The three-time overall World Cup winner Johannes Thingnes Bø spoke to the Norwegian TV station TV2 critical with regard to some changes. “If points are not awarded at the World Championships, there is a risk that athletes will no longer fight to the end like they used to. Because then what does it matter whether you come 4th or 10th? Why should an athlete who is having a bad day and is in 20th place after the last series give everything in the last round to gain positions instead of saving energy for the next competition?” “If no points are awarded at the World Cup, there is a risk that the athletes will no longer fight to the end.” Johannes Thingnes Bø At the same time, the five-time Olympic champion and twelve-time world champion can also see positive things from the rule changes: “It is very positive that the winner receives much more than the fifth-placed person. The difference between 1st and 5th place is now 45 points. This has been the difference between 1st and 25th place so far. That's why it's even more important now to fight for every millimeter. A split second can mean the difference between victory or defeat in the overall World Cup rankings.” The further Bø criticism According to the 29-year-old Norwegian, the changes in the awarding of points also have their negative sides: “The big danger is that an athlete drops out at the beginning and then ends up even further behind in the overall World Cup than before. It could then happen that he gives up the fight for the World Cup and just focuses fully on the World Cup.” “If unexpected events occur in the athlete’s environment, he or she may be faced with an extremely difficult decision.” Bø regarding the abolition of the strikeout results Bø is also critical of the abolition of the cancellation results. “When unexpected or extreme events occur such as illness, death, birth, etc., an athlete who has never won an overall World Cup victory can be faced with an extremely difficult decision or dilemma,” explained the overall best biathlete last 5 years.

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“A great danger”: The biathlon superstar’s doubts

The Biathlon World Federation (IBU) has made some significant rule changes before the start of the new World Cup season. This revolution is not necessarily well received by Johannes Thingnes Bø.

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