Where is Ole Einar Bjørndalen?

In the next few days until the Biathlon World Championships in Slovenia, Obertilliach will once again be the place where the future champions will give each other their hands (of course only in a figurative sense, because in Corona times people are very careful about this too) . The small town in the Lesachtal with just over 600 inhabitants is one of the most popular training locations for the biathlon elite. On the one hand, this is due to the perfect altitude of 1400m (Pokljuka, the venue for the World Cup is at 1300m) and the fact that you can almost always count on snow. This year it was particularly extreme, even for the usual conditions in the Tyrolean community in the Lienz district. And then of course there is the biathlon facility and a team that literally anticipates every wish of their guests. This is also called natural warmth or perfect service. And so the national teams from Germany, Russia and the USA will put the finishing touches to the title fights in the territory of the busy mayor Matthias Scherer. “This is not new territory for us,” he emphasizes, referring to many events that have already been held. Route named in Obertilliach to Bjørndalen This season, for example, the Youth and Junior World Championships will be held in Obertilliach. And everyone who plows through the trail with a rifle on their back is always confronted with a well-known name from the scene. The route is named after Ole Einar Bjørndalen, who lived here for a long time and who started his triumphant journey to become the most successful biathlete in the world from Obertilliach. He became an eight-time Olympic champion and won 20 world titles. There are also 94 individual victories in the World Cup. Only the biathlon gods know whether this will remain unmatched forever. However, the chances of this happening are good.

Ole Einar Bjørndalen with his wife, Darya Domracheva © SID / FRANCK FIFE

But where is Ole Einar Bjørndalen? After the Norwegian team did not nominate him for the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, he supported his wife Darya Domracheva there. Very successful, by the way, because his sweetheart won gold again in South Korea with the Belarusian relay and silver in the mass start. By the way, her coach was Alfred Eder, the father of the Austrian biathlete Simon Eder. I found out from him that Bjørndalen is doing well. However, he doesn't hang around on some dreamy white beach and dip his Norwegian toes in salty water. Bjørndalen & his protégés are not allowed to leave China He is trapped. In China. No, don't worry, he wasn't demonstrating against the communist system. He is based near Beijing as the coach of the Chinese biathletes. Where the Winter Olympics will be held in just a year, he is holding out in freezing temperatures that, Eder has written, go well over minus 20 degrees. There is also an ice-cold wind. According to the information from Bjørndalen, it will not be a fun event next year, due to the expected weather conditions. The big Norwegian has to stay in this inhospitable region at the moment because due to the Corona situation, he and his protégés are not allowed to leave the country or go anywhere else at all. So there is no visit to Obertilliach and, above all, no participation in the World Championships in Slovenia, although there were no chances of winning a title for China or a medal.

The demands that China's sports leadership places on Ole Einar Bjørndalen are not exactly low. He is supposed to present medal candidates in biathlon in a year. It's a pipe dream, even if his team includes a junior world champion, Fanqi Meng. But maybe he can come to Obertilliach to prepare for the games and give his team some final impulses on his cross-country ski trail. At the moment he has to hope above all that the heating in his rather sparse accommodation continues to work while his possible successors train in fantastic winter landscapes.

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Where is Ole Einar Bjørndalen?

Ole Einar Bjørndalen is the most successful biathlete of all time. Recently, however, things became quiet for the Norwegian, who ended his career in 2018. Our columnist Sigi Heinrich went looking for clues.

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