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On Saturday the message came: The International Ski Federation (IBU) cancels the World Cup competitions scheduled in Östersund from December 3 to 6. Instead, this year’s competitions will be held at Kontiolahti in Finland and Hochfilzen in Austria.
This means that the competitions scheduled for Östersund and France’s Annecy Le Grand Bornard will not end.
Sweden could not guarantee entry
According to the Swedish Biathlon Federation, the decision is justified, among other things, by the fact that Finland and Austria were able to guarantee that participants could travel to the country, a guarantee that Sweden could not give.
Now the chairman of the Östersund city council, Bosse Svensson, is harshly criticizing the Swedish government.
“Obviously we are disappointed. Disappointed not to host the competitions. But perhaps above all disappointed with the government’s attitude,” he wrote in a press release.
“Pure indifference”
Bosse Svensson believes that both the Östersund municipality and the Swedish biathlon federation were prepared to hold a crown-assured competition, but since they were never informed about the entries, it never became relevant.
“We would have had to respect a no from the government, but not answering anything at all is actually sheer indifference,” Bosse Svensson writes.
Doesn’t run completely
But hope for the competitions in Östersund is not completely dead: IBU has asked Sweden and other organizers to be prepared if the pandemic situation means that the competition schedule must be changed during the season. Both Östersund and the Swedish Biathlon Federation now announce that they are ready for such a scenario:
“We choose to hope, but then the government must also make a quick decision and not let other countries get ahead of us,” says Rikard Grip, Secretary General of the Swedish Biathlon Federation in a press release.
