Summer Biathlon 2024

It’s that time again…Summer Biathlon season! For biathlon fans, by the time we get to mid to late Summer boy are we ready for some biathlon action. Summer biathlon isn’t quite the same as “true biathlon” but it quenches the desperate thirst that we have. (Unfortunately the way the climate is changing we all may need to adopt summer biathlon more fully but that’s a discussion for another time).

Summer biathlon can sometimes be a difficult thing to wrap your arms around. On one hand you’re seeing many of your favorite biathletes and they are (roller) skiing and shooting and it very basically looks the same. On the other hand, they are in shorts and on asphalt and there is absolutely no discussion about wax. (Maybe that last bit is actually a plus!). Also, though, as of yet Summer Biathlon hasn’t yet developed a great mechanism for getting the best of the best to compete at the same time. The IBU has been putting in some work towards building out a summer biathlon calendar to generate interest in roller biathlon but as of yet there hasn’t been mass adoption.

Sure, we have Blink that brings out most of the top Norwegians and a few other top athletes. The Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival, like City Biathlon, is rapidly becoming a great place to catch a handful of the best biathletes competing in a fan friendly environment. The Summer Worlds have traditionally been more of a showcase for “the rest of the world” with the top tier federations like Norway or France only rarely if ever sending their top biathletes. Then we have the national championships. The bones are there to build out a good summer roller biathlon schedule. However, more work needs to be done.

For now, though, summer biathlon serves as a distraction and a tease for the main event to come in November. At this stage of the game I personally look at summer biathlon as a way to get excited about potential breakthroughs for the winter season, or to evaluate how athletes are recovering from injuries/surgery/sickness. In general, I don’t “penalize” anybody for bad performances during summer biathlon events. I try to only celebrate great performances or surprise performances but if one of the expected athletes has some bad races, I don’t judge it too harshly or start to predict that they will have a collapse in performance come November. Summer biathlon is a chance to celebrate and have fun. Let’s not get too negative.

Also, for those new to the summer biathlon one interesting thing to note is that the roller skis are standardized so everybody has the same equipment. There is no wax advantage. I always try to keep that in mind.

So let’s take a look at some of the fun biathlon we’re seeing this summer!

Part 1: Blink Festival + Sweden, Belgium, & US National Championships

Part 2: Summer World Championships

The 2024 IBU Summer World Championships was full of thrilling races with races decided by the smallest fractions of a second and massively emotional Mass Start victories on Sunday. While maybe not packed with the absolute A-list stars, and certainly not as prestigious as the Winter World Championships, these Summer Worlds were plenty of fun and we have a lot to talk about. Continue reading Part 2: Summer World Championships.

Part 3: Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival + German, Italian, Czech, and Finnish National Championships

The final day of August and the first day of September saw the highest concentration of major biathlon action that we’ll have all all summer long. Most of the attention was paid to the all star field seen in Annecy for the Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival. But there were also national championships taking place in Germany, Italy, Czechia, and Finland with many of our favorite athletes competing for their national titles!

We’re not going to go race by race but just a few news and notes from each of the big events. Part 3: Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival + German, Italian, Czech, and Finnish National Championships

Part 4: More National Championships