Nové Město na Moravě 2025-2026 Preview

We arrive at one of my favorite venues on the World Cup circuit. It’s an absolutely massive affair every time we go to Nove Mesto. The stands are gigantic. The fans are phenomenal all the way around the course. The course is lighted so beautifully so often we get at least a couple of races right at sundown giving us some gorgeous vistas. I love Nove Mesto and I just wish it wasn’t right before the Olympics this season so we got to see a full field!

Dates: January 22, 2026 – January 25, 2026

Schedule

– Thursday January 22nd: Men’s 15km Short Individual
– Friday January 23rd: Women’s 12.5km Short Individual
– Saturday January 24th: Single Mixed Relay (W+M) + Mixed Relay (W+M)
– Sunday January 25th: Men’s 15km Mass Start+ Women’s 12.5km Mass Start

Course Overview

Shown above we have:
– 1.5km Loop – Single Mixed Relay
– 2km Loop – Mixed Relay
– 2.5km Loop – Women’s Short Individual + Women’s Mass Start
– 3km Loop – Men’s Short Individual + Men’s Mass Start

– Stadium altitude: 620 meters
– Highest Altitude on Course: 655 meter
– Lowest Altitude on the Course 620 meters
– Stadium capacity: 20,000 spectators

Just because it’s not a course that is at altitude does not mean Nove Mesto is an easy course. It is lumpy with several climbs early in the first half of each loop including a pretty steep climb near 15% gradient. The back half of the loop generally has a bit more downhill but it closes with another sharp 14% climb near the end of the loop. That can put a touch of lactate in the legs before the range and on the last loops could definitely expose who is running close to empty. The other not so hidden secret about Nove Mesto is that it runs a little longer than listed.

Weather

Honestly the weather looks amazing. Do I wish it was sunnier? Sure. But It’s going to be right around freezing. The course should be in absolutely pristine condition. No major storms coming through. No major wind predicted. The fans should be in phenomenal spirits. Just a great send off for the break/Olympics for all of the athletes there!

News and Notes

1) Olympic Training Camps – We are getting close and closer to the 2026 Olympic Games. It’s big decision time…keep racing or go to training camps? Here’s a quick breakdown of who is going to be missing this week/who is continuing to race. (this is long)

🇳🇴 Norway – For the most part everybody is going to be going to the Lavaze Training camp for Olympic prep. It’s actually easier to list who will be in Nove Mesto. This includes:
– Johan-Olav Botn – wants to get back to racing as he missed both Oberhof and Ruhpolding after the being sick. I think this is very important for him. If his first race back after the 1st trimester, being sick, and the traumatic event of being the one to find Sivert Bakken was the Olympics that could be really difficult
– Isak Frey – A little bit of somebody has to fill out the 6 men and he’s got the blue bib
– Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold – She just needs to get some momentum before Antholz (I’m 100% assuming she’s there). She won in Nove Mesto last year. Good place to find good feelings.
– Juni Arnekleiv – We’ll see if she’s selected for the Olympic roster but a good chance for her to be there after Norway’s terrific women’s relay win in Ruhpolding

🇫🇷 France – Everybody is going to Nove Mesto. Absolutely no changes from the lineup in Ruhpolding. Not officially announced yet but go ahead and assume this is your Olympic roster

🇸🇪 Sweden – This is where it gets interesting. We have a split squad here so I’ll just go ahead and list the names most people care about:
– Elvira Oeberg – Even after her amazing Oberhof thrust her into the Overall mix she’s focused solely on the Olympics. Training camp in Livigno for her
– Hanna Oeberg – In Livigno for training campe
– Sebbe Samuelsson – While he’s in a very similar situation to the two above him he just wants to compete. No way was he going to let the Overall go to Giacomel/Perrot without a fight. He’s going to be in Nove Mesto
– Martin Ponsiluoma – Will be racing alongside the rest of the top men in Nove Mesto
– Anna Magnusson – She will be going to Nove Mesto rather than the big training camp in Livigno
– Ella Halvarsson – Halvarsson is going to Livigno to prep for the Olympics

🇮🇹 Italy – The Italians are rolling to Nove Mesto in force. Lisa Vittozzi and Dorothea Wierer already had their time off for training camp. Tommaso Giacomel skipped the Men’s Relay this week and we’ll see if he runs this relays this week (I assume he will).

🇩🇪 Germany – Most of the athletes going to the Olympics will NOT be present in Nove Mesto except for 3 exceptions:
– Franziska Preuss wants to continue her good feelings and keep moving towards the Olympics with good momentum
– Anna Weidel will be present in Nove Mesto
– Philpp Horn returns after being sick recently

🇫🇮 Finland – After broadcasting loud and clear for most of the year that they would be skipping Nove Mesto Coach Erik Kulstad and his crew are calling an audible and going to Nove Mesto. The most obvious reason is for the Cup chase. Suvi Minkkinen remains in 2nd position behind Lou Jeanmonnot. And with the Swedes all skipping out it gives her a chance to consolidate her Top-2 position even if not pulling back any points on Jeanmonnot. The Finnish women also currently sit 6th in the Nations Cup and with nine races left they still harbor hopes of cracking the top 5. It’s a long shot but they certainly can’t do it without going to Nove Mesto.

Having said all of that, this is a big call from Kulstad and the decision makers in the Finnish federation. Unless everything they said earlier was a smokescreen (I have it on pretty good authority that it wasn’t) this is a really last minute change. If it works and they have good races in Czechia and then a great Olympics then 100% kudos to them. But if they don’t have a good Olympic Games you’ll hear a lot of talk about this decision and it won’t be totally out of line. Not saying I agree or disagree. I completely see the merits of both and if the athletes, trainers, and all decision makers are on board then good for them. I clearly wasn’t part of these decisions though, but my one big worry is that they are being called by the siren song of Globe points and Nations Cup points that appear closer and more attainable than they really are. It’s a high risk high reward call here. If it works our then it could be an all time glorious call leading to a spectacular year. If not it puts the Olympics at risk. I’ll tell you what, I’m so glad I am not the one to make that call!

🇨🇭 Switzerland – Pretty much the entire team will go to Nove Mesto. However, Nik Hartweg is heading home to train to get ready for the Olympics. He’s shown some encouraging signs the last few weeks but hasn’t put it all together in a non-relay race yet. Here’s to hoping it happens in Antholz!!

2) Interesting Week Ahead – A couple of big things at play mean that we could see some interesting results in Nove Mesto
1) There are a ton of top athletes not there opening up spots
2) The type of races we are seeing with Short Individual and Single Mixed could allow some other athletes/nations to rise up and get a moment in the sun

Recent History

Women’s Top 5 Finishers Last 5 Competitions (includes 2024 World Championships)
– Does not include retired or ineligible athletes

Athlete	Finishes
Julia Simon 🇫🇷	🥇🥇🥇🥉🥉, 4, 4
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet 🇫🇷	🥇🥈🥈🥉, 4
Lisa Vittozzi 🇮🇹	🥇🥈🥈🥉, 5
Lou Jeanmonnot 🇫🇷	🥉🥉, 4, 4
Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold 🇳🇴	🥇🥈🥈
Hanna Oeberg 🇸🇪	🥈🥈, 5
Dorothea Wierer 🇮🇹	4, 5, 5
Vanessa Voigt 🇩🇪	5, 5, 5
Franziska Preuss 🇩🇪	🥉, 5
Selina Grotian 🇩🇪	4, 5
Janina Hettich-Walz 🇩🇪	🥈
Yulia Dzhima 🇺🇦	🥈
Marketa Davidova 🇨🇿	🥉
Oceane Michelon 🇫🇷	🥉
Linn Gestblom 🇸🇪	4
Lisa Theresa Hauser 🇦🇹	5
Baiba Bendika 🇱🇻	5

Men’s Top 5 Finishers Last 5 Competitions (includes 2024 World Championships)
– Does not include retired or ineligible athletes

Athlete	Finishes
Sturla Holm Laegreid 🇳🇴	🥇🥈, 4, 5
Emilien Jacquelin 🇫🇷	🥇🥈, 5
Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen 🇳🇴	🥉🥉🥉
Fabien Claude 🇫🇷	5, 5, 5
Tommaso Giacomel 🇮🇹	🥈🥈
Quentin Fillon Maillet 🇫🇷	🥈🥉
Andrejs Rastorgujevs 🇱🇻	🥈, 4
Sebastian Samuelsson 🇸🇪	🥈, 5
Eric Perrot 🇫🇷	4, 4
Endre Stroemsheim 🇳🇴	4, 5
Jakov Fak 🇸🇮	4, 5
Martin Ponsiluoma 🇸🇪	🥉
Johannes Dale-Skjevdal 🇳🇴	4
Michal Krcmar 🇨🇿	4
Dmytro Pidruchnyi 🇺🇦	4

Recent Memorable Moments/Performances

2024 Worlds Men’s Sprint: Rarely will I have strong memories of a Sprint, but this 2024 Worlds Men’s Sprint will be an exception. Johannes Thingnes Boe had started the season a little slower than his dominant 2022-2023 season but he was getting stronger throughout the year. He came through relatively early on in bib 26. He was 9/10 but with his ski strength is looked like he was going to have his first individual gold medal of those Worlds.

Sturla Holm Laegreid had other plans though. He was in bib 50 and finished his shooting 10/10 with a slim advantage on JT Boe’s time. At the moment I was sure that Laegreid didn’t have the ski strength to be able to hold on to that lead and that Boe’s strength would win out on the last lap. Initially that played out as halfway through lap 3 Laegreid’s time slipped just behind that of Boe. Laegreid went deep into the red and found every bit of reserve he had to just find a bit of strength and get ahead of JT Boe by the finish. It was a stunning reversal in the last kilometer!

2024 Worlds Women’s Relay: This was a magnificent World Championships race. It had everything you want to see. The biggest of big names eventually raced their way to the podium but not without some fun before. The race started out relatively calmly, but turned upside down in leg 2. As Sophie Chauveau had 2 penalty loops it allowed Tuuli Tomingas to jump out to the front for Estonia. It wasn’t just Estonia though as there were nine nations within 46 seconds including Austria, Belgium, Ukraine, and Poland.

The second half of the relay was more about the big teams making the comeback. For France it was Braisaz-Bouchet and Simon leading the charge. Justine Braisaz-Bouchet needing just one extra round took France to the lead and Simon closed it off. The Oeberg sisters pulled Sweden to a very good silver medal. It came down to a final shoot between Johanna Talihaerm and Sophia Schneider but Germany came away with the bronze. No worries for Estonia though as they were super happy with their 4th place finish!

2022-2023 Men’s Races: The Double Bødium: Nearing the end of Johannes Thingnes Bø’s overwhelming dominance he swept the Sprint and Pursuit in Nové Město with relative ease. What made it amazing was that he got to share the podium both times with his brother Tarjei Bø who finished 2nd in both races. The capper is that both brothers had COVID for at least the Pursuit race and ended up missing the following week in Östersund.

2022-2023 Women’s Races: Last Bow for Marte Olsbu Røiseland: Marte Olsbu Røiseland, the 2021-2022 Overall Crystal Globe winner, ended her decorated career at the end of the 2022-2023 season. It turns out that the last two wins of her career came a couple of weeks earlier in Nové Městowhen she, like JT Bø, swept the Sprint and the Pursuit.

2020-2021 Men’s Sprint: This Sprint came down to one of the closest podium finishes in recent memory. Standing at the top of the podium was Simon Desthieux who, in the 2nd to last season of his career, won the first race of his career. He won his 2nd, and last, career races two weeks later in Oslo. Coming in second, just 2.2 seconds back was Sebastian Samuelsson. Then in third, just 2 seconds back of Samuelsson, was Arnd Peiffer, who that day climbed on to the last podium of his career. The following day in the Pursuit Desthieux held on to the podium, Peiffer finished 10th and Samuelsson finished 12th. You’ll be stunned to learn that 1-2 that day were Tarjei Bø and JT Bø.

2018-2019 Women’s Pursuit: When you want to introduce somebody to biathlon, you want to be able to show them a race like this. If you want to re-live it you can find it on youtube with the Russian commentary. (Hopefully we don’t draw so much attention to it that it gets taken down!). The set up to the Pursuit was the Sprint where Marte Olsbu Røiseland shot a perfect 10/10 and survived against Laura Dahlmeier who was 9/10 by a slim 4.5 seconds. Meanwhile Paulina Batovska-Fialkova was just 6.2 seconds back. It looked like this was going to be an absolutely awesome Pursuit. However, only one of these three women would survive the first two shootings and remain in the mix.

By the midpoint of the Pursuit the major players of the race had moved to the front. Marte Olsbu Røiseland was hanging on to a lead as Dorothea Wiere, the Overall Globe winner, had used perfect shooting and solid skiing to move from 9th to 2nd. Hanna Öberg meanwhile had followed her lead from 6th to 3rd. Unfortunately Dahlmeier and Batovska-Fialkova had tumbled out of contention.

After Røiseland suffered her first miss of the race on the 3rd shooting Wierer pounced and went into the lead. Hanna Öberg was just 6 seconds back and Røiseland was hanging just under 20 seconds back. After Wierer put in some solid work on lap 4 she held 11 seconds on Öberg and 25 seconds on Røiseland. That’s when things got really wild. If you want to see it click on the youtube link above and go to 1:23:20.

On the last shooting Wierer and Hanna Öberg, two of the fastest shooters in biathlon, froze. To be fair this was a very windy day. There was a heck of a crosswind at the start of the shooting that sagged and turned around in the middle of the shooting. Wierer and Öberg each went 4/5 with Wierer taking 49 seconds and Öberg 43 seconds. Røiseland meanwhile came in and let it fly. She went 4/5 as well but in just 20 seconds. Remarkably Røiseland, after coming on to the range down by 25 seconds, was actually the first one off the loop.R

Røiseland managed to fend off Dorothea Wierer at the very end winning by just 0.2 seconds in a thrilling race that came down to the very end. Hanna Öberg came home in a very respectable 3rd place.