In Lenzerheide, there was a lot of talk about the "legacy" of the first Biathlon World Championships in Switzerland. Things are looking good at the top, but the base is still too narrow. That is now set to change.
24.02.2025, 12:05
24.02.2025, 13:12
SDA
Aita Gasparin looks around wistfully after her last World Championship race on Sunday afternoon and says to Keystone-SDA: "I used to run cross-country races on this meadow where we are standing as a six-year-old girl." She is extremely grateful for what has been built since then and that she has been given the opportunity to experience a home World Championships in such an atmosphere. The 31-year-old from the Engadin could never have imagined this in her wildest dreams.
Biathlon has carved out a place for itself in the Swiss sporting public eye over the last decade, not least thanks to the surprising Olympic silver medal won by Aita's older sister Selina Gasparin in Sochi in 2014. The first World Championships was now a highlight, but one that came almost too soon. There was not enough time to build up a whole new generation of Swiss athletes for this major event. The fact that the present looks very good despite the lack of a World Championship medal must almost be considered a stroke of luck. But a lot of work is still needed to keep it that way.
Starting from the bottom again
Jürg Capol, CEO of the World Championships and future Nordic Director of the national federation Swiss-Ski, puts it this way: "We now have a team that is guaranteed to be at the top of the World Cup in the coming years and who are also potential medal winners at next year's Olympic Games." But that's not enough. "We have to start at the bottom again," emphasizes Capol. "If you want to develop a sport, the pyramid comes from the bottom. So we have to improve the base."
The basis is created at the clubs and in the schools. "We have to look at what the clubs are doing? What do they need?" says Capol. "More trainers? More material? More rifles?" One challenge is that biathlon has no tradition in most clubs and that biathlon shooting ranges are often far away, especially from sports schools.
Suddenly the children love to run
One person who is working hard to broaden this base is Selina Gasparin, the current head of young talent. The "Biathlon for you" project was launched in the canton of Graubünden with funds from the "Legacy" program of these World Championships. "We present laser biathlon in gymnastics lessons and have already been able to reach 4,000 children," explains Gasparin. "And the children find it fun. Even those who don't like running give it their all when you combine it with shooting."
Teachers also see the value of biathlon, where you work out but have to be concentrated and focused again straight afterwards. "These are qualities that are also very useful in everyday school life." She can therefore well imagine that biathlon could also become a national highlight in gymnastics.
Getting children excited about biathlon is one focus, the second challenge is training them. The sport has only been part of the Youth+Sport program for a few years, so the Y+S instructor training is still in its infancy. Gasparin is also closely involved in creating teaching materials, because "the better trained the people are, the more they can teach the children the right things right from the start."
Synergies with cross-country skiing
In the lowlands, where there is an increasing lack of snow, it is also an option to start with shooting and racing or on roller skis. "But contact with the snow is important," says the Grisons native. "Even if it's only now and again on vacation." Neither Capol nor Gasparin fear that the biathlon will steal talent away from cross-country skiing in the medium term.
At Swiss-Ski, the areas have been deliberately brought closer together in order to exploit synergies. Selina Gasparin puts it like this: "If someone takes their colleague into training, one may realize that they have more talent for shooting, while the other stays with cross-country skiing. Nevertheless, they can stay together for longer and motivate each other."
In the end, both sports could benefit. And who knows: at the World Cup in five years' time or at the 2038 Olympic Games in Lenzerheide, an athlete like Aita Gasparin might be standing there saying: "I got my first taste of biathlon on this meadow at the 2025 World Championships."
