The world champions will be crowned in the Biathlon Arena Lenzerheide over the next twelve days. The most important facts at a glance.
10.02.2025, 18:00
10.02.2025, 18:11
SDA
A dozen titles
Twelve titles will be awarded at the 2025 World Championships. The decisions in the order of the program: mixed relay, sprint, pursuit, individual, single mixed relay, women's and men's relay and mass start. Those who compete in all races will start seven times. The World Championships are no longer part of the World Cup.
Historic
The entire elite biathlon world championships are being held in Switzerland for the first time - in 1985, a title competition was held in Egg am Etzel specifically for women, the joint World Championships have only existed since 1989. Swiss-Ski was awarded the contract in November 2020. The opposing candidate was Belarus
What are the dimensions of the World Championships?
The budget is around 12 million francs. Jürg Capol, FIS Marketing Director until 2022, is CEO of the major event in Graubünden. The OC is hoping that the budgeted mark of 55,000 spectators will be exceeded. The World Championships will be broadcast on around 35 TV stations. Biathlon is the winter sport with the highest TV ratings.
The potential stars of the World Championships
Johannes Thingnes Bö and his older brother Tarjei have announced their retirement from top-class sport at the end of the season and stand out from the strong Norwegian team with World Cup leader Sturla Holm Laegreid in terms of interest. In the women's field, the French are currently setting the tone with four athletes in the top 6. Sweden, with Elvira Öberg and Sebastian Samuelsson, is also among the front runners. The biathlon nation of Germany has the World Cup leader in Franziska Preuss and the discovery of this winter in 20-year-old Selina Grotian.
The Swiss medal hopes
Amy Baserga made it onto the podium for the first time this winter. Lena Häcki-Gross, on the other hand, has not yet reached the form of last season. In the men's event, Niklas Hartweg could pull off a coup on a perfect day. In the second week of the World Championships, the Swiss team will have a slightly better chance of winning their first World Championship medal. The shooting-heavy individual discipline will then be on the program, and three of the four relays will also be run in the second part of the World Championships.
The prize money
25,000 euros will be paid out for winning an individual event. The runner-up will receive 19,000 euros and 14,000 euros for third place. Money is distributed up to 30th place, which earns 200 euros. A total of 140,800 euros will be distributed per race.
The weather
According to the long-term forecasts, no capricious weather is to be expected. At 1400 m above sea level, temperatures will be below freezing at night and should hover around freezing during the day. The service crews will have an easier time preparing the skis than a year ago in Nove Mesto, where they had to ski on a dirty band of old snow in a green environment.
The shooting range
The running course is considered to be very demanding, also because of the altitude. However, the shooting range is reached after a long descent. This has its pitfalls, not only because of the high-speed pedaling around the 180-degree bend in the stadium. It is also important to get the pulse rate into the right range.
Björndalen has to tremble
Ole Einar Björndalen has won the most World Championship medals to date. The Norwegian has won 20 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze medals. His compatriot Johannes Thingnes Bö is hot on his heels: he has also won 20 titles so far, as well as 13 silver and five bronze.
