On Sunday, the International Biathlon Union's (IBU) new competition, a sprint competition on roller skis in Munich, will be decided, which they hope will attract a broader audience.
The fact that biathletes are in the middle of preparations for the Olympic Games season has made it not entirely easy to get the best to come.
The Norwegian national team is at a high-altitude camp in Lavazè in Italy. To avoid losing too much effect from the high-altitude arrangement, they choose to take a helicopter, which takes an hour, instead of driving a car, which takes five hours and has meant that the athletes had to leave already on Saturday.
The cost of 14,000 euro is paid with the athletes' start fees of 2,000 euro each.
This (competition) was not something I wanted to do from the start, but it's an Olympic Games season and that makes us feel forced to do it by the IBU. So this (helicopter) was the only way to limit the damage to the high-altitude arrangement, says Sturla Holm Lægreid to NRK.
Taking a helicopter goes against the Norwegian Biathlon Association's goal of reducing its climate footprint.
It's a small bitter pill to swallow, says Lægreid.
National team manager Per Arne Botnan tells NRK that optimizing the Olympic Games season takes precedence over climate and sustainability.
Yes, in this case. We have done what we could earlier this year, he says with regard to the climate work.
