The International Biathlon Union (IBU) awarded the Summer Biathlon World Championships 2024 to Otepää. The summer title competitions will be held in Otepää at Tehvandi Sports Centre from 19 to 25 August 2024.
"Organizing the IBU Summer Biathlon World Championships is a very important event for us, as it is a title competition," said Aivar Nigol, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Otepää Summer Biathlon World Championships. "The proposal for the organisation of the summer biathlon is usually made as a direct offer, which shows that IBU trusts Otepää’s organizing team," Nigol added.
This is the third time that the Summer Biathlon World Champions are announced in Otepää. Summer title competitions were previously held at Tehvandi Sports Centre in 2007 and 2016. "IBU is paying more and more attention to the summer biathlon, which is why biathlon has taken the focus of the sports world not only in winter, but also in summer," Nigol said.
In 2027, Otepää will also host the IBU Winter Biathlon World Championships, and a World Cup stage a year earlier. "The Otepää Summer Biathlon World Championships will definitely see the world’s top athletes, because all teams are interested in getting to try out the Tehvandi tracks before the winter championships," Nigol said. "Hosting the summer championships is also a good practice for the organizing team in view of the 2027 World Championships," Nigol added.
The exact competition schedule for the Summer Biathlon World Championships, to be held from 19 to 25 August 2024, will be confirmed at a later date.