Photo: Zuzana Jarolímková, iROZHLAS.cz
The Biathlon World Championships in Nové Město na Moravě opened with a show on Vratislav Square. The chairman of the world association, Ole Dahlin, also did not miss the opportunity.
“Everything is in place for a fantastic World Cup”said the biathlon’s top sports official on Tuesday afternoon.
However, the weather doesn’t want to stick to the expectations, hopes and big words. On Monday, the first training session on the course and in the Vysočina Arena had to be canceled due to the stormy winds. The first competition will take place on Wednesday afternoon with the mixed relay. And the weather is also causing problems for the organizers. Vlastimil Jakeš is the World Championship race director:
Photo: Zuzana Jarolímková, iROZHLAS.cz
“It’s been the same thing for three or four days: rain, high temperatures and wind. It won’t even freeze at night. As a result, we lost at least 40 centimeters of snow depth on the race tracks. That’s why we have to cart in huge amounts of snow with excavators.”
One meter of snow was added to the race tracks. The course had to be covered so that the white surface did not get dirty. But Nové Město na Moravě is prepared for such adversity. A snow depot, actually a kind of pit, was built in 2015. Mayor Michal Šmarda (Social Democrats) recently explained in an interview for Radio Prague International:
Michal Šmarda|Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International
“The pit occupies an area of approximately three-quarters of a hectare. At the end of winter, 60,000 cubic meters of artificial snow always comes in there. About a third of it thaws away over the summer and is replenished in the following winter. Here in Nové Město we have put aside the old Czech saying that no snow lasts until next winter.”
The organizers themselves also confirm that the lack of natural snow is not a problem for hosting the championship. Jiří Hamza is chairman of the Czech Biathlon Association and heads the World Cup organizing committee. In the domestic broadcasts of Czech Radio he said:
Jiří Hamza|Photo: Zuzana Jarolímková, iROZHLAS.cz
“Luckily we have the depot. This means we can guarantee that we will have enough snow until the end of the World Cup, even though it means an incredible amount of work for all the helpers. Unfortunately, the weather forecasts don’t look good either. So we’ll just have to keep going.”
Only at the end of the World Cup, i.e. in the middle of next week, could it snow in this area on the Bohemian-Moravian Heights. At least these are the forecasts so far. The fans aren’t exactly thrilled about these prospects either. For example, battle enthusiast Josef…
“It’s a shame. In February you could have at least expected temperatures around zero degrees and snow. But whatever, that won’t stop us.”sagt der Fan, der direkt aus Nové Město na Moravě stammt.
Photo: Zuzana Jarolímková, iROZHLAS.cz
Athletes are of course particularly affected by the less wintery conditions. Because even if there is enough snow on the routes, the question remains whether it won’t be quite soft.