“It’s the best here, almost 30,000 spectators and everyone is crazy about biathlon. I walked through the mixing zone and didn’t even hear the journalists’ questions. There is a great atmosphere, everyone is smiling,” confessed Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Boe, the best biathlete of today and perhaps history.
“Ole Einar Björndalen told me that it’s hell here,” Jiří Hamza, the head of the organizers and the Czech union, interpreted the words of another legend who works as an expert on Norwegian television. “I take away from here that Czechs love biathlon and it doesn’t matter in what form and for what results,” observed Hamza.
Photo: Jaroslav Loskot, CTK
Johannes Thingnes Boe from Norway in Nové Město in Moravia on the fighter track.Photo: Jaroslav Loskot, CTK
But the biggest part of the organizer’s work is yet to come. Next year in February, the World Championship will return to Nové Město na Morava after eleven years. “I hope we can finish everything and make it a holiday. We want to be prepared so that the area is ready for the next fifteen years for major world events in biathlon, mountain biking and cross-country skiing,” plans Hamza.
What will change in Vysočina Arena? Grandstands will be installed, facilities for athletes will be modified, lubrication cells will be added, warehouses will be expanded, data distribution systems will be improved and lighting will be reconstructed. “It’s not easy in today’s sustainability era, when we count carbon footprints and are almost afraid to fly. We don’t want to load hundreds of truckloads of material and then take them away,” explains the union boss.
Tickets for the World Cup should go on sale in April. At what prices? “The principle is that even the best ticket should not exceed a thousand. The price level will be only slightly above the World Cup, tickets will definitely be significantly cheaper during the week,” Hamza outlines the pricing policy of the event, whose budget is around 260 million crowns.
