Biathlon: the IBU changes its regulations for the IBU Cup
Last winter, Paula Botet, Camille Bened and Voldiya Galmace-Paulin succeeded each other at the top of the women’s IBU Cup rankings. Although it was the Chablais native who lifted the crystal globe at the end of the season, none of the three Frenchwomen wore distinctive bibs to identify them at the competition venues.
“When the IBU Cup was invented, it was decided not to have distinctive yellow bibs [for the general ranking] or red bibs [for the disciplines]. The leaders in the general or discipline rankings on this circuit do not represent the best biathletes in these categories, as they are taking part in the World Cup,” explained theInternational Biathlon Union‘s communications department at the time, when contacted by Nordic Magazine. Coloured bibs are also often introduced for reasons of marketing, broadcasting or storytelling, neither of which currently plays an important role in the IBU Cup.
The colour of the jersey is not yet known
During the off-season, the situation seems to have changed completely, as the IBU Executive Committee approved a change to the rules at its meeting in Anif (Austria) in June .
From now on, according to point 16.4.3. of the IBU competition rules, “competitors ranked first in the overall IBU Cup ranking must wear a coloured leader number during the competition”.
Although the colour of the jersey is not specified, there is a good chance that it will be yellow in imitation of what is currently used on the World Cup circuit. The leaders of the secondary classifications, on the other hand, will not wear a distinctive number.
