Biathlon: the first Loop One Festival takes place this weekend
Almost seven months have passed since the end of the last round of the biathlon World Cup. It was then that Lou Jeanmonnot lost the battle for the crystal globe to Franziska Preuss in the final race, and the Boe brothers bowed out in front of their home crowd.
In mid-October, the 2025/2026 biathlon season officially kicks off in Munich, Germany. The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has decided to pull out all the stops with its Loop One Festival.
Held this weekend over two days in the heart of Munich’s Olympic Park, its aim is to become a household name by offering a popular ski-wheel event featuring the world’s best athletes.
Super sprints on the programme for the world’s best biathletes
For this first edition, Saturday will be devoted to youth and para-biathlon races, with Frenchmen Benjamin Daviet and Karl Tabouret starting the men’s mass-start in the standing category.
But Sunday will be the day to look forward to most. On the 1.8 km course laid out in Munich’s Olympiapark, the world’s sixty best biathletes will compete in super sprints. The format will be simple, with four qualifying heats of fifteen athletes (the top three in each heat and the three fastest times will qualify) followed by a final, also with fifteen athletes.
The men’s qualifiers will open at 11.00am, 11.20am, 11.40am and 12.00pm, while the women will be on deck at 1.00pm, 1.20pm, 1.40pm and 2.00pm. Finally, the finals will take place at 3.42pm (men) and 4.23pm (women) before a prize-giving ceremony scheduled for 5pm to round off this first Loop One Festival in style.
The programme for the Loop One Festival in Munich 🇩🇪
Saturday 18th October
- 11:00: 4 all biathlon
- 12.15pm: seated para-biathlon relay
- 12.55pm: Para biathlon single mixed relay for the visually impaired
- 13:35: men’s para biathlon standing mass-start
- 4pm: youth races
- 17:00: Para-biathlon and youth prize-giving ceremonies
Sunday 19 October
- 10:20-10:50: Men’s shooting trials
- 11.00: Men’s super sprint qualifying heat 1
- 11.20am: Men’s super sprint qualifying heat 2
- 11.40am: Men’s super sprint qualifying heat no. 3
- 12.00: Men’s super sprint qualifying heat no. 4
- 12.20pm-12.50pm: Women’s shooting trials
- 13:00: Ladies’ super sprint qualifying heat 1
- 1.20pm: Women’s super sprint qualifying heat 2
- 1.40pm: Women’s super sprint qualifying heat no. 3
- 2.00 pm: women’s super sprint qualifying heat no. 4
- 3.42pm: men’s super sprint final
- 4.23pm: Women’s super sprint final
- 5pm: prize-giving ceremony
- The IBU launches the Loop One Festival, the opening event of the 2025/2026 season in Munich
- “Stéphane Bouthiaux regrets the late announcement of the Loop One Festival, the IBU’s urban show at the start of the season.
- The IBU’s urban show at the start of the season has changed the Summer Tour schedule: the first stage will take place in Arçon in September, the second in La Féclaz in October.
- France has nine quotas for the Loop One Festival, an urban show organised by the IBU on 19 October in Munich.
- The crème de la crème: the names of the nine French riders selected for the Loop One Festival, the season-opening show organised by the IBU in Munich.
- The Summer Tour of La Féclaz rather than the Loop One Festival in Munich for Justine Braisaz-Bouchet
- Germany with Franziska Preuss, Justus Strelow, Selina Grotian and Janina Hettich-Walz for the Loop One Festival, Vanessa Voigt absent
- Great Britain with Shawna Pendry and Matthew Chronicle at the Loop One Festival in Munich
- “They’re going there to give it their all”: Karl Tabouret and Benjamin Daviet at the start of the Loop One Festival in Munich on 18 October
