EVENTS FISU World University Games
The programme of competitions has been updated for the previous Winter Universiades to arouse more interest among spectators and for TV broadcasting, and FISU has always endeavoured to keep developing the biathlon competition with IBU.
Today’s biathlon competitions are organised for men and women as follows:
Men |
Women |
Individual 20 km |
Individual 15 km |
Sprint 10 km |
Sprint 7,5 km |
Pursuit 12,5 km |
Pursuit 10 km |
Mass Start 15 km |
Mass Start 12,5 km |
Single Mixed Relay: 6 km W + 7,5 km M |
At the 2009 Winter Universiade in Harbin, the competition included Mixed Relay for the first time. This gave countries with fewer competitors more opportunities to participate.
The competitions are always supervised by the FISU Technical Chair and the IBU Technical Delegate, who chair all technical meetings concerned. All tracks must follow the requirements of IBU and get an IBU license.
As a sport that has its roots in the army, biathlon has become a very exiting sport for university students. In February 1983, the FISU Winter Universiade was staged in Sofia, Bulgaria. The global character of the games was reflected in the number of events on the programme and the biathlon competition was included in the sports programme for the first time. Seven countries and 34 male athletes competed. The Soviets sailed through the competition and won the first three places. Until today’s competitions Soviet students and students form Eastern European countries have kept showing their international class. Many Olympians have participated in the FISU World University Games such as: Olga Zaytseva (RUS), an Olympic Champion in Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010; Tomasz Sikora (POL), ranked 2nd at the 2006 OWG in Torino; Olga Nazarova, ranked 6th and 7th at the 2006 OWG in Torino; and many others, who achieved excellent results in World Championships and World Cup competitions.