BLINK is one of the longest-running city events in summer biathlon and cross-country, originating in 2006. It has grown from a made-for-TV sports event to a long weekend filled with multiple broadcasts, concerts, clinics, brunch, kid's activities, and the centrepiece… according to Sports Director Arne Idland, “the best athletes in the world!” And it is all free!

Idland continued, “We always say that our most important BLINK customer is not particularly interested in biathlon or cross country! The people who are really interested in the sports will come anyway…So we give the other people many good reasons to spend a week at home in the holiday period.”

One of the world’s largests Summer Ski Events

Over four days, the event hosts 2500 youth-to-world -class athletes from 25 counties, producing multiple competitions while closing three days with major music concerts. This year, the four big biathlon powers Norway, France, Sweden and Germany will all have athletes at the start.

Municipality Involvement Critical

Getting to this year’s July 31-August 3 weekend is simply put a major project in coastal Sandnes, Norway’s fourth largest city. Over 100,000 spectators will be on hand, with several million more following the weekend on TV and online. “Involving the municipality is the key factor when you have an event like BLINK. It is important that we are doing the event together with the communities! Everything has to be for free for the spectators. We have no entrance fee for the kid activities, tribunes or the concerts. Everybody is welcome, both rich and poor young and old on so on. The real ownership to BLINK is the region’s people.”

Four-week Setup

The Friday and Saturday events in Sandnes city centre mean the core city centre area is closed for almost 4 weeks. Idland explained, “We start the construction work in Sandnes which is the main BLINK-arena 18 days before the first competition. Then we use about 5 days to remove the constructions after BLINK. At the same time, there are ongoing preparations in Lysebotn and Ålgård that host the uphill and Thursday Blink Classics.” Each presents its challenges from the narrow, windy Lysebotn road on the Fjord to day-long road closures in Ålgård.

Popular Lysebotn Opp

Despite getting to the big hill by boat and then suffering the 10% gradient, “Lysebotn Opp has a unique place in the hearts among the world’s best skiers, the spectators present in Lysebotn and the TV viewers. It is among the most popular TV products on NRK every summer!”

Biathlon and Cross-country Clubs Benefit

An event on the scale of BLINK takes a community of 500+ volunteers from local cross country and biathlon clubs. “We are very much dependent on these highly skilled people. Their work is a very important project for the clubs, netting about 1 million Nkr to support their programs.”

Plans for BLINK25 Underway

Coordinating Company Axelar brings all the pieces like athletes, volunteers, NRK and the municipality together. Axelar with three full-time and two part-time employees never stops planning. According to founder Idland, “We are making plans for BLINK25 now. We use the day-by-day experiences during the current event to evaluate and plan for future improvements.”

NRK: Key Driving Force

Since the beginning in 2006, the key driving force behind Blink has been Norway’s NRK TV with the support of the Norwegian Biathlon Federation. The late NRK sports anchor Kjell Kristian Rike designed the whole Blink program that has become the successful TV-product we can see today. "NRK always send their best people. I think it is correct to say that Blink is a result of NRK’s high sports standard in cross country and biathlon!”

Free Event Anomaly

BLINK is an anomaly in today’s world as Idland reiterated. “The key success factor behind BLINK is that everything is for free. Had we done it differently and sold tickets BLINK would have been history many years ago!”

After 18 years of nail-biting competitions, with names like Fourcade, Bjoerndalen. Fillon Maillet, Boe, Eckhoff and Olsbu Roeiseland coming to Sandnes, Idland admits a singular stand-out moment. “I was really proud when we managed to arrange BLINK in the summer of 2020 when everything was prohibited and impossible in Norway due to the Covid-19 restrictions!”

This year’s Blinkfestivalen runs from 31 July – 2 August.

Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni, Blinkfestivalen/ Ørjan Dalseth, Asgeir Ravndal, Hans Lie