The IBU provides material support for all developing NF members through cooperation with its IBU Supplying partners. Each year, biathlon equipment is distributed to IBUs member federations to support the Development of biathlon on a national level. A wishlist provided by the NFs represents the base for the distribution, which is organised in December every year.
This year, the material distribution took place from 07 - 08 December during the BMW IBU World Cup 2 in Hochfilzen, Austria.
Fourty National Federations received
276 pairs of skis
228 pairs of poles
670 pairs of bindings
300,000 rounds of ammunition
231 boxes of wax
96 pairs of XC Boots
1,526 pairs of gloves
170 pairs of roller skis
575 pieces of Clothing
and many more equipment from 31 Supplying Partners in a total value of about 900.000 €. The packages per NF are worth between 10.000 – 40.000€.
Theresa Jost, IBU Development Project Coordinator, who manages the project, said
The material distribution is a unique project organized by the IBU since several years to support its developing Member federations with equipment for their youth and junior athletes. The preparations of such a project are quite extensive as the equipment has to be ordered from all partners, the wishes of the National Federations are considered for the distribution and then we still have to do the allocation of the material and of course the distribution in Hochfilzen itself. To do the allocation in a fair and transparent way, we decided that according to our current development structure, all B-Nations (13) should receive 30% of the material, all C-Nations (20) should receive 60% of the material, and all D Nations (7) should receive 10%. A-Nations (advanced structure) and E-Nations (provisional and inactive members) have been excluded from the material distribution according to the IBU Development structure principles (2016).