The unforgettable 2024/2025 biathlon season comes to a close in Holmenkollen, Norway tomorrow and is set to be marked by thrilling races and an emotional farewell to two legends of the sport: Johannes Thingnes and Tarjei Boe.

The Boes, competing in front of a sold-out home crowd for their last BMW IBU World Cup, will bring their careers to an end in style with Johannes Thingnes saying good-bye as the record Biathlon World Champion and winner of five Total Score titles.

On the sports side, the emergence of new nations in the top positions reflects the work that is being done to develop biathlon and close the competition gap as part of Target 2030. Athletes from 14 different countries have stepped on the podium across the 70 competitions this season – the highest number in biathlon’s recent past. Despite the Boes’ success this season, it is France that finished on top in the men’s Nations Cup, bringing an end to Norway’s dominance in the men’s ranking over the last seven years.

The huge crowds in attendance at Holmenkollen were replicated throughout the season and mirrored the enormous interest that was seen in viewing figures and engagement across TV, digital and social. Viewer hours were up across the World Cups season with significant increases in core markets such as Finland (+13%), Norway (+13%), Poland (+11%) and Switzerland (+43%). In France and Germany 43.8 million and 133 million viewer hours were generated respectively, and Scandinavian markets regularly secured above 50% market share.

The historic BMW IBU World Championships Biathlon 2025 in Lenzerheide generated extensive broadcast coverage with numerous key biathlon markets registering increased audiences from the previous years. Swiss broadcaster SRF recorded an increase of nearly 20% compared to the 2024 World Championships in Nove Mesto. In Germany, market share of the World Championships reached 41%, in Norway it reached 82%, in Sweden it reached 81% and in Finland it reached 71%.

These impressive broadcast numbers were matched by sustainable host broadcasting operations at the World Championships which earned the globally recognised albert certification - a leading environmental standard for the TV and film industry – and followed the IBU receiving the Commended distinction at the 2024 IOC Climate Action Awards for its ground-breaking efforts in collaboration with broadcasters to measure and reduce carbon footprints.

On social, 240 million video views were generated across the @biathlonworld social media channels representing a 60% increase from last year and engagements rose to 16 million. Visitors to the IBU website increased by over 50% to 4.5 million and the IBU App saw more than 220,000 downloads with the average session length increase to over 12 minutes.

Photo: IBU/Nordnes