The IBU World Championships Biathlon 2021 Pokljuka starts on Tuesday, 9th February, with an opening ceremony in Bled. A day later, the world’s best biathletes will make an entry to the stadium. The organisers hoped until the last minute that they would be able to welcome at least a few spectators at the championships venue, but a few days ago they unfortunately had to declare a defeat to uncertain epidemiological situation.
Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the Triglav stadium in Rudno polje will be empty during the World Championships, and the television image that will be sent from Pokljuka to the households will be even more important.
37 hours of international broadcasts are planned over the 13 competition days, supported by an exceptional amount of equipment. There will be a total of 45 cameras at the venue, including nine special ones. One of them is a camera on a rope (cablecam), which was first included and tested by the television during last year’s IBU World Cup Biathlon in Pokljuka. Two super slow motion cameras, two ultra slow motion cameras and four cameras at targets will also be in use.
Producer Tom Tomanič has provided some other interesting information, for instance that 150 people are involved in the phases of preparation and execution of the IBU World Championships Biathlon project.
Pokljuka previously hosted the IBU World Championships Biathlon in 2001, but it is impossible to draw a parallel from the television broadcasts’ point of view. As Tomanič says, the production standards and philosophy of television broadcasts have changed so much since, the projects are not comparable.