The International Biathlon Union has announced that Östersund will replace Oslo as the host of the IBU World Cup finals 2021. The tightening of Norwegian government regulations on entrance into the country and quarantine rules made it impossible to hold the event at Holmenkollen. As a consequence, all international sports events has been cancelled.
Östersund should have hosted races at the beginning of the season, but then Kontiolahti took over because IBU changed the calendar due to the covid-19 pandemic. However, with the latest decision, Sweden get to host the best biathletes also this season.
The IBU said that they will organise charter flights from the Czech Republic, where next races in the beginning of March will take place, to Sweden. The finals will be between 15 and 21 March.