Instead of holding the first four competitions of the World Cup season in four different locations, the four competitions will only be held in Kontiolahti in Finland and Hochfilzen in Austria.
Östersund had to be ironed out as Sweden has not been able to deliver a plan for how all skiers will be able to travel in and out of the country.
That is why Patrik Jemteborn is criticizing the government.
- You get both frustrated and very disappointed.
We have not even received a no or a yes.
We have the region with us that would have carried out covid tests on all 600 employees, so we have really bullied up with a good arrangement.
But when the hook legs are folded, there was no point in all the work we have put in, he says.
Hope to go plus or minus zero
Due to the late announcement, the IBU has guaranteed compensation money to the organizer.
- Neither they nor we know how big or how small it is, but hopefully it will be 0-0 in the numbers.
We will sit down and go through this together, he says and continues:
- We have deliberately tried to slow down as much as possible.
We have not started rolling the meatballs yet, so to speak, which we normally would have done.
Now it will be trying to cover the budget gaps that arise.
"Would be great to take revenge"
Despite the fact that there will be no competitions in December, they have not completely given up hope of the biathlon world cup in Östersund this winter.
From the IBU's side, they are happy to see that Östersund is available to jump in as an organizer if someone else cannot.
- What I suspect they are thinking about is the competitions after the World Cup.
Then we have Beijing and then Oslo, and the reporting we get from there with infection they probably sit and think about.
It is clear that we want to help and it would be fantastic if we had the opportunity to take revenge there, of course, says Jemteborn.