BLOG: Wall climbing is here!

International Biathlon Union IBU meeting in June Frankfurt brought joy to the surface in Finland: Kontiolahti, Joensuu and North Karelia will host the opening competitions of the Biathlon World Cup in both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.

This is how you can enjoy a rare treat in Finland in 2020, when the Kontiolahti Athletes organize two World Cup competitions in one year. First, the biathlon nation will gather in North Karelia in March 2020 in the penultimate race of the season. Eight months later, the opening of the new season will be skied in Kontiolahti.

The new look unites

The streak of three World Cup races and the awarding of the opening races of the season to Finland is a sign of confidence that the snow conditions in Kontiolahti will be fine already at the end of November.

The pipeline of three events is also an acceleration platform for developing the services of the Kontiolahti Biathlon Stadium.

After the IBU's decision in June, the Kontiolahti Biathlon Stadium has been busier than normal. The work has included plans for the development of communication, partnership activities, ticket sales and stadium operations.

The new visual look, worked on in the summer and published at the beginning of September, combines the various services of the Kontiolahti Biathlon Stadium.

The kontiolahtibiathlon.com website, launched at the beginning of September, focuses first on the presentation of World Cup events and ticket sales. In the future, under the same website, you will also find the services of the cooled track that goes around the stadium (the cross-country skiing season opens on October 12, 2019) and the offer of the Sports Club Kontiolahti Urheilijat ry.

Climbing the wall is the beginning of everything

During the summer, brand workshops led by Marketing agency Tovari discussed what makes the Kontiolahti Biathlon Stadium memorable and memorable. What will the athletes, exercisers, spectators, partners and staff remember?

The answer can be found in the new logo: wall climbing.

The wall climb is the specialty and icon of the Kontiolahti Biathlon Stadium. In what is considered the steepest climb of the World Cup tour, a competitor can freeze completely or tear apart the others. The sunset view from the top of the climb to Höytäinen is probably the most beautiful of the tour. The public also puts their best foot forward when climbing the wall, when they cheer on the athletes climbing the slope in extreme laps.

The most famous finish of the wall climb is from 2015. Then Kaisa Mäkäräinen, who was skiing in her home World Cup, ripped the last ski section more than half a minute faster than the others and won bronze in the wall climb, cheered on by the cheering home crowd. The dramatic rise to the medals was chosen as the most exciting sports moment of the year in Finland at the Finnish Sports Gala for a reason.

In English, the wall climbing is by the way "The Wall". In the video, you can take Kaisa Mäkäräinen's journey as she presents the Kontiolahti track in the World Cup 2017 in English.