4-6 September for the Shooting Championship Championship. more than 360 athletes ─ including Kaisa Mäkäräinen

For the biathlon championships at the Kontiolahti Biathlon Stadium on the 4th-6th. more than 360 athletes have registered as of September. Most of the Finnish national team and Kaisa Mäkäräinen, who is enthusiastic about the competitions organized by the home club, will be there.

Competitions start on Friday, September 4 with messages. On Saturday, the program includes speed races and on Sunday, normal races.

─The youngest competitors participate in the 13-year-old series. There are 51 different clubs who have registered, and on the relay day there will be 81 different teams in different series, says Jarno Lautamatti of Kontiolahti Urheilijat ry, which organizes the club.

The biggest teams are sent to the WC by the Seinäjoki Ski Club (46 athletes), the host club Kontiolahti Athletes (39), the Oulu Ski Club (30) and the Saloisten Reipas (19), the Hakoniskat of Halikon (19) and the Ahveniston Shooting Skiers (19).

Entire men's national team included

Venla Lehtonen of Imatra Ureilidije and Suvi Minkkinen of Joutsa Pommi are on the list of those registered from the biathlon women's national team.

The men's national team includes Olli Hiidensalo of Lahti Ski Club, Tuukka Invenius of Soisalo Biathlon Skiers, Jaakko Ranta of Tuusula Voima-Veikok and Kiiloja of Haapajärvi. >Tero Seppälä.

Mäkäräinen: "I've been running a lot"

Kontiolahti Athletes will receive confirmation in the spring from Kaisa Mäkäräinen, who ended her international competition career.

Mäkäräinen is confident that the run will go well in the Games.

─ I've actually been running quite a bit, because it's such an easy form of exercise. Mainly I have gone in the comfort zone. Powers have only been done a couple of times during the summer.

─Shooting will be its own chapter. I have practiced shooting fifty times this summer. In the last week, maybe I will schedule a few more exercises.

Mäkäräinen doesn't have any expectations for himself.

─The number one thing behind my participation is that it is a home competition. In the message, the club will hopefully get confirmation for the team. It's fun to join, but there are no expectations or pressure - now we participate more for the joy of participating. But when the number tag is on the chest, of course we will do as well as possible.

In addition to Friday's message, Mäkäräinen has signed up for personal trips on Saturday and Sunday.

With exceptional arrangements, the number of contacts will be reduced

With the corona restrictions, the event will see exceptional arrangements so that the number of close personal contacts is small.

─ In an outdoor event, the participants are naturally separated from each other most of the time. In certain places, for example at the number tag distribution point, operating methods are changed from the traditional ones in order to minimize the number of close contacts. According to the instructions of the Regional Administration Office, the organizer must take care of safety intervals and hygiene arrangements, Lautamatti says.

Photo: Tero Seppälä and the other athletes of the men's national team have registered for the shooting championships. Photo: Piia Kinnunen / BMW IBU World Cup Kontiolahti March 2020

Read more: Shooting Championship competitions 4-6 September 2020 in Kontiolahti

Edited on 27.8. at 10:34: Detailed information about Mäkäräinen's participation on different days.