Biathlon and alpine skiing test events for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games will be staged this week featuring the top class athletes around the world.
The local organizers said the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Biathlon World Cup will take place at Alpensia Biathlon Centre in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, from Thursday to Sunday, while the International Ski Federation (FIS) Ski World Cup will be held at Jeongseon Alpine Centre in Jeongseon some 214km east of Seoul, from Saturday to Sunday. Both PyeongChang and Jeongseon are in Gangwon Province.
They are two of the three PyeongChang Olympic test events set for March. The test events are designed to check whether the competition venues are prepared and operationally ready.
PyeongChang isn't a stranger when it comes to hosting IBU competitions. The alpine town previously staged the World Cup in 2008 and the World Championships in 2009.
The biathlon competitions can be largely divided into individual, sprint, relay, pursuit and mass start. For this week's World Cup in PyeongChang, only sprint, pursuit and relay events will be played.
The organizers said 488 biathletes from 28 countries will compete at the World Cup, including Ole Einar Bjorndalen of Norway. The 43-year-old has so far collected 13 medals -- eight golds, four silvers and one bronze -- from six previous Olympics.
The men's side will also feature Martin Fourcade of France, who is considered second most decorated male biathlete of all time behind Bjorndalen. The 28-year-old has won the overall World Cup title five seasons in a row and is currently also No. 1 in the World Cup rankings this season.
The women's competitions will have Laura Dahlmeier of Germany. She has won seven gold medals at the World Championships and is currently the leader in the World Cup rankings this season.
Following her is Gabriela Koukalova of the Czech Republic. The 2014 Sochi Olympic silver medalist is currently No. 2 in the rankings.
Local fans will pin big hopes on two Russia-born biathletes who now compete under the South Korean flag after their naturalization.
Anna Frolina is currently ranked No. 46 in the World Cup rankings, while Ekaterina Avvakumova sits at No. 66. The latter, however, took fifth place at the World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, earlier this month in the women's individual competition.
The FIS Ski World Cup in Jeongseon, one of the sub-host cities of the PyeongChang Winter Games, will have the downhill and super giant slalom (super-G) alpine skiing speed events.
Only female skiers will compete in this edition of the World Cup, as male athletes already raced a downhill and super-G at the same venue last year.
Fans will be able to see alpine skiing star Lindsey Vonn, who is one of the honorary ambassadors for the PyeongChang Olympics. The 32-year-old American, who previously had a relationship with golfer Tiger Woods, is the 2010 Olympic champion in downhill and boasts an all-time women's record of 77 World Cup wins.
The U.S. veteran will have to compete against young stars like Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia, the 2017 World Championships winner in downhill. Vonn was third in downhill at the Worlds in St. Moritz, Switzerland, earlier this month.
In super-G, Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein, current No. 1 in World Cup super-G rankings, and Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria will compete.
However, Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States and Lara Gut of Switzerland will miss the Jeongseon World Cup. The organizers said Shiffrin, current leader in overall alpine skiing World Cup rankings, will visit South Korea, but will just train at the Olympic venue, while Gut, No. 3 in overall rankings, is not able to compete due to a knee injury.
By Yonhap News
The local organizers said the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Biathlon World Cup will take place at Alpensia Biathlon Centre in PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers east of Seoul, from Thursday to Sunday, while the International Ski Federation (FIS) Ski World Cup will be held at Jeongseon Alpine Centre in Jeongseon some 214km east of Seoul, from Saturday to Sunday. Both PyeongChang and Jeongseon are in Gangwon Province.
They are two of the three PyeongChang Olympic test events set for March. The test events are designed to check whether the competition venues are prepared and operationally ready.
PyeongChang isn't a stranger when it comes to hosting IBU competitions. The alpine town previously staged the World Cup in 2008 and the World Championships in 2009.
The biathlon competitions can be largely divided into individual, sprint, relay, pursuit and mass start. For this week's World Cup in PyeongChang, only sprint, pursuit and relay events will be played.
This file photo taken on Jan. 31, 2017, shows Alpensia Biathlon Centre in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, the venue for biathlon events for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
The organizers said 488 biathletes from 28 countries will compete at the World Cup, including Ole Einar Bjorndalen of Norway. The 43-year-old has so far collected 13 medals -- eight golds, four silvers and one bronze -- from six previous Olympics.
The men's side will also feature Martin Fourcade of France, who is considered second most decorated male biathlete of all time behind Bjorndalen. The 28-year-old has won the overall World Cup title five seasons in a row and is currently also No. 1 in the World Cup rankings this season.
The women's competitions will have Laura Dahlmeier of Germany. She has won seven gold medals at the World Championships and is currently the leader in the World Cup rankings this season.
Following her is Gabriela Koukalova of the Czech Republic. The 2014 Sochi Olympic silver medalist is currently No. 2 in the rankings.
Local fans will pin big hopes on two Russia-born biathletes who now compete under the South Korean flag after their naturalization.
Anna Frolina is currently ranked No. 46 in the World Cup rankings, while Ekaterina Avvakumova sits at No. 66. The latter, however, took fifth place at the World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, earlier this month in the women's individual competition.
The FIS Ski World Cup in Jeongseon, one of the sub-host cities of the PyeongChang Winter Games, will have the downhill and super giant slalom (super-G) alpine skiing speed events.
Only female skiers will compete in this edition of the World Cup, as male athletes already raced a downhill and super-G at the same venue last year.
In this file photo taken on May 6, 2015, Lindsey Vonn speaks at a press conference in Seoul after she was named an honorary ambassador for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
Fans will be able to see alpine skiing star Lindsey Vonn, who is one of the honorary ambassadors for the PyeongChang Olympics. The 32-year-old American, who previously had a relationship with golfer Tiger Woods, is the 2010 Olympic champion in downhill and boasts an all-time women's record of 77 World Cup wins.
The U.S. veteran will have to compete against young stars like Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia, the 2017 World Championships winner in downhill. Vonn was third in downhill at the Worlds in St. Moritz, Switzerland, earlier this month.
In super-G, Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein, current No. 1 in World Cup super-G rankings, and Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria will compete.
However, Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States and Lara Gut of Switzerland will miss the Jeongseon World Cup. The organizers said Shiffrin, current leader in overall alpine skiing World Cup rankings, will visit South Korea, but will just train at the Olympic venue, while Gut, No. 3 in overall rankings, is not able to compete due to a knee injury.
By Yonhap News
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