Biathlon legends back to Raubichi

This autumn the biathlon festival "Legend Race 2016" returns to Raubichi together with biathlon veterans and novices.

Do not miss this unique event on September 8, 2016, which is likely to become one of the greatest Belarusian sports festivals ever.

Experienced biathlon fans wonder whom they are going to see at the starting line. They will be surprised to the upside. Firstly, the number of participants will increase from 20 to 30 athletes. Secondly, many legends come back to Minsk entertaining a suggestion of our biathlon superstar Darya Domracheva. Thirdly, the event will engage a number of intriguing and bright newcomers of "Legend Race 2016", which already have a huge army of fans among Belarusian lovers of this sport.

Now, who has already booked tickets to arrive in Minsk in mid-September? Olympic champions from Germany Sven Fischer and Ricco Groß, Norwegian Halvard Hanevold, French Vincent Defrasne, Austrian Christoph Sumann are going to visit us again. Last year's winners of the super sprint Norwegian Frode Andresen and French Florence Baverel-Robert are also back on track. This time it will be difficult for the Belarusians to choose the athletes on the track to root for. The Olympic champion of the 1988 in Calgary Alexandr Popov, silver medalist of the Vancouver 2010 Siarhei Novikau or bronze medalist in Nagano 1998 Aliaksei Aidarau? There in Raubichi our neighbours’ debutants will show their worth: coming Ukrainian athlete Andriy Deryzemlya and accurate Russian sportsman Nikolay Kruglov, Jr. , an irreplaceable member of the Russian quartet relay of the second half of the last decade. 

Among beautiful and accurate ladies besides the Florence Baverel-Robert, we expect to see again German athlete Simone Hauswald, Bulgarian Ekaterina Dafovska, Norwegian Liv-Grete Poiret, Swede Anna Carin Zidek. New women's faces at the race: Olympic champion Karin Niogre, medalist Sylvie Bekar, Marie-Laure Brunet and Sandrine Bailly (all from France); Germans Martina Beck (Glagov) and Catherine Lang (Hitzer). Russian biathlon school will be presented by two-times Olympic champion Olga Zaitseva and Anna Bogaliy. Olena Zubrilova and Olena Petrova will again perform on one track, and get an enormous portion of the support from the Belarusian and Ukrainian fans of biathlon.

The highlights of the festival will be a mass start and a mixed relay with the main stars of the festival. Besides the biathlon legends, the young representatives from Belarusian biathlon schools will also compete on the track, as well as the media representatives. Do you want to try yourself in the biathlon? No problem – you can easily test your abilities in the rifle shooting in the open shooting gallery.

All fans, who are eager to come to Raubichi in advance, will be able to get to the autograph session of the biathlon legends, which will be held before the races. The new autograph cards, photos, and live communication with idols will be available to the fans throughout the whole two hours!

The biathlon celebration will capture the entire territory of the sports complex. Children's playgrounds will be prepared for young fans of biathlon and there will be "Belarusian Lounge" where all guests will be able to get acquainted with Belarusian culture, crafts and cuisine.

Organizers have taken into account the huge interest of the audience in the festival and increased the number of stands along the track. 10 thousand fans will have an opportunity to watch the races live. At the beginning of August, the new details about the race and ticket booking are expected.

The preparation for a new race will begin with the memories of "Legend Race 2015". On July 28, 2016 at 16:00, the National Library of Belaruswill host a photo exhibition dedicated to this event.

President's Sports Club press center

Translated by Darya Sarmont.