“Raubichi” is about to host IBU Youth/Junior World Championships on February 17-24

The IBU Youth/Junior World Championships will take place at the Raubichi National Winter Olympic Training Center on February 17-24.

Belarus was awarded the right to host this event in February 2013 by International Biathlon Union.

The championships will be held in two age groups: U-19 and U-21.

The contestants will compete for 16 sets of medals, 4 medals for each discipline: individual, sprint, pursuit, relay.

More than 600 participants, 450 of which are athletes, are expected to come to Minsk.

The organizers expect that around 4000 spectators will be observing the competitions every day and at the weekend - up to 10000.

The athletes from 37 countries are going to participate in the Championship: Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia, USA, Ukraine, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia, Japan.

The Championships will take place at the renewed biathlon stadium that fulfils all international standards.

The spectators can observe the competitions from stands or alongside the track. Within State Invest program of the reconstruction of “Raubichi” began in 2013.

The races will go live on TV “Belarus 5”.

According to http://www.rau.by , following the results of qualifying rounds national biathlon team of Belarus is comprised of 20 athletes from Vitebsk, Minsk, Grodno, Mogilev regions and the city of Minsk.

National biathlon team of Belarus:

Juniors Men (1994-1995 year of birth)

1. Krivko Viktor
2. Vorobiev Maxim
3. Litvinski Oleg
4. Lipai Evgeni
5. Medyuho Vladislav

Juniors Women (1994-1995 year of birth)

1. Trifonova Tatiana
2. Kunets Anastasia
3. Babitskaya Diana
4. Yakovlena Evgenia
5. Markovskaya Svetlana

Youth Men (1996-1997 year of birth)

1. Shinkevich Roman
2. Karlyuk Igor
3. Radyuk Vadim
4. Smolski Anton
5. Poplavski Pavel

Youth Women (1996-1997 year of birth)

1. Sola Anna
2. Blajko Daria
3. Alimbekova Dinara
4. Anufrieva Anastasia
5. Mazurina Kristina

The athletes are trained by national coaches:

Men’s team – Sergei Sokolovski, Vasily Bolshakov, Vladimir Alenishko, Sergei Dashkevich.

Women’s team – Sergei Nekrasov, Vladimir Makhlaev, Angelica Katyuga.

General management by Alexandr Syman.

The championships are held in accordance with the rules of International Biathlon Union in its current edition.

Competition program:

February 17^th

09:00 – 11:30 – official training, youth women + junior women

12:30 – 15:30 – official training, youth men + junior men

20:00 – opening ceremony (State Flag Square)

February 18^th

10:00 – individual, youth women (10 km)

13:30 – individual, youth men (12.5 km)

February 19^th

10:00 – individual, junior women (12.5 km)

13:30 – individual, junior men (15 km)

February 20^th

February 21^th

February 22^th

10:00 – pursuit, youth women (7.5 km)

11:00 – pursuit, junior women (10 km)

13:30 – pursuit, youth men (10 km)

14:30 – pursuit, junior men (12.5 km)

February 23^th

10:00 – relay, youth women (3x6 km)

13:30 – relay, youth men (3x7.5 km)

February 24^th

10:00 – relay, junior women (3x6 km)

13:30 – relay, junior men (4x7.5 km)

February 25^th

Departure

*Subject to time changes

Nowadays “Raubichi” is:

-          Renewed biathlon stadium

-          A shooting range with 30 targets (Kurvinen)

-          Multi-purpose track

-          IBU license of “A” category, valid until 31.10.2017

-          Stadium height above sea-level – 201, 09 m

-          Competition tracks (1.5 km, 2 km, 2.5 km, 3 km, 3.3 km), 5 km training tracks

-          The highest track point – 247.90 m

-          The lowest track point – 199.00 m

-          Modern wax cabins and changing rooms

-          Press center with the total area of 619.6 m²

-          Main building with the total area of 3479.1 m²

-          2500 seats on outdoor stands

Ticket prices on IBU Youth/Junior World Championships:

VIP with parking – 200000 rub.

VIP without parking – 80000 rub.

Stands – 50000 rub.

Track – 30000 rub.

Tickets can be purchased through “TicketPro”.

All necessary information you may find on www.ticketpro.by

CONTACT INFORMATION OF ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:

Minsk, 220030, Karl Marx str. 10-16, Republic of Belarus.

E-mail: biathlon@open.by

Website: www.biathlon.by

The head of the championships Media Center - Tatiana Podberezskaya (+375 (29) 659 61 02)

GETTING TO “RAUBICHI”

Estimated time of arrival from Minsk National Airport to “Raubichi” by car – 30 minutes.

During the championships from Karbysheva depot (address: Minsk, Logoiski tract, 37/1) buses will be taking fans to “Raubichi” in accordance with bus-table. Headway: 30 minutes – 1 hour.

In addition to fascinating competitions you can buy souvenirs and try Belarusian cuisine.

We recall that Raubichi National Winter Olympic Training Center was commissioned in February 1974.

The center is designed for training and competitions in biathlon, cross-country skiing and Nordic combined, sky jumping, slalom, speed skating, freestyle skiing, snowboarding.

“Raubichi” hosted Biathlon World Championships in 1974, 1976, 1982 and 1990, Biathlon Europe Championships in 1998 and 2004, FIS Cross-Country World Cup in 1991, Alpine Ski European Cup in 1995 and 2006.

“Raubichi” was honored with the UIPMB golden badge for hosting Biathlon World Championships in 1982.

In 1996, the International Biathlon Union gave the “A” category to “Raubichi” granting the license to host top-level competitions without any exceptions.

Translated by Alexey Sokolov, the student of the 4^th year of Interpreting and translation’s school, MSLU.