Introduction
Welcome to the 2025-26 biathlon season! The start of a Bø-less era in the men’s biathlon and new faces in an already crowded ladies’ field in an Olympics year should make for one of the most intriguing seasons in biathlon World Cup history.
With Johannes Thingnes Bø gone, all eyes will be on Sturla Holm Lægreid to see if he can become the new dynasty following nearly 30 years of Bjørndalen, Fourcade, and Bø. However, it will not be without fierce competition from younger competitors such as Eric Perrot and Tomasso Giacomel.
On the ladies’ side, the previous two seasons have come down to the final weekend to decide the Crystal Globe. With no clear favorite and more than 10 women capable of winning the Overall, that may be the case again.
The scope of this post is just the individual World Cup season. The Olympics will have their own prediction posts shortly before they occur.
Outside the Races
Schedule
Venues
Here are the venues for this season with the last season they performed there in parentheses.
- Östersund (2023-24)
- Hochfilzen (2024-25)
- Annecy-G.Bornand (2024-25)
- Oberhof (2024-25)
- Ruhpolding (2024-25)
- Nove Mesto (2024-25)
- Antholz-Anterselva (OWG) (2024-25)
- Kontiolahti (2024-25)
- Otepää (2022-23)
- Holmenkollen (2024-25)
The biathlon World Cup does not move much from season to season. All venues have been raced at in recent seasons, with all except two hosting in 2025. The courses are entirely in Europe and should be familiar to all.
Races
In terms of what’s on the schedule, this is the breakdown:
- Total races: 21
- Sprint: 7
- Pursuit: 7
- Individual: 3
- Mass Start: 4
And for proportions of overall races between this season, last season, and the last 5 seasons on average.
| Category | 2025-26 | 2024-25 | 2021-2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Races | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Sprint | 0.33 | 0.33 | 0.36 |
| Pursuit | 0.33 | 0.29 | 0.32 |
| Individual | 0.14 | 0.14 | 0.13 |
| Mass Start | 0.19 | 0.24 | 0.20 |
Out of the skiing disciplines, biathlon seems to be the most consistent from season to season. The 2025-26 season will not have much difference compared to recent seasons in what race types are on the calendar. However, biathlon race types do not matter as much as cross-country or alpine, so it would likely not make much of a difference if there were, for example, more sprint races than usual.