But it is therefore a serious alternative that the biathlon world has begun to look at. Because the EU directive on lead bans due to pollution and poisoning, and an ongoing war in Ukraine, has led to ammunition shortages and uncertainty for biathlon as we know it today. Thus, laser weapons have emerged as a real alternative. – For my part, they can wait until I hang up, says Sturla Holm Lægreid to news. CRITICAL: Sturla Holm Lægreid believes laser weapons have a long way to go. Photo: Vesa Moilanen / NTB He is among the athletes who take a negative view of the proposal, which has become more and more relevant. Today it will be a fine-caliber shot, more precisely caliber 0.22. With the introduction of a possible EU directive, the sport as we know it today will change drastically. When you shoot with a laser, you lose the recoil (movement) backwards that a normal biathlon rifle gets. The athletes also point out that wind conditions will have less impact if laser weapons are introduced. – I’ve tried laser shooting a bit, but the danger is that the last shot is suddenly 10 centimeters away. I don’t think you can trust it 100 percent every time, says Johannes Thingnes Bø, who is also clear that this is the future. THE WEAPON: This is what a laser weapon might look like. Here the laser weapon is placed on a normal weapon stand. Photo: Private – Enormous problem with recruitment Björn Ferry, the Olympic champion at the start of hunting in 2010, is on the other hand positive about the proposal. – In the past, you shot live pigeons, you don’t do that anymore. Everything that lives changes, so must sport, says Ferry, who also points out that most people were negative about the introduction of the V-style in show jumping. The International Biathlon Union (IBU) confirms that they have started looking at the alternative, but says lasers are unlikely to be the solution for biathlon in the short term. – We want to make our sport available and for young people to have a nice and safe alternative in laser weapons, but for the elite I see today’s weapons as the best alternative, says Daniel Böhm to news. THE FUTURE: news’s biathlon expert Harri Luchsinger believes that laser weapons are the future of biathlon. Photo: Even Bjøringsøy Johnsen / news news’s biathlon expert, Harri Luchsinger, believes it can help solve a major problem for Norwegian biathlon. As news wrote on New Year’s Day, the number of active biathletes in Norway has dropped by as much as 30 per cent in the last eight years. – We have a huge problem with recruitment to the sport. I think it has become too complicated to go to biathlon training. There are so many logistics and buying shoes has become very expensive after all. You can do it with a laser, you can build a laser arena anywhere and pack it up the next day, says the former head of development in the Norwegian Ski Federation (NSSF). Big challenge Because you can cut down the gigantic stands with laser weapons and you also don’t need to take precautions to secure the stands on the sides and above the blinkers. In principle, one can then arrange competitions in the middle of Karl Johan. Another positive side of switching to laser is the insight into the sport, and especially shooting. – Now it looks like they are shooting and missing. If you see how people experience the shooting, you will be surprised that they hit at all, says Ferry, who is now an expert for SVT. CHANGE: Former Olympic champion and current expert in SVT, Björn Ferry believes that biathlon must change. Photo: STEFAN WERMUTH / Reuters With a laser sight, you have a better chance of seeing how the biathletes actually aim, and how they move from blink to blink. But a major challenge for laser weapons is the recoil from the weapon. – You almost have to fake the recoil, because it has such a big impact on how good you are at shooting. It’s about how good one is at finding the flash again after the recoil, because he is quite powerful on a caliber 0.22 weapon that we shoot with now, says Sjåstad Christiansen. Same argument as in the 70s And it is in this field that Luchsinger believes that more development work is needed. – There is a long way to go before the laser weapons that exist today can be used in the World Cup. I think IBU must take a lot more ownership of the development of these laser markets, for example so that they get a motorized recoil when you pull off. If not, it will be very easy to shoot, because it is the recoil that gets you out of sight, explains the news expert. That is why he calls for the IBU to start major development work. SIMPLE: This is what you need to shoot with a laser. Photo: Private – I think we stand where we did in the 70s when someone said that coarse calibers were “real shooting” and that fine calibers that they switched to in 1978 were characterized as toys. It’s exactly the same argument they use today, lasers are just a toy, it’s not proper shooting. But one has to think anew, Luchsinger believes. – What do you think that they don’t do more? – I think that is passive. It’s a bit weak considering how many resources they have. Let’s say that in five years you find out that the laser did not work optimally after all. There is zero risk, it doesn’t cost many millions to try, the expert follows up. Already in 2007, the then general secretary of the Norwegian Biathlon Union, Alf Koksvik, suggested laser weapons as the future, but more than 15 years later it is still a long way off. – In combination with major environmental challenges and discussions related to lead and travel restrictions, we are forced as an international federation to look at our options, but at the top level we see caliber 0.22 as what we wish to use, says Böhm, the sports director of the IBU.
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Think this weapon can save biathlon – the stars are skeptical – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
