Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics - Biathlon Training - Anterselva Biathlon Arena, South Tyrol, Italy - February 04, 2026 Team Sweden in action during training REUTERS/Matthew Childs
ANTERSELVA, ITALY, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The sport of biathlon is experiencing a surge of popularity and its governing body has set a target of reaching 300 million fans during the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics,International Biathlon Union general secretary Max Cobb told Reuters.
Only ice hockey has outperformed biathlon in terms of ticket sales for the 2026 Games, with Sunday's first biathlon competition having sold out, and the sport is measuring interest closely and setting lofty goals in terms of public awareness.
"What we can see already is that we're on a trajectory this season to have the most interest ever during an Olympic Games," Cobb told Reuters over Zoom from Milan.
"At the World Championships last year, we had measurable fan interest from 105 million viewers or persons around the world, and our goal for Games timeis 300 million, so we'll see whether we hit it."
In biathlon, everything can be won or lost on the shooting range or while skiing on the challenging course, and the combination of skills makes for compelling viewing.
"There has been tremendous growth in the last six years in France, where we've seen a tripling of TV audience and a record-setting TV audience for the (IBU) World Cup this year already," Cobb explained.
"Then we're seeing massive increases in Finland and Poland, and in Italy and the United States, where we really are seeing twice the engagement and interest versus last year.
"I think some of that is the promotional effect or the halo effect of the Games, even before the Games begin - that this is an Olympic season and that people are more interested, or that the non-core fans are discovering biathlon."
LONG INVOLVEMENT
An active competitor back in his college days at Dartmouth, American Cobb has been involved in biathlon for more than four decades, and he said that a medal for his native country would do wonders for the profile of the sport there.
"While the U.S. won the most world championship medals of any non-European or any national federation outside of Europe, they've still yet to win their first Olympic medal in the sport," he said, singling out 23-year-old Campbell Wright as the American who might possibly bring that drought to an end.
"I think (there is) a great potential for them to realise this first medal at these Games, but of course, you know it's one athlete (Campbell), and sport is very challenging, so we'll see what happens, but it's a really exciting time for U.S. biathlon and I think that can be an enormous game-changer for us."
With the last two Olympics having been held in Asia where the sport is sparsely followed, Cobb is delighted this year's event will take place in the biathlon-crazy Antholz-Anterselva region of northern Italy, where fans from Austria and Germany will pour across the borders to cheer on the competitors.
"Audience participation is a really key thing, both in the stadium where there's this wonderful cheer for each shot and then absolute silence in between on this one-and-a-half second cadence - you really feel the spectators are there with the athlete, urging them on," Cobb said.
"And then to have people out on the course in one of the most demanding hills before the finish is just wonderful, too - that brings so much to the atmosphere and to the athlete experience."
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor)
