Serious incident at the Biathlon World Cup: Norwegian fires a shot into the team accommodation

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The Biathlon World Cup in Lenzerheide GR is experiencing its first great excitement – and that happened outside the cross-country ski trail.

On Sunday, the world federation IBU announced that Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid (26) would not be allowed to participate in the mass start. The reason: the athlete fired a shot with his biathlon rifle in the team accommodation of “Don Bosco”. The incident also prompted police action.

Shot hits stool against wall

The incident happened on Friday, before the sprint race, Laegreid told the Norwegian newspaper VG. He accidentally used a full magazine for dry training. Normally an empty one is used for this, otherwise the small caliber weapons cannot be used. Laegreid shot a hole in a stool on the wall, but nothing more happened, he said.

Due to the blatant violation of safety regulations, the world federation will exclude the 26-year-old from the race on Sunday. Further investigation into the incident is ongoing in cooperation with the Swiss authorities. The multiple world champion and ten-time World Cup winner faces further punishment.

“Show why security guidelines are so important”

Laegreid was questioned by Swiss police on Saturday and expressed remorse in a communiqué from the world association. “I am deeply sorry for this incident and I sincerely apologize to the entire biathlon family, my teammates and the hotel owner for what happened. “This is a brutal reminder to me and all biathlon athletes why safety guidelines are so important,” the athlete said.

The Olympic relay champion took his first podium finishes of the season in third place in the pursuit in Lenzerheide on Saturday and second in Hochfilzen the week before. (cat/SDA)

Source : Blick