Biathlon World Cup in Nove Mesto na Morave

There is a huge biathlon hype in Czech Republic in the last two years. The team is winning one medal after another and I had a great opportunity to get the accreditation for this year world cup in Nove Mesto. It was my first time shooting biathlon and actually first time shooting outside in winter.

When I arrived on Saturday, we had dreamy sunny weather, no clouds at all. The chief photographer explained the spots where I can shoot, and soon I was ready to go. But as usual, the spot where I should go through was guarded by security guy and he was supposed to let us through (both photographers in blue or grey (priority) vests). When he saw me he said "no no no, only grey vests". You know the story, it happens almost everywhere :D 

So after a while and little bit of explaining he got it and let me through. If you think there was a nice sidewalk to the spot....it wasn't :D I had to go around penalty loop through  this :

But it lead to a perfect spot with excellent view on athletes after the start and the fans all together:

After the men sprint, women started and Veronika Vitkova get the bronze medal ! The crowd was amazing, and the cheering gave me goosebumps many times.

I know from the news that the weather on Sunday will be little bit worse. But this was not what I expected :

I don't get how they were able to shoot the targets. Gabriela Soukalova had a great run and ended up on 5th place due to 2 misses in the last lap.

The camera handle these extreme weather conditions without any issues. Which was great ! But to be honest everyone was looking forward for the award ceremony to get the last shot and run to the press center. Thanks a lot to all organizers, the ceremony was fast and we were not so soaked :D

Here is the Gallery with all images.