Slovak men’s biathlon found itself in a deep crisis before the start of the new World Cup season. The Slovaks only have two adult competitors at their disposal, so they won’t even put together a relay.
The end of the thirty-two-year-old Tomáš Hasilla was to be expected after ten demanding and not very successful seasons in the World Cup. Other departures, however, can be described as surprising and, above all, premature. And also fatal for contemporary men’s biathlon.
Twenty-three-year-old Lukáš Ottinger, twenty-five-year-old Matej Baloga and a year older Šimon Bartko announced the end of their careers before the upcoming season.
“It was their own decision, it was related to the fact that they did not get paid positions within Dukla. They had an offer for some support from the union, but that was not enough for them, so they decided to quit professional biathlon,” explained the president of the Slovak Biathlon Union, Peter Vozár.
In the new season, only Michal Šima and Tomáš Sklenárik should start among the world’s elite.
It sent Slovaks back twenty years, as the Sme.sk server noted in the headline. Some disciplines are simply not filled.
He will certainly have to do without the men’s relay, and the mixed pairs competition, which is usually run on the same day as the four-person mix, is also in jeopardy.
There is a significant generational gap in the Slovak team, and promising juniors who do not have enough qualification points cannot yet be used.
Eighteen-year-old Jakub Borgula in particular is a great hope for the future. This year he became world champion in the junior category, to which he added two more silvers. According to Slovak biathlon experts, he is not yet physically ready for the transition to adulthood.
If last season the Slovaks took the 20th position in the Cup of Nations, which was the worst result in the entire independent era, the following one will most likely be even worse.
All the more hope will be attached to the women in Slovakia, especially to the sisters Paula and Ivóna Fialková, who will probably be joined in the World Cup by another sister duo – Mária and Zuzana Remeňovy.
Although the Slovak association first announced the end of the Czech men’s coach and the Fialkos Tomáš Kos, the successful sisters subsequently negotiated individual cooperation with him.
