Baiba Bendika and Andrejs Rastorgujev | Photo: LBF
The creation of an infrastructure suitable for the Biathlon World Cup at the “Smeceres sils” base could cost from six to ten million euros – depending on the construction costs at the time of the work, base manager Gunārs Ikaunieks said in a conversation with the LETA agency.
This week, the president of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Ulle Dālins and general secretary Max Kobs came to Latvia for a visit, they visited both the Sports and recreation base “Smeceres sils” and the municipality of Madona region, and met with government representatives in the Ministry of Economy. The purpose of the visit was to update the potential and necessity for the development of the biathlon base “Smeceres sils”, so that in the future it can apply for the organization of the highest level biathlon competitions in Latvia.
As Ikaunieks said, during the meeting it was concluded that the place, the arena and the track are very suitable for these events, but in order to obtain an A license, the infrastructure needs to be supplemented – a judge-organizer’s house with technical equipment, an addition to the snow deposit and the construction of some access roads are needed. At the moment, it is not known when these infrastructure improvements could be made.
“The cost could be six to eight, maybe ten million. However, it depends on the construction costs at the time when it would be built,” said Ikaunieks.
Also, the head of the base said that by adapting the infrastructure for the highest level competitions, “Smeceres sils” would be suitable for events of many other sports.
“The plan is that this infrastructure could also be used on a day-to-day basis, such as a gym, labs for ability testing and things needed for daily classes at the Madonna Sports School. On the other hand, by increasing the snow deposit, I was provided with the opportunity to use the track for domestic athletes much earlier,” said Ikaunieks.
In February, the first European-level biathlon event in Latvia took place in “Smeceres Sila” – the European Junior Championship. This year, the Baltic Cup in biathlon will take place in March, but the next big IBU event is currently confirmed at the beginning of 2026, when the IBU Junior Cup in biathlon will take place in Latvia.
