BiLoved Press Visit: Biathlon World Cup in Winter Wonderland

Pokljuka is once again counting down the days to a major sporting event featuring E.ON IBU World Cup Biathlon races. The first international biathlon competition of the highest level following the Winter Olympics in Sochi will take place between 5 and 9 March. The pine tree covered Pokljuka plateau located in the Julian Alps has been the venue for world-class cross-country skiing and rifle shooting competitions since the early nineties. Travel journalists planning to cover, write about or include World Cup Biathlon Pokljuka in their (social) media are invited to come to the site of the event. From 6 to 9 March 2014, Bohinj Tourism offers 3 overnight stays for tourism media interested in World Cup Biathlon Pokljuka 2014, while Ljubljana Tourism offers a tour of the Slovenian capital with the possibility of an additional overnight stay in Ljubljana (9.–10.3.2014).

Interested journalists can contact sasa.spolar@spiritslovenia.si

Members of the media can gain accreditation by clicking HERE.

BiLoved Press Visit (Biathlon – Bohinj – Ljubljana) offers new stories about Slovenia during the time of the largest winter sport events. While Bled, together with Pokljuka, has been hosting the world’s best biathletes since 1992, the World Cup experience in the countryside of Bohinj (26km from Pokljuka) is closer to a winter idyll. Lake Bohinj, serving as a large mirror for all the forests and hills surrounding it, never fails to delight its visitors, regardless of the season. In wintertime, the most beautiful views of Bohinj open up from high above when slaloming on the snow-covered slopes of Mount Vogel. Crystal Ski, one of the UK’s leading holiday specialists, usually tweeting as soon as the first snow falls on Mount Vogel, recommends Bohinj as a "great value ski resort with stunning scenery, ideal if you are looking to get away from it all."

A couple of months ago, the television crew of the International Biathlon Union also described Bohinj as spectacularly beautiful. They had come to film the Slovenian biathlon team in their preparations for the winter season. The Slovenian stars led by world champion Jakov Fak, runner-up world champion Teja Gregorin and other members of the silver-winning mixed relay team were followed around when rowing on Lake Bohinj, roller skiing and cycling. Head coach Uroš Velepec said that training sessions primarily had to be fun so that the athletes did not give up before completing the entire 200-day plan.

It is Bohinj, with its lake and forest tracks, that Slovenian biathletes enjoy the most. Their home, however, is on Pokljuka, in Triglav National Park. Owing to this plateau that provides the ideal conditions for training sessions and competitions, Slovenia is one of the 18 countries in the world that host the biathlon world cup. Did you know that this sport has developed from a competition among Scandinavian soldiers? Today it is one of the most popular winter sports. Female biathletes first took part in the Olympic Games in Albertville, which were held in the same year that the World Cup was first organised on Pokljuka.

Experience the hustle and bustle of the biathlon races and the romance of Bohinj! And for the grand finale, head to the lively capital of Ljubljana, which breathes with all major sporting events happening in Slovenia. This year Ljubljana celebrates its 2000th anniversary. Two millennia ago the urban settlement of Emona, as it was then called, was first included on the map of the great Roman Empire. Be part of a good winter story and reserve your BiLoved Press Visit!

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