Wednesday evening, the Opening Ceremony of the IBU Biathlon World Championships in Hochfilzen took place at the Medal Plaza.

Impressive World Championship Opening fascinates 3500 fans

In the course of a superbly staged show in front of more than 3.500 enthusiated fans the IBU Biathlon World Championships 2017 in Hochfilzen was opened on Wednesday evening. A colorful mix of videos, music performances of Hubert Trenkwalder, Hannah, the children's choir Hochfilzen and Zabine as well as the eloquent moderation of Tom Walek set the audience in a fantastic mood and created a festive athmosphere for the athlete's entry to the Medal Plaza.

Mr. Günther Platter (governor of Tyrol), Prof. Peter Schröcksnadel (president of the Austrian Ski Federation / "We are looking forward to a great World Championships here in Hochfilzen and I would like to thank all of you who made this event possible") and Mr. Othmar Commenda (Head of the Military General Staff) expressed their gratitude and emphasized the importance of this event for Tyrol and Austria in general. In his subsequent speech, IBU president Anders Besseberg pointed out to the long-reaching tradition of the biathlon sport in Hochfilzen and finally declared the IBU Biathlon World Championships 2017 opened.

Framed by a spectacular fireworks display, the popular Austrian singer DJ Ötzi concludingly performed his greatest hits and thereby constituted the grande finale of this opening ceremony.