With Sheer Driving Pleasure and tailwind into the Olympic Season: German National Biathlon Team receives BMW fleet at LOOP ONE Festival.

+++ Mobility Partner BMW hands over new vehicles for the Olympic season to Germany's top biathletes +++ Athlete presentation and competition start at BMW Welt +++ New BMW iX3 leads the field +++ LOOP ONE Festival in Munich's Olympic Park thrills 50,000 fans +++

Munich. Munich's Olympic Park was the venue last weekend for the premiere of the LOOP ONE Festival, where the biathlon elite kicked off the new season. Before the competitions began on Sunday in the BMW Welt, the German National Team delighted fans on Saturday afternoon with an appearance on the main stage at the Olympic Stadium. Selina Grotian, Janina Hettich-Walz, Franziska Preuß, Vanessa Voigt, Johannes Kühn, Philipp Nawrath, Danilo Riethmüller, and Justus Strelow received symbolic licence plates with their names and the BMW model they had chosen for the new season. BMW is the Mobility Partner of the DSV Biathlon and a Partner of the LOOP ONE Festival.

“We promise the German team a relaxed journey on the 'Road to Gold' with the new BMW vehicles. I am confident that the cars have enough space for some precious metal,” said Christian Ach, Head of BMW Germany, during the vehicle handover. “BMW and all its employees wish you great success for this weekend, the entire season, and safe travels at all times.”

The biathletes then took time for their fans, signing autographs before seizing a special photo opportunity. A new, fully electric BMW iX3, the first vehicle of the Neue Klasse, was displayed inside an oversized snow globe. The national team clearly enjoyed the moment.

The competitions on Sunday started at the BMW Welt. The new BMW iX3 served as the lead vehicle for the first part of the course. During the super sprint on roller skis, the final consisted of five laps of 1.8 kilometres each, with two shooting rounds in both standing and prone positions. In front of approximately 50,000 spectators, Eric Perrot from France won the men's competition. Despite three missed targets, he crossed the finish line first in 20:33.7 minutes, ahead of Norway's Isac Frey (3 missed targets/+5.7 seconds) and Germany's Justus Strelow (1/+8.9). In the women's competition, Italy's Lisa Vittozzi claimed a comfortable victory. With two missed targets, she finished in 23:44.5 minutes, ahead of Sweden's Johanna Skottheim (2/+5.9) and Anna Magnusson (2/+7.4), who took second and third place, respectively.