Khanty Mansiysk, Russia, August 31. US Biathlon Executive Director Max Cobb was re-elected today to the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Technical Committee during the first business session of the Seventh Regular IBU Congress.

Cobb, as one of ten elected members, will serve his second term on the most important committee in the IBU. He commented, “I am happy to be reelected to another term. I am eagerly looking forward to continuing the work of refining the rules for our sport. Several new members were elected to the committee today who I think will strengthen the group and add some fresh perspectives to our discussions.”

The Technical Committee is responsible for the rules of the sport and conduct of competitions, as well as the continued innovation of new competitions like the Pursuit and Mass Start, which have helped make biathlon the most popular winter sport in Europe. He has served as the secretary for the committee for the past four years and was the Technical Delegate or an International Referee at several World Cup competitions during that period.

The opening business session featured a hotly contested battle for the IBU Presidency, between incumbent Anders Besseberg of Norway and Janez Vodicar of Slovenia. Vodicar was Vice –President for Sport, as well as television coordinator for the IBU, and well known for his technical expertise and innovative way of looking at the nature of biathlon. Besseberg, who will begin a fourth term as IBU president, defeated the Slovenian candidate.

In the contest for IBU Vice-President, Andy Shepard (Yarmouth, ME), President and CEO of the Maine Winter Sports Center challenged the incumbent, Alexander Tikhonov of Russia. Shepard, in his first run for an IBU position failed to unseat the Russian.

Thus, the top two positions on the IBU Executive Board remain unchanged from the previous quadrennial. Also elected to the IBU Executive Board were: Klaus Leistner (Germany), Vice-President-Finances; Vladimir Smirnov (Kazakhstan), Vice - President - Sport; Alfons Hormann (Germany), Vice-President-Marketing; Ivor Lehotan (Slovakia), Vice-President-Information; Gottlieb Taschler (Italy), Vice-President-Development; Jim Carrabre (Canada), Vice-President-Medical Issues and Na-Mi Kim (Korea), Vice-President-Special Issues. All members serve a four-year term.

One of the biggest additional items presented to the Congress today was a new budget and four year plan for the ever-growing sport. The IBU has a strong financial base as it continues to attract new sponsors and, as the most popular winter sport on television in Europe has a high value contract with the European Broadcast Union. Accordingly, in its four-year plan, the IBU plans to “further develop our competition programs,” and “to generate and earmark money and resources earmarked for the advancement of our National Federations, athletes, Organizing committees, and developmental programs.” They also plan to increase organization’s professional staff (now four full-time employees) to handle the growing daily business of the IBU.

This IBU Congress opened with ceremonies and a dinner at the Congress Center in this Siberian city yesterday. In attendance are delegates from 51 member nations, the largest gathering in the history of the IBU. Further business sessions, which continue through Saturday afternoon, will tackle rules changes, the budget, and selection of future sites for Biathlon World Championships and the 2008 mid-term Congress.

The United States Biathlon Association is the National Governing Body for the sport of Biathlon in the United States as recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and the International Biathlon Union. The US Biathlon Association supports the US Biathlon Team and development of the sport on all levels within the United States.