When we launched the Mental Health Working Group together with the IBU back in January, our goal was simple but important: to make mental health a genuine priority for athletes, coaches, and support teams.

Since then, it’s been inspiring to see how far the group has come. Under the guidance of Greg McKenna, Head of the BIU, it’s grown into a strong team of 10 passionate members, each bringing their own perspective and commitment to improving wellbeing across our sport.

These include those with expertise in sports development, education, sports psychology, medicine, anti-doping, coaching and, importantly, an active athlete representative. Most of the group’s members are also former athletes, so we can count on their in-depth knowledge of the sport.

Meetings have been organised and coordinated, both online and in person in the form of a workshop at the IBU headquarters earlier this summer. A range of documents is being prepared, including a Wellbeing Charter and Mental Health Strategy and Policy.

To bolster the team, we’ve also organised an internship, employing a student from the Master of Arts in Sports Ethics and Integrity programme to help with our research into the existing status of mental health support in our member federations.

Of course, the work of the group would be pointless if no one knows about it, so, in my capacity as the BIU’s Prevention Manager, I’ve personally been leading a communications drive to raise awareness of mental health issues in biathlon, which we’ve called ‘Summer of Mental Health’.

Highlights of the campaign so far have included: