Sivert Bakken dead at just 27, biathlon world in shock
Dramatic news has shaken the world of sports and biathlon in particular: Sivert Bakken, a biathlete for the Norwegian national team, died at just 27 years old in Varena, Val di Fiemme, where he was spending a few days off ahead of the upcoming 2025-2026 World Cup events. The cause of death is not known. Bakken had raced just a few days ago in Annecy, finishing 20th in the mass start on Sunday, December 21. Immediate condolences from the International Biathlon Union, the Norwegian Federation and colleagues of Bakken, a native of Lillehammer and career winner of four World Cup races (three relays and one individual).
“We are speechless at the news of Sivert–s passing,” reads the official channels of the IBU, the International Biathlon Federation. “Our thoughts go out to his family, his friends, his teammates and all the people close to him at this very difficult time”. Another tragedy, then, strikes the biathlon world, which last summer had lost in dramatic circumstances former biathlete Laura Dalhmeier, who was found dead last July 30 in the mountains of Karakorum, Pakistan, two days after she was struck full by a landslide.
Sivert Bakken had won a gold medal in the relay and a bronze medal in the sprint at the 2017 World Youth Championships in Brezno-Orsblie. She had then won a silver medal and two bronze medals at the Junior World Championships: the second place had come in the relay at the 2018 event in Otepää, the two third places had instead been won in the sprint and the pursuit in Orsblie, in 2019. In the World Cup he had enjoyed a star-studded 2021-2022 season, with two victories in the men’s relay (in Östersund and Kontiolahti), one in the mixed relay in Otepää and one in the home mass start in Oslo’s Holmenkollen.
In that same season he finished ninth in the overall World Cup, also winning the crystal ball in the mass start specialty. This season he hoped to participate in the Olympic Games for the first time, having never previously taken part in the five-circle event.
In the 2025-2026 season Bakken had started by touching the podium in Östersund, finishing fourth in the individual’race. In subsequent races the Norwegian had placed, again in Östersund, seventh in the sprint and ninth in the pursuit, while in Annecy he had finished fifth in the sprint, 18th in the pursuit and 20th in the mass start.
