The competition starts with the men's sprint 10 kilometres and continues Friday (March 11) with the women's sprint over 7.5 kilometres.

On Saturday (March 12), both the men and women have mass start races scheduled over 15km and 12.5km respectively, while the competition is scheduled to end on Sunday (March 13), with mixed relay and single mixed relay events.

Throughout the six races between Thursday and Sunday, athletes from 23 different countries are due to compete at the Tehvandi Ski Stadium, including teams from Norway, Germany and Sweden.

At the moment, Norway’s Marte Olsbu Røiseland is leading the overall women’s standings with 728 points followed by Elvira Öberg of Sweden with 631 and the Kazakhstan-born Belarusian biathlete, Dinara Alimbekava third on 589.

Alimbekava, as well as other athletes from Russia and Belarus, is unable to compete until further notice as part of measures introduced by the IBU in response to the invasion of Ukraine by the two countries.

In the men's standings, the rankings are led by Quentin Fillon Maillet of France with 756 points, while his compatriot Émilien Jacquelin, is second on 582.

Swedish biathlete Sebastian Samuelsson is in third with 541 points so far.

The Estonian Health Board issued an exceptional permit allowing around 6,000 people to attend the event under the condition of wearing a face mask when at the competition venue.

After Otepää was replaced by Minsk in Belarus due to a lack of snow at the Estonian venue last year, the weather conditions on the course at Tehvandi are much better, according to organisers.

"The track conditions in Tehvand are great right now. I don’t think they have ever been better," said Hillar Zahkna, who is the chairman of the Otepää IBU World Cup Competition Committee.

Otepää is scheduled to host an IBU World Cup stage again in 2026.

The latest IBU World Cup stage is set to run until March 13 with the final due to be held at Holmenkollen, a ski area in Oslo, from March 17 to 20.