The Swedish town of Ostersund will bid to host the 2017 world biathlon championships.

The Swedish Association decided to enter the race to host the event, which takes place in years without winter Olympic Games, after a meeting at the weekend.

Ruhpolding in Germany will host the 2012 event, Nove Mesto in the Czech Republic has it in 2013 and Kontiolahti in Finland has the honour in 2015.

Hochfilzen in Austria and Pokljuka in Slovenia have signalled their interest in hosting the 2016 event, while Osetersund may come up against Antholz in Italy for the rights to hold the 2017 edition.

Eurosport