The Championships kicked off with the Mixed relay event which is seeking to make its way onto the Olympic programme for the
2014 games in Sochi. As the first event of the programme, it was finally given importance by the different teams, with all nations fielding their best teams, in difference to earlier world cup events. The Norwegians won it, overtaking Germany on the last leg. The veteran
Ole Einar Bjørndalen won his fifteenth world championship gold medal in the process and his first in the mixed relay, giving him a full set of gold medals in the six events that are currently contested.
Tarjei Bø,
Martin Fourcade,
Kaisa Mäkäräinen and
Arnd Peiffer won their first champion titles in career. Martin Fourcade also won a full scope of medals, gold, silver and bronze at these championships. The surprise medalists included
Maxim Maximov of Russia,
Tina Bachmann of Germany and
Vita Semerenko of Ukraine.
Helena Ekholm literally swept the field in the individual with zero shooting and fast skiing, winning more than 2 minutes over the runner-up Bachmann and making one of the greatest 1–2 place margins in biathlon history. ==Doping violations==