The IBU App has won the Red Dot Award: Brands and Communication for its user-friendly design ©IBU

The International Biathlon Union's (IBU) official mobile App has received the Red Dot Award: Brands and Communication in the subcategory Sports Apps for its success to create a user-friendly design.

The Red Dot Design Award, which is globally recognised, receives approximately 20,000 entries per year.

Finnish duo Petri Pennanen and Mikko Kiviniemi are responsible for designing the platform and it was launched in November last year.

The App, which is available to download on Apple and Google Play Store, allows fans to receive live update from every IBU competition, athletes' profiles, competitions statistics and information on athletes and teams.

Users can follow certain biathletes to ensure they receive specific date and other information to personalise their App.

"We feel honoured to receive the Red Dot Award for our IBU App service design," Pennanen said.

"Our customer-centric approach and the involvement of biathlon fans in the development process has proven successful in designing a world-class digital experience that supports a huge variety of use cases throughout a biathlon year.

"We are thrilled to see that we were able to reach our client's goal to create a digital product that captures the thrilling and engaging nature of biathlon and is not used only by hardcore fans but makes biathlon accessible for all fan segments."

Fans are able to follow their favourites athletes at IBU competitions through the International Federation's official App ©Getty Images
Fans are able to follow their favourites athletes at IBU competitions through the International Federation's official App ©Getty Images

Kiviniemi also provided the service design for the IBU App's latest updates to help fans when they attend IBU World Cups and the World Championships via direct notifications, travel and ticket information and schedules.

A German version is available with the latest release.

Each of the features can be accessed by fans that are attending the Summer Biathlon World Championships, which are currently being staged between today and tomorrow (August 28) in Ruhpolding in Germany.

Finnish digital transformation and software development company Vincit PLC - as the IBU's partner - was responsible for the implementation of the App's design as well as the development process and for its maintenance of services.

Christian Winkler, the IBU communications director, added: "We are grateful to Red Dot and of course to the experts who developed this service design for their excellent work.

"Our priority from the beginning has been to provide our fans with an App which is easy to navigate, user-friendly and informative.

"We believe that this Red Dot Award reflects that the design of the App has helped to achieve these goals and allows for an enjoyable experience for our fans."