The Men's 12.5 kilometre

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not tim ...

pursuit competition at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

was held on 18 February, at

Cesana San Sicario Cesana San Sicario, located in Cesana, Italy is a location of a venue for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The biathlon facility is built for 6,500 spectators. The accommodation is located in Cesana an lies in a large ski area named Via ...

. Competitors raced over five loops of a 2.5 kilometre skiing course, shooting twenty times, ten prone and ten standing. Each miss required a competitor to ski a 150-metre penalty loop. The starting order for the pursuit was based on the results of the

sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, ...

; the top 60 finishers in that race qualified for the pursuit. In addition, each racer's final deficit behind sprint winner

Sven Fischer Sven Fischer (born 16 April 1971) is a former German biathlete. He trained with the WSV Oberhof 05 club, and was coached by Frank Ullrich and Fritz Fischer (national coaches) and Klaus Siebert (club coach). After the 2006/07 biathlon season, he ...

corresponded to their starting deficit in the pursuit;

Halvard Hanevold Halvard Hanevold (3 December 1969 – 3 September 2019) was a Norwegian biathlete. Career Hanevold won medals in biathlon events at the 1998 Winter Olympics and the 2002 Winter Olympics by winning his first Olympic gold followed by another gold ...

, who finished 8 seconds behind Fischer in the sprint, started 8 seconds after him in the pursuit. The winner was the first racer over the finish line,

Vincent Defrasne Vincent Defrasne (born 9 March 1977) is a former French biathlete. He won a gold medal in the 12.5 km pursuit at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and a bronze medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He was also a member of th ...

Ole Einar Bjørndalen Ole Einar Bjørndalen () (born 27 January 1974) is a retired Norwegian professional Biathlon, biathlete and coach, often referred to by the nickname, the "King of Biathlon". With 13 Winter Olympic Games medals, he is second on the List of multip ...

was the defending World and Olympic champion in this event, but was ranked fourth in the World Cup standings before the Games, behind Germany's

Michael Rösch Michael Rösch (born 4 May 1983) is a German and Belgian (since 2014) former biathlete. Life and career He is the son of the former biathlete Eberhard Rösch. He was junior world champion four times, three times in the relay and once in the sp ...

, Frenchman

Raphaël Poirée Raphaël Poirée (born 9 August 1974) is a retired French biathlete who was active from 1995 to 2007. With his 44 World Cup victories and several World Championship medals he ranks among the most successful biathletes ever. Sports career Poi ...

and another German,

Results

Two Austrian athletes were disqualified after the IOC determined they had violated the Anti-Doping rules; Wolfgang Rottmann had originally placed 21st, while Wolfgang Perner had placed 25th. The race was held at 14:30.Final results
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics - Men's pursuit Men's biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics 2006 Winter Olympics