Biathlon At The 2009 Winter Universiade
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The biathlon is a winter sport that combines
cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...
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 timed per se, but depending on the competition, missed shots result in extra distance or time being added to the contestant's total.


History

According to '' Encyclopædia Britannica'', the biathlon "is rooted in the skiing traditions of Scandinavia, where early inhabitants revered the Norse god Ullr as both the ski god and the hunting god." In modern times, the activity that developed into this sport was an exercise for Norwegians as alternative training for the military. Norwegian skiing regiments organized military skiing contests in the 18th century, divided into four classes: shooting at mark while skiing at top speed, downhill race among trees, downhill race on big hills without falling, and a long race on flat ground while carrying a rifle and military pack. In modern terminology, these military contests included downhill, slalom, biathlon, and cross-country skiing.Bergsland, Einar (1946): ''På ski.'' Oslo: Aschehoug. One of the world's first known ski clubs, ''Trysil Skytte- og Skiløberforening'' (the Trysil Rifle and Ski Club), was formed in Norway in 1861 to promote national defense at the local level. 20th century variants include (the military contest), a 17 km cross-country race with shooting, and the military cross-country race at 30 km including marksmanship. The modern biathlon is a civilian variant of the old military combined exercise. In Norway, the biathlon was until 1984 a branch of , an organization set up by the government to promote civilian marksmanship in support of national defence. In Norwegian, the biathlon is called (literally ''ski shooting'').''Kunnskapsforlagets idrettsleksikon'' (Encyclopedia of Sports), Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget, 1990 In Norway, there are still separate contests in , a cross-country race at 12 km with large-caliber rifle shooting at various targets with unknown range. Called military patrol, the combination of skiing and shooting was contested at the Winter Olympic Games in
1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...
and then demonstrated in
1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...
,
1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
, and
1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...
, during which time Norway and Finland were strong competitors. In 1948, the sport was reorganized under the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon and became re-accepted as an Olympic sport in 1955, with widespread popularity within the Soviet and Swedish winter sport circuits. The first Biathlon World Championship was held in 1958 in Austria, and in 1960 the sport was finally included in the Olympic Games. At Albertville in 1992, women were first allowed in the Olympic biathlon. The pursuit format was added for the
2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soó ...
, and the IBU added mixed relay as a format for the
2006 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 ...
. The competitions from 1958 to 1965 used high-power centrefire cartridges, such as the
.30-06 Springfield The .30-06 Springfield cartridge (pronounced "thirty- aught-six" ), 7.62×63mm in metric notation, and called the .30 Gov't '06 by Winchester, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and later standardized; it remained in military use ...
and the
7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first been introduced in U.S. service fo ...
, before the
.22 Long Rifle The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smo ...
rimfire cartridge was standardized in 1978. The ammunition was carried in a belt worn around the competitor's waist. The sole event was the men's 20 km individual, encompassing four separate ranges and firing distances of 100 m, 150 m, 200 m, and 250 m. The target distance was reduced to 150 m with the addition of the relay in 1966. The shooting range was further reduced to 50 m in 1978 with the mechanical self-indicating targets making their debut at the
1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...
in Lake Placid. For the 2018–2019 season, fully electronic targets were approved as an alternative to paper or mechanical steel targets for IBU events.


Governing body

In 1948, the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) was founded to standardize the rules for the
modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...
and from 1953 also biathlon. In July 1993, the biathlon branch of the UIPMB created the
International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; german: Internationale Biathlon-Union) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the ...
(IBU), which officially separated from the UIPMB in 1998. Presidents of the UIPMB/IBU: * 1947–1949:
Tom Wiborn Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...
(Sweden) * 1949–1960: Gustaf Dyrssen (Sweden) * 1960–1988:
Sven Thofelt Sven Alfred Thofelt (19 May 1904 – 1 February 1993) was a Swedish modern pentathlete and épée fencer who competed at the 1928, 1932, 1936 and 1948 Summer Olympics. Early life Thofelt was born on 19 May 1904 in Stockholm, Sweden, the son of m ...
(Sweden) * 1988–1992: Igor Novikov ( USSR/Russia) * 1992–2018:
Anders Besseberg Anders is a male name in Scandinavian languages and Fering North Frisian, an equivalent of the Greek Andreas ("manly") and the English Andrew. It originated from Andres via metathesis. In Sweden, Anders has been one of the most common names fo ...
(Norway) * Since 2018: Olle Dahlin (Sweden)


Championships

The following articles list major international biathlon events and medalists. Contrary to the Olympics and World Championships (BWCH), the World Cup (BWC) is an entire winter season of (mostly) weekly races, where the medalists are those with the highest sums of World Cup points at the end of the season. *
Biathlon at the Winter Olympics Biathlon debuted at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California with the men's 20 km individual event. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, the men's 4 × 7.5 km relay debuted, followed by the 10 km sprint event at ...
*
Biathlon World Championships The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The number of events has grown significantly over the years. Beginning in 1984, women biathletes had their own World Championships, and fina ...
* Biathlon World Cup * Biathlon European Championships *
IBU Cup The IBU Cup in biathlon has been held since the winter seasons of 1982–83 and 1988–89, for women and men, respectively. Until the 2007–08 season this competition was called European Cup. It is the second-rank competition in biathlon after t ...
*
Biathlon Junior World Championships Biathlon Junior World Championships were first held in 1967 for men and in 1984 for women. According to the International Biathlon Union rules, biathletes qualify as Junior if they turn 20, 21 or 22 during the season from November to October, they ...
* Biathlon at the Winter Universiade


Rules and equipment

The complete rules of the biathlon are given in the official IBU rule books.


Basic concepts

A biathlon competition consists of a race in which contestants ski through a cross-country trail system whose total distance is divided into either two or four shooting rounds, half in the prone position, the other half standing. Depending on the shooting performance, extra distance or time is added to the contestant's total skiing distance/time. The contestant with the shortest total time wins. For each shooting round, the biathlete must hit five targets or receive a penalty for each missed target, which varies according to the competition rules as follows: * Skiing around a penalty loop—typically taking 20–30 seconds for elite biathletes to complete, depending on weather and snow conditions. * Adding one minute to the skier's total time. * Use of an extra cartridge (placed at the shooting range) to hit the target; only three such extras are available for each round, and a penalty loop must be done for each target left standing. In order to keep track of the contestants' progress and relative standing throughout a race, split times (intermediate times) are taken at several points along the skiing track and upon finishing each shooting round. The large display screens commonly set up at biathlon arenas, as well as the information graphics shown as part of the TV picture, will typically list the split time of the fastest contestant at each intermediate point and the times and time differences to the closest runners-up.


Skiing details

In the Olympics, all cross-country skiing techniques are permitted in the biathlon, allowing the use of skate skiing, which is overwhelmingly the choice of competitors. The minimum ski length is the height of the skier minus 4 cm. The rifle has to be carried by the skier during the race at all times.


Shooting details

The biathlete carries a small-bore rifle, which must weigh at least , excluding ammunition and magazines. The rifles use
.22 LR The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smooth ...
ammunition and are bolt action or Fortner (straight-pull bolt) action. Each rifle holds 4 magazines with 5 rounds each. Additional rounds can be kept on the stock of the rifle for a relay race. The target range shooting distance is . There are five circular
shooting target Shooting targets are objects in various forms and shapes that are used for pistol, rifle, shotgun and other shooting sports, as well as in darts, target archery, crossbow shooting and other non-firearm related sports. The center is often call ...
s to be hit in each shooting round. When shooting in the prone position, the target diameter is ; when shooting in the standing position, the target diameter is . This translates to angular target sizes of 0.9 and 2.3 mrad respectively. On all modern biathlon ranges, the targets are self-indicating, in that they flip from black to white when hit, giving the biathlete, as well as the spectators, instant visual feedback for each shot fired. Ear protection is not required during biathlon shooting as the ammunition used is usually
subsonic Subsonic may refer to: Motion through a medium * Any speed lower than the speed of sound within a sound-propagating medium * Subsonic aircraft, a flying machine that flies at air speeds lower than the speed of sound * Subsonic ammunition, a type o ...
. An eyecup (blinder) is an optional feature of biathlon rifles.


Competition format


Individual

The individual race
for women For or FOR may refer to: English language *For, a preposition *For, a complementizer *For, a grammatical conjunction Science and technology * Fornax, a constellation * for loop, a programming language statement * Frame of reference, in physics ...
is the oldest biathlon event; the distance is skied over five laps. The biathlete shoots four times at any shooting lane (lanes 1–15 are in prone, while lanes 16–30 are for standing), in the order of prone, standing, prone, standing, totaling 20 targets. For each missed target, a fixed penalty time, usually one minute, is added to the skiing time of the biathlete. Competitors' starts are staggered, normally by 30 seconds. A variation of the standard individual race, called short individual, was introduced during the
2018–19 Biathlon IBU Cup The 2018–19 Biathlon IBU Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of biathlon, organised by the International Biathlon Union. IBU Cup is the second-rank competition in biathlon after the Biathlon World Cup. The season started on 26 Novembe ...
. The races are 15 km for men and 12.5 km for women, and for each missed target, 45 seconds will be added to the skiing time.


Sprint

The sprint is for men & for women; the distance is skied over three laps. The biathlete shoots twice at any shooting lane, once prone (usually lanes 1–15) and once standing (lanes 16–30), for a total of 10 shots. For each miss, a penalty loop of 150 m must be skied before continuing the race. As in the individual competition, the biathletes start in intervals.


Super Sprint

Introduced at the
2017–18 Biathlon IBU Cup The 2017–18 Biathlon IBU Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of biathlon, organised by the International Biathlon Union. IBU Cup is the second-rank competition in biathlon after the Biathlon World Cup. The season started on 22 Novembe ...
, the Super Sprint is a shorter version of the sprint race. Unlike the traditional sprint race, the Super Sprint is divided into two segments – qualification and final. The qualification is done like the traditional sprint, but on a 1.5 km lap with a total length of 4.5 km. Only the top 30 competitors qualify for the final, in which all competitors start simultaneously and do five laps on the same course (like in mass start) with a total race length of 4 km. During the final, the competitors have three spare rounds should they miss a target (like in relay race). However, if not all targets are cleared during shooting instead of going on the penalty loop, the biathlete is disqualified from the race. Changes were made for the following season with the course now being 1 km (0.2 km increase) meaning that the qualification race length will become 3 km, while the final race becomes 5 km in length. Also the number of spare rounds was decreased from three to one.


Pursuit

In a pursuit, biathletes' starts are separated by their time differences from a previous race, most commonly a sprint. The contestant crossing the finish line first is the winner. The distance is 12.5 km for men and 10 km for women, skied over five laps; there are four shooting bouts (two prone, two standing, in that order) and each miss means a penalty loop of 150 m. To prevent awkward or dangerous crowding of the skiing loops and overcapacity at the shooting range, World Cup Pursuits are held with only the 60 top-ranking biathletes after the preceding race. The biathletes shoot on a first-come, first-served basis at the lane corresponding to the position they arrived for all shooting bouts. If the pursuit follows an individual biathlon race, the lag behind the winner is halved.


Mass start

In the mass start, all biathletes start at the same time, and the first across the finish line wins. In this 15 km for men or 12.5 km for women competition, the distance is skied over five laps; there are four bouts of shooting (two prone, two standing, in that order), with the first shooting bout being at the lane corresponding to the competitor's bib number (bib #10 shoots at lane #10 regardless of position in race), with the rest of the shooting bouts being on a first-come, first-served basis (if a competitor arrives at the lane in fifth place, they shoot at lane 5). As in sprint and pursuit, competitors must ski one 150 m penalty loop for each miss. Here again, to avoid unwanted congestion, World Cup Mass starts are held with only the 30 top ranking athletes on the start line (half that of the Pursuit as here all contestants start simultaneously).


Mass start 60

Starting in the 2018/2019 season, the Mass Start 60 became part of the
International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; german: Internationale Biathlon-Union) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the ...
(IBU) competition formats. The Mass Start with 60 starters does not replace the current Mass Start with 30 starters. Everyone skis the first lap together, but only the first 30 stop to shoot, and the second 30 keep skiing. At the end of the second lap, the second 30 stop to shoot, and the first 30 continue to ski. After the first two shoots are over (everyone's first prone), the race continues like a typical race, and all competitors shoot remaining prone, and two stands together. Or more simply: Bib 1–30 = lap, shoot1, lap, lap, shoot2, lap, shoot3, lap, shoot4, lap Bib 31–60 = lap, lap, shoot1, lap, shoot2, lap, shoot3, lap, shoot4, lap


Relay

The relay teams consist of four biathletes, who each ski 7.5 km (men) or 6 km (women), each leg skied over three laps, with two shooting rounds; one prone, one standing. For every round of five targets, there are eight bullets available. However, the last three can only be single-loaded manually one at a time from spare round holders or bullets deposited by the competitor into trays or onto the mat at the firing line. If there are still standing targets after eight bullets, one 150 m (490 ft) penalty loop must be taken for each missed target remaining. The first-leg participants all start simultaneously, and as in cross-country skiing relays, every athlete of a team must touch the team's next-leg participant to perform a valid changeover. On the first shooting stage of the first leg, the participant must shoot in the lane corresponding to their bib number (bib #10 shoots at lane #10 regardless of their position in the race), then for the remainder of the relay, the relay team shoots on a first-come, first-served basis (arrive at the range in fifth place, shoot at lane 5).


Mixed relay

The mixed relay is similar to the ordinary relay, but the teams are composed of two women and two men. From its first instance at the world championships in 2005 until the end of the 2017 season, the first two legs were always run by the women, followed by the men on legs 3 and 4. Since the 2018 season however, the race can be started by either the men or women . Additionally, throughout most the event's history, the women's legs have been and the men's legs as in ordinary relay competitions. However, since the 2019 season the event has all four legs being either or . This event was added to the Olympics starting in
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
.


Single mixed relay

In 2015, the single mixed relay was introduced to the Biathlon World Cup by the IBU. The event is run on a track with a penalty loop, and each team consists of a female and a male runner. The race is divided into four legs, with the first three being or 2 laps and the final leg being or 3 laps, totalling . After each leg, the runners exchange so that each runner completes two legs. Specific to this format, the exchange happens immediately after the last shooting of each leg without skiing an additional lap (as is usually the case). The race can be started by either the female or male member of the relay, with the finishing member performing an extra lap. This event was added to the world championships in
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
.


Team (obsolete)

A team consists of four biathletes, but unlike the relay competition, all team members start at the same time. Two athletes must shoot in the prone shooting round, the other two in the standing round. In case of a miss, the two non-shooting biathletes must ski a penalty loop of 150 m (490 ft). The skiers must enter the shooting area together and must also finish within 15 seconds of each other; otherwise, a time penalty of one minute is added to the total time. Since 2004, this race format has been obsolete at the World Cup level.


Broadcasting

Biathlon events are broadcast most regularly where the sport enjoys its greatest popularity, namely Germany ( ARD, ZDF), Austria (
ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of t ...
), Norway ( NRK), France ( L'Équipe 21), Finland ( YLE), Estonia ( ETV),
Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
(
LTV LTV may refer to: Television * Lagos Television, a TV channel in Nigeria. * Latvijas Televīzija, Latvian Television * LRT televizija, formerly LTV, Lithuanian National Television * LTV Ethiopia, a private satellite TV channel in Ethiopia * Lumi ...
),
Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
( LRT), Croatia ( HRT), Poland ( Polsat), Ukraine ( UA:PBC), Sweden ( SVT), Russia ( Match TV, Channel One), Belarus ( TVR), Slovenia ( RTV), Bosnia and Herzegovina ( BHRT), Bulgaria ( BNT), and South Korea ( KBS); it is broadcast on European-wide Eurosport, which also broadcasts to the Asia-Pacific region. World Cup races are streamed via the IBU website. The broadcast distribution being one indicator, the constellation of a sport's main sponsors usually gives a similar, and correlated, indication of popularity: for biathlon, these are the Germany-based companies BMW (cars), Erdinger (beer), Viessmann (boilers and other heating systems) and DKB (banking).


Biathlon records and statistics

The IBU maintains biathlon records, rules, news, videos, and statistics for many years back, all of which are available at its web site.


See also

* Biathlon World Cup *
Biathlon World Championships The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The number of events has grown significantly over the years. Beginning in 1984, women biathletes had their own World Championships, and fina ...
* List of Olympic medalists in biathlon *
Paralympic biathlon Paralympic biathlon is an adaptation of biathlon for athletes with a disability. Paralympic biathlon is one of two Nordic skiing disciplines in the Winter Paralympic Games. It is governed by the International Paralympic Committee. Paralympic biat ...
*
Nordic field biathlon Nordic field biathlon (''Norwegian'': skifeltskyting) is a combined cross-country skiing and shooting sport discipline within Det frivillige Skyttervesen. The sport is considered a close predecessor to olympic biathlon, with the main difference b ...
and
moose biathlon Moose biathlon ( fi, Hirvenhiihto) is a variation of the winter sport biathlon comprising cross-country skiing, range estimation of paper targets resembling a moose and rifle shooting at a 10 ringed target using fullbore biathlon rifles. Competiti ...
, Nordic biathlon variants using fullbore rifles Biathlon's two sports disciplines: * Cross-country skiing (sport) * Rifle shooting sports Other multi-discipline sports (otherwise unrelated to biathlon): * Duathlon * Nordic Combined * Triathlon *
Pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...
*
Modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...
*
Heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...
*
Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...
* Chess boxing * Omnium (track cycling)


Notes and sources


External links


Biathlonworld.Com
nbsp;– A cooperation between IBU and
EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...
; with race results/statistics, TV schedules, live competition results, and so on.


National Associations


Belarusian Biathlon Union

Russian Biathlon Union

Russian Biathlon Union

Biathlon Canada

U.S. Biathlon Association

Biathlon Russia

Biathlon Ukraine

Biathlon Ukraine

BiathlonFrance.com
{{Authority control Cross-country skiing Military sports Multisports Racing Rifle shooting sports Sports originating in Norway Winter Olympic sports