Pursuit racing is where two or more competitors (or teams) are either chasing after each other or chasing after a lead competitor or team.

Cycling

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

, pursuit racing is a form of

track racing Track racing is a form of motorcycle racing where teams or individuals race opponents around an unpaved oval track. There are differing variants, with each variant racing on a different surface type. The most common variant is Speedway which ha ...

. In

individual pursuit The individual pursuit is a track cycling event where two cyclists begin the race from a stationary position on opposite sides of the track. It is held at over for men and for women. The riders start at the same time and set off to complete the ...

, two cyclists begin on opposite sides of the

velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate Track tran ...

. After starting at the same time, each cyclist attempts to catch up to the other for the win. The cyclists are also timed, for comparison with other competitors. Men race for ; women race for . At the Olympics beginning in 2012, individual pursuit is competed only as part of the

omnium An omnium (from Latin '' Omni'': of all, belonging to all) is a multiple race event in track cycling. Historically the omnium has had a variety of formats. In recent years, road racing has also adopted the term to describe multi-day races that fe ...

event.

Team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

works similarly to individual pursuit. Two teams – each with three of four cyclists – start from opposite sides of the track. The team earns their time based on the third-finishing rider. All events are , although through the 2011-2012 season the women's competitions were three cyclists over .

Track and field

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 ...

is formatted such that the final event, a cross-country run with target shooting, is essentially a pursuit race. Athlete performance in the prior events determines the times in which they start the race. The idea is that the first athlete to cross the finish line wins the entire event.

Winter sports

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 is the second part of a sprint-pursuit race. The sprint is held first. In the subsequent pursuit section, the competitors' starts are staggered according to their times: the sprint winner starts first, whoever finished second by a certain time follows the leader by that time, and so on. (For example, Competitor F finished 5 seconds ahead of Competitor S in the Sprint, so Competitor F will start 5 seconds ahead of Competitor S in the Pursuit event.) Pursuit can follow up to the individual race too. They just divide by 2 your extra time behind the winner of individual race. In

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 ...

a pursuit is a race where the skiers start according to results in one or more previous races. The final stage of a ski tour event (i.e. Nordic Opening,

Tour de Ski Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

and World Cup Finals) is usually a pursuit where the overall leader starts first and is followed by the others starting behind according to their cumulative time from the stages raced before the pursuit. In

Nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever 1924 Winter Olympics, Winter Olympic ...

, the pursuit is determined by how well the competitors or team do in the

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

part of the competition. This is part of the

Gundersen method The Gundersen method is a method in the Nordic combined developed by Gunder Gundersen, a Nordic combined athlete from Norway, that was first used in the 1980s. In it, the ski jumping portion comes first, and points in the ski jump determine when ind ...

developed in the 1980s. For the 15 km individual and 7.5 km sprint competitions, the computation is a 1 point advantage at the ski jump equals a 4 second advantage at the start of the cross-country skiing part of the competition. (For example, Competitor A finished the ski jump with 5 more points than Competitor B, so Competitor B must start 20 seconds after Competitor A in the cross-country skiing part.) For the 4 x 5 km team event prior to 2005, the computation was a 1 point advantage at the ski jump equals a 1.5 second advantage in the cross-country skiing part of the competition; since 2005, that computation is 1 point equals 1 second. Long-track

speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marath ...

also has pursuit races. In

team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

, two teams – each team comprising three skaters – begin on opposite sides of the ice, start at the same time, and attempt to catch the other team in the shortest elapsed time as measured by the third skater. Men race for eight laps and women for six laps.

References

{{Reflist Racing