The men's 20 kilometre individual

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 ti ...

competition at the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the m ...

was held on 20 February, at

Canmore Nordic Centre Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park is a provincial park in Alberta, Canada, located immediately west of Canmore, Alberta, Canmore, west of Calgary. This provincial park is situated at the foot of Mount Rundle within the Canadian Rockies, Can ...

. Each miss resulted in one minute being added to a competitor's skiing time.

Summary

The defending world champion,

Frank-Peter Roetsch Frank-Peter Roetsch (born 19 April 1964) is a German former biathlete. He was the first biathlete to win a World Cup race using the skating technique when he won in Oberhof in 1985. Achievements World Championships *2 time Junior World Cha ...

, had the fastest ski time by more than a full minute, and despite three missed shots, he held off the field to win by 20 seconds.

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

World champion

Valeriy Medvedtsev Valeriy Alekseyevich Medvedtsev (; born 5 July 1964) is a former Russian biathlete. Career On 16 January 1986, Medvedtsev achieved the feat of winning his World Cup debut. He trained at the Armed Forces sports society in Izhevsk. At the 1988 ...

and Norway's

Eirik Kvalfoss Eirik Kvalfoss (born 25 December 1959) is a Norwegian retired biathlete. Life and career He won three medals during the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo: gold in the 10 km sprint, silver in relay and bronze in the 20 km individual. In ...

finished with the joint second-fastest ski time, but while Medvedtsev's two misses saw him win silver, Kvalfoss missed three and finished 6th. Italy's

Johann Passler Johann Passler (born 18 August 1961) is a former Italian biathlete. At the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Passler won bronze medals in the 20 km and in the relay. At the World Championships, Passler won two gold medals and two bronze. Biathlon ...

, the fourth-fastest skier, held off

Sergei Tchepikov Sergei Vladimirovich Tchepikov (; born 30 January 1967) is a Russian politician and a former Soviet-Russian biathlete and cross-country skier who competed at six Winter Olympics, five in biathlon ( 1988, 1992, 1994, 2002 and 2006) and one in c ...

, who had the best shooting score, to win bronze.

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biathlon at the 1988 Winter Olympics - Individual

Individual An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or g ...