The Ultimate Guide to Biathlon: Rules, History & Essential Equipment
Biathlon is the unlikely combination of two sports that seemingly have nothing to do with each other: cross-country skiing and shooting. The pairing of these two sports isn’t something many sports fans would think to put together into one race. In fact, it almost seems like it has elements of Calvinball. Yet biathlon has been an Olympic sport since it made its official debut at the 1960 Winter Olympics in California, and it has been around since at least the 18th century.
The winter sport is well-rooted in Scandinavia’s skiing traditions. Early inhabitants of Scandinavia revered the Norse god Ullr for his skiing and hunting skills, and the militaries of the region later developed skiing and rifle marksmanship as part of the protection of the area.
Today, biathlon is a fully-fleshed competitive winter sport, and a favorite of people around Scandinavia, with Norway and Sweden two of best countries when comes to biathlon competition on the global stage. Of course, it should come as no surprise that other northern and central European sports like Finland and Soviet Union have performed well in the biathlon. Continuing our coverage in Winter Olympic sports like curling, snowboarding, and speed skating, we present to you 10 facts about the biathlon to give you greater insight into one of the more curious winter sports.
1. When was the first known Biathlon race?
The very first recorded biathlon race took place over 250 years ago in 1767. The event took place on the Norway/Sweden border between two military patrol companies, who gravitated to the sport for its value in cross-training soldiers in two distinctly different skillsets. Showing off these skills was also a source of recreation to soldiers during downtime and in fact, the the very first biathlon event was born out of this boredom.
2. What was the first Biathlon team?
Founded in 1861, the Trysil Rifle and Ski Club in Norway was the first biathlon club in the world. Following its establishment, a number of other ski and rifle clubs popped up across northern Europe, and biathlon as a sport began to catch on. By 1919 or so, about 2,000 men in Finland were participating in biathlon each winter. It was contested at the 1924 Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, France, and then demonstrated at the Olympic Games in 1928, 1936, and 1948. After that, though, there were enough biathletes in places like Sweden and the former Soviet Union for biathlon to take hold as an official sport in the Winter Olympics in 1960.
3. How does a biathlon race work, anyway? Explain the rules of biathlon.
Variations depend on the format but for the men’s individual biathlon, competitors race five laps that total a distance of 20km (slightly over 12.4 miles)** with a rifle on their backs — with the barrel of the rifle pointed up. The biathlon athlete stops at designated areas to shoot their rifle four times — alternating between prone/laying down and standing position — at a total of 20 targets that are located 164 feet (or 50 meters) away.
If they miss a target, they get penalized, but penalties also depend on the format. Sometimes biathletes are penalized with a fixed time (like one whole minute) added to their overall final length time. Or sometimes — like the sprint biathlon format — the penalty is one lap around a 150-meter (like 492 feet) penalty loop that is located separately from the main race circuit.
There are several formats of biathlon races: Individual, Sprint, Super Spring, Pursuit, and Mass Start. They all pretty much follow the same concept of racing on skis and stopping to shoot at targets, but with variations on race length, number of targets and shots taken, and the type of penalties incorporated. There are also Relay races, Mixed Relay, and Single Mixed Relay.
** The women’s biathlon race is 15km (slightly over 9.3 miles)
4. Is Biathlon a hard sport?
Yes! Biathlon is very very hard. It’s probably difficult to overstate the kind of superhuman ability needed to race down a snow-capped hill as fast as you can on skis while dodging obstacles and adapting to curves — and then immediately firing your rifle to nail a 1.8-inch target from 164 feet away. And then do it over again every three miles! Starting and stopping and remaining very still so you can pull a trigger with an elevated heart rate repeatedly takes a kind of skill many other professional athletes don’t even know existed. As Popular Science once put it, biathletes “learn to shoot between heartbeats.” This isn’t necessarily literally true, but biathletes definitely have to learn to time their breathing for optimal shooting.
5. What kind of equipment do you need for Biathlon?
Biathletes need more than just a pair of skis and a rifle to compete in races. Along with the pair of skis, their rifle, ammunition, and ski wax, biathletes also need a harness and arm sling for their rifle. They also need to be able to keep all their equipment — as well as their own bodies — warm from snowy weather conditions, preferably with lightweight materials that won’t create much drag as the biathletes swish down hills.
Biathletes need to wear a tight racing suit that allows for easy movement, and sufficient gloves that cover their wrists. They also need a good pair of goggles to protect their eyes from the sun reflecting off the snow. And a good hat, too! It obviously gets super cold when you’re racing or training for biathlon so warmth and safety are paramount when it comes to proper Biathlon equipment. If you’re in biathlon training, then you’ll probably need a target to practice with. They can be purchased online and look like this:
Click to buy a biathlon target!
6. What kind of rifle is used in Biathlon?
The guns used by competitors are small-bore rifles that fire .22 caliber Long Rifle (LR) ammunition. The standard rifle used by biathletes is the Anschütz 1827 Fortner, and around 97% of the world’s biathlete participants uses this kind of rifle. However, the current rifles design dates back to 1984, after West Germany’s Peter Angerer won the gold medal for biathlon at the 1984 Winter Olympics. The story goes that after winning the event, Angerer and gun designer Peter Fortner were drinking beers together when Angerer expressed his desire to have a biathlon rifle similar to the one East German and Soviet biathletes used. That’s when Fortner developed the Fortner action that was introduced on the rifle later in 1984.
7. Do women participate in biathlon?
Absolutely! Biathlon is just as much a sport for women as it is for men. Although it took a little while for major competitions for women to be established, the women’s side of the sport is very much alive and thriving today. Women competed for the first time in the annual 1982-83 Biathlon World Cup, when they started calling the women’s races the European Cup (despite not needing to be European to participate). At the very first event women could compete, Norwegian Gry Østvik took first place for the 10km Individual event and Aino Kallunki won the 5km Sprint — with both women making biathlon history in the process. In 1992, the International Olympic Committee got wise and women’s biathlon finally debuted at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, Canada.
8. What are the Olympic events in biathlon?
The biathlon at the winter Olympics is made up of five events: individual, sprint, pursuit, relay, and mass start competitions, and they all vary slightly in terms of race lengths, number of targets and shooting rounds, and other details.
The individual race is run over a 20 km course for men and 15 km for women. Skiers must stop at four spots to shoot at five targets.
The sprint race is 10 km for men and 7.5 km for women. Athletes must go three times around the course.
The pursuit race covers 12.5 km for men and 10 km for women. The pursuit sees the top 60 finishers from the sprint race, and the person with the fastest time in the sprint begins first in the pursuit. The men compete in a 4 x 7.5 km race, while the women ski a 4 x 6 km race. Each athlete must complete two shooting rounds.
The mass start competition joined the sport at 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The 30 competitors who collected the best scores in the other four biathlon events all begin the race together. Men complete a 15 km course while women a 12.6 km circuit.
9. Who is the best biathlete ever?
Norway’s Ole Einar Bjørndalen is consider biathlon’s greatest athlete of all time. The “King of Biathlon,” Bjørndalen has won more biathlon championship medals than anyone else in the history of the sport. The Norwegian has stockpiled an astonishing 45 Biathlon World Championship medals — with 20 of those medals being gold. The dude has 95 biathlon wins and counting. At the Winter Olympics, Bjørndalen has won 13 biathlon medals — and 8 of them are gold. In fact, Bjørndalen was so dominant that he won four gold medals at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
However, Ole Einar Bjørndalen will not be competing at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Rather, Bjørndalen is coaching the Chinese team after being hired to turn the Chinese biathlon team into a gold medal contender.
10. Climate change: The biggest issue facing biathlon
In 2020, a survey was conducted by the International Biathlon Union (IBU) asking fans what the biggest challenge is for the future of the sport of biathlon — and 78% of the fans they surveyed stated the biggest challenge for biathlon’s future is climate change. The IBU started the Target 26 initiative with the focus on progressing the sport through the 2022 and 2026 Olympics. Biathlon is only so popular, but the sport’s single biggest threat isn’t revenue, ratings, marketing, accessibility or popularity — but the impending catastrophic climate change.
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Want to learn more about sports and events at the Winter Olympics? Then check out our articles on figure skating, speed skating, luge, snowboarding, curling, and bobsledding!
Image Credit: picture by Marcus Cyron via Wikimedia Commons
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