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 timed per se, but depending on the competition, missed shots result in extra distance or time being added to the contestant's total.
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 finally, from 1989, both genders have been participating in joint Biathlon World Championships. In 1978 the development was enhanced by the change from the large army rifle calibre to a small bore rifle, while the range to the target was reduced from 150 to 50 meters.
Ole Einar Bjørndalen is a retired Norwegian professional 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 multiple medalists behind Marit Bjørgen who has won 15 medals. He is also the most successful biathlete of all time at the Biathlon World Championships, having won 45 medals, more than double that of any other biathlete except Martin Fourcade. With 95 World Cup wins, Bjørndalen is ranked first all-time for career victories on the Biathlon World Cup tour, more than twice that of anyone else but Fourcade. He has won the Overall World Cup title six times, in 1997–98, in 2002–03, in 2004–05, in 2005–06, in 2007–08 and in 2008–09.
Biathlon at the 1998 Winter Olympics consisted of six biathlon events. They were held at Nozawa Onsen. The events began on 9 February and ended on 21 February 1998.
Ursula "Uschi" Disl is a German former biathlete.
Sven Fischer is a former German biathlete. He trained with the WSV Oberhof 05 club, and was coached by Frank Ullrich and Fritz Fischer and Klaus Siebert. After the 2006/07 biathlon season, he retired.
Ricco Groß is a former German biathlete whose exploits made him one of the most successful biathletes of all time at the Winter Olympics and the World Championships.
Mark Kirchner is a German former biathlete.
Halvard Hanevold was a Norwegian biathlete.
Sergei Vladimirovich Tchepikov is a Russian politician and a former Soviet-Russian biathlete and cross-country skier who competed at six Winter Olympics, five in biathlon and one in cross-country skiing (1998). His last Olympic performance was a silver medal in the 4 × 7.5 km relay at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
Frank Luck is a former German and, before 1990, East German biathlete.
Viktor Viktorovich Maigourov ; born 7 February 1969) is a former biathlete from Russia.
The International Biathlon Union is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, in the outskirts of the city.
Andrea Burke, née Henkel is a retired German professional biathlete and the younger sister of Manuela Henkel, a successful cross-country skier. She trained at SV Großbreitenbach. Andrea Henkel started out as a cross-country skier but later specialised in biathlon when women's biathlon became an Olympic sport.
Pieralberto Carrara is a former Italian biathlete. He grew up in Serina. At the 1998 Olympics he won a silver in the 20 km individual. In the 1992–93 season he ended in third in the overall World Cup standings behind Mikael Löfgren and Mark Kirchner.
Wilfried "Willi the Kid" Pallhuber is a former Italian biathlete. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin he competed in his fifth olympics.
Vladimir Petrovich Drachev is a former Soviet, Russian and Belarusian biathlete. He formerly had Russian citizenship and started for Russia until 2002. Drachev has four world championship titles in his career. He also has two olympic relay medals for Russia. During his career he took a total of 11 World Championship medals and 15 World Cup race wins. He was also known as one of the fastest shots in the sport whilst competing.
Peter Sendel is a former German biathlete. At the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Sendel was a part of the German team that won the gold medal. Later he earned a relay silver medal from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Sendel retired as a biathlete in 2004.
Oleg Vladimirovich Ryzhenkov is a former Belarusian biathlete.
The 1998–99 Biathlon World Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of biathlon, organised by the International Biathlon Union. The season started on 11 December 1998 in Hochfilzen, Austria, and ended on 14 March 1999 in Holmenkollen, Norway. It was the twenty-second season of the Biathlon World Cup.
Germany 
Italy 
Russia 
Norway 
Czech Republic 