| Host city | Minsk, Byelorussian SSR |
|---|---|
| Country | USSR |
| Events | 3 |
| Opening | 13 February 1982 |
| Closing | 14 February 1982 |
The 19th Biathlon World Championships were held in 1982 for the second time in Minsk, Belarus, at that time part of the Soviet Union. [1]
| Medal | Name | Nation | Penalties | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Frank Ullrich |  GDR | 2 | 1:07:17.0 |
 | Eirik Kvalfoss |  NOR | 2 | 1:07:50.3 |
 | Terje Krokstad | NOR | 5 | 1:10:48.6 |
| Medal | Name | Nation | Penalties | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eirik Kvalfoss | NOR | 2 | 33:03.2 |
| Frank Ullrich | GDR | 1 | 33:09.1 |
| Vladimir Alikin |  URS | 2 | 33:21.5 |
| Medal | Name | Nation | Penalties | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Germany | GDR | ||
| Norway | NOR | ||
| Soviet Union Vladimir Alikin | URS |
| Place | Nation | | | | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Germany | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | Norway | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 3 | Soviet Union | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
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 original team event, Team (time), was held for the last time in 1965, to be replaced in 1966 by the team event, Relay, which we know today. 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. With 95 World Cup wins, Bjørndalen is ranked first all-time for career victories on the Biathlon World Cup tour. 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.
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Frank-Peter Roetsch 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.
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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 the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Beginning at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, women's biathlon debuted with the 15 km individual, 3 × 7.5 km relay, and 7.5 km sprint. A pursuit race was included at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The top 60 finishers of the sprint race would qualify for the pursuit event. The sprint winner starts the race, followed by each successive biathlete at the same time interval they trailed the sprint winner in that event. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, a mass start was introduced where the top 30 biathletes from the previous four events were allowed to start together for the competition.
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, on the outskirts of the city. It was rocked by a corruption scandal that broke in 2018, concerning the Russians bribing its top two officials. In 2022, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, as invading nations, were suspended from all international biathlon competitions until further notice.
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Magdalena "Lena" Holzer is a retired German professional biathlete. She is the most successful woman of all time at Biathlon World Championships and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. At the age of 21, she became the youngest Overall World Cup winner in the history of the International Biathlon Union (IBU). With 34 World Cup wins, Holzer is ranked second all-time for career victories on the Biathlon World Cup tour. She has won the Overall World Cup title three times, in 2007–08, in 2009–10 and her final season in 2011–12. At only 25 years old, Holzer retired from the sport in March 2012, citing a lack of motivation and her desire for a normal life.
The biathlon competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics were held at Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, British Columbia. The events were held between the 13th and 26 February 2010.
Kaisa Leena Mäkäräinen is a Finnish former world-champion and 3-time world-cup-winning biathlete, who currently competes for Kontiolahden Urheilijat. Outside sports, Mäkäräinen is currently studying to be a Physics teacher at the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu. Her team coach is Jonne Kähkönen, while Jarmo Punkkinen is her ski coach.
Miriam Neureuther is a former German biathlete and cross-country skier. She has won an Olympic silver medal in cross-country skiing and two biathlon world championship titles, all in team events. Noted for her fast skiing performances, she won two junior world championship titles in biathlon in 2008 and 2009. Gössner was called up for the Nordic World Ski Championships 2009, where she was part of Germany's cross-country team claiming silver in the 4 × 5 kilometre relay.
Tarjei Bø is a Norwegian professional biathlete. Awarded Olympic gold medals, World Championship gold medals and World Cup victories from 2010 to 2022. Bø debuted in the Biathlon World Cup on 26 March 2009 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In the 2010 Winter Olympics, he earned his first gold medal in the 4 × 7.5 km biathlon relay. On 10 December 2010 he won the World Cup sprint race in Hochfilzen, his first world cup victory. He also won the following pursuit race and anchored the winning relay team. Bø is the older brother of biathlete Johannes Thingnes Bø.
Martin Fourcade is a retired French biathlete. He is a five-time Olympic champion, a thirteen-time World Champion and a seven-time winner of the Overall World Cup. As of February 2018, he is the most successful French Olympian of all time. Fourcade is the all-time biathlon record holder of overall World Cup titles with seven big crystal globes and he's also the all-time record holder of the most consecutive Major Championships titles with at least one non-team gold medal in every major championship from 2011 to 2018.
Johannes Thingnes Bø is a Norwegian biathlete. He is the younger brother of biathlete Tarjei Bø. Thingnes Bø has won the Biathlon World Cup in 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2022/23 and 2023/24. Thingnes Bø is the second most successful male biathlete of all time in the World Cup with 85 individual World Cup victories, including victories at the Winter Olympic Games.
Tiril Kampenhaug Eckhoff is a Norwegian former biathlete.
Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen is a Norwegian biathlete.
The 2018–19 Biathlon World Cup (BWC) was a multi-race series over a season of biathlon, organised by the International Biathlon Union. The season started on 2 December 2018 in Pokljuka, Slovenia and ended on 24 March 2019 in Oslo Holmenkollen, Norway. The defending overall champions from the 2017–18 Biathlon World Cup were Martin Fourcade of France and Kaisa Mäkäräinen of Finland.
The 2020–21 Biathlon World Cup (BWC) was a multi-race series over a season of biathlon, organised by the International Biathlon Union. The season started on 28 November 2020 in Kontiolahti, Finland and ended on 21 March 2021 in Östersund, Sweden.
