| 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 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.
Michael Greis is a former German biathlete.
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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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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 French biathlete and sous-lieutenant. 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 2011-2018.
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Johannes Thingnes Bø is a Norwegian biathlete. He is the younger brother of biathlete Tarjei Bø. At the Olympic Games in Beijing 2022, they became the first siblings to have individual medals in the same biathlon event. Thingnes Bø has won the Biathlon World Cup in 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, and 2022/2023. Thingnes Bø is described as being powerful on his skis and is the third most successful male biathlete of all time in the World Cup with 66 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.
Biathlon at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held at the National Biathlon Centre, in the Zhangjiakou cluster of competition venues, 180 kilometres (110 mi) north of Beijing, at an elevation of 1,665 metres (5,463 ft), from 5 to 18 February 2022.
