Biathlon at the 1968 Winter Olympics – Relay

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Men's biathlon relay
at the X Olympic Winter Games
Venue Autrans
Dates15 February 1968
Competitors56 from 14 nations
Winning time2:13:02.4
Medalists
Gold medal icon.svgFlag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Alexander Tikhonov
Nikolay Puzanov
Viktor Mamatov
Vladimir Gundartsev
Silver medal icon.svgFlag of Norway.svg  Norway
Ola Wærhaug
Olav Jordet
Magnar Solberg
Jon Istad
Bronze medal icon.svgFlag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Lars-Göran Arwidson
Tore Eriksson
Olle Petrusson
Holmfrid Olsson
1972  

The Men's 4 × 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 1968 Winter Olympics took place on 15 February, at Autrans. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing. This was the first time the biathlon relay was contested in the Olympic program. [1] [2]

Results

Norway had won the first two official relay competitions at the Biathlon World Championships, but in Grenoble they were forced to ski five penalty loops while the Soviet Union skied only two, allowing the Soviets to pull away to win by almost two minutes. Sweden didn't go on the penalty loop at all, the only team to do so, and while their skiing couldn't match the top two, they did manage to finish in the bronze medal spot, just as they had in the two previous world championship relays. [1]

RankBibTeamPenaltiesResultDeficit
Gold medal icon.svg4Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union
Alexander Tikhonov
Nikolay Puzanov
Viktor Mamatov
Vladimir Gundartsev
2
1
1
0
0
2:13:02.4
Silver medal icon.svg7Flag of Norway.svg  Norway
Ola Wærhaug
Olav Jordet
Magnar Solberg
Jon Istad
5
1
2
0
2
2:14:50.2
+1:47.8
Bronze medal icon.svg12Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
Lars-Göran Arwidson
Tore Eriksson
Olle Petrusson
Holmfrid Olsson
0
0
0
0
0
2:17:26.3+4:23.9
42Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg  Poland
Józef Różak
Andrzej Fiedor
Stanisław Łukaszczyk
Stanisław Szczepaniak
4
2
1
1
0
2:20:19.6
+7:17.2
51Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Juhani Suutarinen
Heikki Flöjt
Kalevi Vähäkylä
Arve Kinnari
5
3
1
0
1
2:20:41.8+7:39.4
63Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  East Germany
Heinz Kluge
Hans-Gert Jahn
Horst Koschka
Dieter Speer
4
1
1
0
2
2:21:54.5+8:52.1
78Flag of Romania (1965-1989).svg  Romania
Gheorghe Cimpoia
Constantin Carabela
Nicolae Bărbăşescu
Vilmoş Gheorghe
4
0
0
4
0
2:25:39.8+12:37.4
813Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Ralph Wakley
Edward Williams
Bill Spencer
John Ehrensbeck
8
2
4
1
1
2:28:35.5+15:33.1
96Flag of the German Olympic Team (1960-1968).svg  West Germany
Herbert Hindelang
Theo Merkel
Xaver Kraus
Gerhard Gehring
6
2
0
2
2
2:29:56.6+16:54.2
109Flag of France.svg  France
Daniel Claudon
Serge Legrand
Aimé Gruet-Masson
Jean-Claude Viry
10
2
3
3
2
2:31:12.9+18:10.5
1111Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
Paul Ernst
Adolf Scherwitzl
Horst Schneider
Franz Vetter
10
1
0
1
8
2:33:47.1+20:44.7
1210Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Marcus Halliday
Alan Notley
Peter Tancock
Frederick Andrew
9
1
2
5
1
2:34:40.9+21:38.5
1314Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg  Japan
Isao Ono
Miki Shibuya
Shozo Okuyama
Hajime Yoshimura
9
2
0
5
2
2:35:21.0+22:18.6
5Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
George Ede
Knowles McGill
George Rattai
Esko Karu
DNF

References

  1. 1 2 "Rapport Officiel Xes Jeux Olympiques D'Hiver 1968 Grenoble" (PDF). Comité d'organisation des Xemes jeux olympiques d'hiver. LA84 Foundation. 1968. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  2. "Biathlon at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Games: Men's 4 x 7.5 kilometres Relay". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2019.