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.
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.
The Men's 20 kilometre individual biathlon competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 11 February, at Cesana San Sicario.
The Men's 10 kilometre sprint biathlon competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 14 February, at Cesana San Sicario. Competitors raced over three loops of the 3.3 kilometre skiing course, shooting ten times, five prone and five standing. Each miss required a competitor to ski a 150-metre penalty loop.
The Women's 15 kilometre individual biathlon competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 13 February, at Cesana San Sicario. Competitors raced over five loops of a 3.0 kilometre skiing course, shooting twenty times, ten prone and ten standing. Each miss resulted in one minute being added to a competitor's skiing time.
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.
Magdalena "Lena" Neuner 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, Neuner 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, Neuner retired from the sport in March 2012, citing a lack of motivation and her desire for a normal life.
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.
The Men's 12.5 kilometre biathlon pursuit competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 18 February, at Cesana San Sicario. Competitors raced over five loops of a 2.5 kilometre skiing course, shooting twenty times, ten prone and ten standing. Each miss required a competitor to ski a 150-metre penalty loop.
The Men's 4 x 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 21 February, at Cesana San Sicario. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing.
The Women's 7.5 kilometre sprint biathlon competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 16 February, at Cesana San Sicario. Competitors raced over three loops of a 2.5 kilometre skiing course, shooting ten times, five prone and five standing. Each miss required a competitor to ski a 150-metre penalty loop.
The Women's 10 kilometre biathlon pursuit competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 18 February, at Cesana San Sicario. Competitors in this biathlon raced over five loops of a 2.0 kilometre skiing course, shooting twenty times, ten prone and ten standing. Each miss required a competitor to ski a 150-metre penalty loop.
The Women's 12.5 kilometre biathlon mass start competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 25 February, at Cesana San Sicario. Competitors raced over five loops of a 2.5 kilometre skiing course, shooting twenty times, ten prone and ten standing. Each miss required a competitor to ski a 150-metre penalty loop.
The Men's 20 kilometre individual biathlon competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics was held on 11 February, at Soldier Hollow. Competitors raced over five loops of a 4.0 kilometre skiing course, shooting four times, twice prone and twice standing. Each miss resulted in one minute being added to a competitor's skiing time.
The Men's 10 kilometre sprint biathlon competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics was held on 13 February, at Soldier Hollow. Competitors raced over two 3.0 kilometre loops and one 4.0 kilometre loop of the skiing course, shooting two times, once prone and once standing. Each miss was penalized by requiring the competitor to race over a 150-metre penalty loop.
The Men's 12.5 kilometre pursuit biathlon competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics was held on 16 February, at Soldier Hollow. Competitors raced over four 2.5 kilometre loops and one 2.75 kilometre loop of the skiing course, shooting four times, twice prone and twice standing. Each miss was penalized by requiring the competitor to race over a 150-metre penalty loop.
The Women's 15 kilometre individual biathlon competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics was held on 11 February, at Soldier Hollow. Competitors raced over five loops of a 3.0 kilometre skiing course, shooting four times, twice prone and twice standing. Each miss resulted in one minute being added to a competitor's skiing time.
The Men's 10 kilometre sprint biathlon competition at the 1988 Winter Olympics was held on 23 February, at Canmore Nordic Centre. Competitors raced over three loops of the skiing course, shooting two times, once prone and once standing. Each miss was penalized by requiring the competitor to race over a 150-metre penalty loop.
The men's 4 x 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 1988 Winter Olympics 23 February, at Canmore Nordic Centre. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing.
The Men's 4 x 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 1984 Winter Olympics 17 February, at Igman - Veliko Polke. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing.
