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. 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.
Magdalena "Magda" Forsberg is a Swedish former cross-country skier and biathlete. She was the dominant female biathlete from 1997 to 2002, when she retired, winning the Biathlon World Cup for six years straight. She is also a six-time world champion, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist, and holds the record for the most World Cup victories in women's biathlon.
Lars Berger is a former Norwegian biathlete and cross-country skier.
Frode Andresen is a former Norwegian biathlete and cross-country skier.
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.
Anfisa Anatolyevna Reztsova was Soviet and Russian biathlete and cross-country skier who competed in both sports from 1985 to 2000.
Kaisa Varis is a Finnish retired cross-country skier and biathlete. Her career has been marred by doping convictions: as a cross-country skier, she was involved but not suspended in a doping scandal and in 2003 she was suspended two years for doping use. After her suspension, she returned as a biathlete in 2007, but in 2008 she received a lifetime ban from all International Biathlon Union (IBU) competitions after another positive doping test. However, her lifetime ban was overturned in March 2009 because the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the IBU failed to adhere to correct testing procedures; she remains eligible to compete in biathlon.
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.
Susan Dunklee is a retired American biathlete.
Mari Eder is a Finnish former biathlete and cross-country skier.
Denise Herrmann-Wick is a former German biathlete and cross-country skier. She won gold at 2022 Winter Olympics – Women's individual, won gold at Biathlon World Championships 2019 – Women's pursuit and won gold at Biathlon World Championships 2023 – Women's sprint. Previously, she has competed in FIS Cross-Country World Cup since 2009. Herrmann has won several medals at the World Cup events. In April 2016, she announced that she would switch to competing in biathlon for the following season, although in an interview in November of that year, she did not rule out competing in cross-country skiing in the future.
Vytautas Strolia is a Lithuanian cross-country skier and biathlete.
Michal Krčmář is a Czech biathlete and an Olympic silver medalist in the sprint at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Baiba Bendika is a Latvian biathlete.
Anamarija Lampič is a Slovenian biathlete and former cross-country skier. She made her Olympic debut at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She is a triple World Championship medalist.
Krešimir Crnković is a Croatian biathlete and cross-country skier who competes internationally.
Regina Ermits is an Estonian biathlete. She competes in the Biathlon World Cup.
Estonia competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022. Estonian team consisted of 26 athletes.
Alla Ghilenko is a Moldovan biathlete. She was born in Varva, Ukraine. She competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Women's individual, and Women's sprint.
