The term biathlon is described as any sporting event made up of two disciplines. Generally speaking though, biathlon is usually specific to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

History and Origin

The roots of the sport come from Scandinavia and Finland. In fact, rock carvings in Norway dating from over 4,000 years ago depict two men stalking animals on skis. Since the 1700’s, biathlon played a vital role in Norway’s military and national defense and less as a means of personal survival. In 1767, "ski-runner companies", which guarded the Swedish-Norwegian border, competed against one another in the earliest recorded biathlon.

The first internationally recognized competition for the biathlon took place in the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France. The biathlon was initially called military patrol during these Games. It continued as a demonstration event in the Winter Olympics of 1928, 1936 and 1948. Other than the Italians sneaking in a victory in 1936, the Norwegians and the Finns generally dominated the event. The biathlon struggled for many years to gain Olympic recognition as the small number of competing countries disagreed on the rules. However, Russia and Sweden introduced the sport into their winter sports circuit during the mid-1950s, and they found that their public audience was widely receptive to and thoroughly enjoyed the sport. This exposure created a newfound popularity for the sport which helped out the effort of having biathlon accepted as an official Winter Olympic Sport in 1955.

The first World Championship in biathlon was held in Saalfelden, Austria, in 1958 with six nations participating (at the present time, 59 nations regularly participate). The sport was finally included in the Winter Olympic Games in 1960. In the 1992 Albertville, France Winter Olympiad, the first women were allowed to compete in Olympic biathlon.

Rules and Equipment

The complete rules of biathlon are given in the official IBU rule book. However, the description given below, along with the competition format section, should be enough for any potential spectator to have a very good understanding of what is going on at a biathlon stadium whether actually being there or at home watching a televised biathlon event.
Basic concepts
A biathlon competition consists of a race in which contestants ski around a cross-country track, and where the total distance is broken up by either two or four shooting rounds, half in prone position (on both knees), the other half standing. Depending on the shooting performance, extra distance or time is added to the contestant's total running distance/time. As in most races, the contestant with the shortest total time wins.

For each shooting round, the biathlete must hit five targets; each missed target must be "atoned for" in one of three ways, depending on the competition format:

• by skiing around a 150 meters (490 ft) penalty loop, typically taking 20–30 seconds for top-level biathletes to complete (running time depending on weather/snow conditions),
• by having one minute added to a skier's total time, or
• by having to use an "extra cartridge" (placed at the shooting range) to finish off the target; only three such "extras" are available for each round, and a penalty loop must be made for each of the targets left standing.

In order to keep track of the contestants' progress and relative standing throughout a race, split times (intermediate times) are taken at several points along the skiing track and upon finishing each shooting round. The large display screens commonly set up at biathlon arenas, as well as the information graphics shown as part of the TV picture, will typically list the split time of the fastest contestant at each intermediate point and the times and time differences to the closest runners-up.

Skiing details
All cross-country skiing techniques are permitted in biathlon, which means that the free technique is usually the preferred one, being the fastest. No other equipment than skis and ski poles may be used for moving along the track. Minimal ski length is 4 centimeters (1.6 in) less than the height of the skier.

Shooting details
The biathlete carries the small bore rifle, which weighs at least 3.5 kilograms (7.7 lb), including ammunition in magazines on her/his back during the race. The rifles use .22 LR ammunition and are bolt action or Fortner action.
The target range shooting distance is 50 meters (160 ft). There are five circular targets to be hit in each shooting round. When shooting in the prone position, the target diameter is 45 millimeters (1.8 in), when shooting in the standing position the target diameter is 115 millimeters (4.5 in). On all modern biathlon ranges, the targets are self-indicating, in that they flip from black to white when hit, giving the biathlete as well as the spectators instant visual feedback for each shot fired.

Competition format

Individual
The 20 kilometers (12 mi) individual race (15 km for women) is the oldest biathlon event; the distance is skied over five laps. The biathlete shoots four times at any shooting lane, in the order of prone, standing, prone, standing, totaling 20 targets. For each missed target a fixed penalty time, usually one minute, is added to the skiing time of the biathlete. Competitors' starts are staggered, normally by 30 seconds.

Sprint
The sprint is 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) for men and 7.5 kilometers (4.7 mi) for women; the distance is skied over three laps. The biathlete shoots twice at any shooting lane, once prone and once standing, for a total of 10 shots. For each miss, a penalty loop of 150 m must be skied before the race can be continued. As in the individual competition, the biathletes start in intervals.

Pursuit
In a pursuit, biathletes' starts are separated by their time differences from a previous race, most commonly a sprint. The contestant crossing the finish line first is the winner. The distance is 12.5 kilometers (7.8 mi) for men and 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) for women, skied over five laps; there are four shooting bouts (two prone, two standing, in that order), and each miss means a penalty loop of 150 m. To prevent awkward and/or dangerous crowding of the skiing loops, and overcapacity at the shooting range, World Cup Pursuits are held with only the 60 top ranking biathletes after the preceding race. The biathletes shoot (on a first-come, first-serve basis) at the lane corresponding to the position they arrived for all shooting bouts.

Mass start
In the mass start, all biathletes start at the same time and the first across the finish line wins. In this 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) or 12.5 kilometers (7.8 mi) for women competition, the distance is skied over five laps; there are four bouts of shooting (two prone, two standing, in that order) with the first shooting bout being at the lane corresponding to your bib (Bib #10 shoots at lane #10 regardless of position in race.) with rest of the shooting bouts being at the lane in the position they arrived (Arrive at the lane in fifth place, you shoot at lane five.). As in sprint races, competitors must ski one 150 m penalty loop for each miss. Here again, to avoid unwanted congestion, World Cup Mass starts are held with only the 30 top ranking athletes on the start line (half that of the Pursuit as here all contestants start simultaneously).

Relay
The relay teams consist of four biathletes, who each ski 7.5 kilometers (4.7 mi) (men) or 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) (women), each leg skied over three laps, with two shooting rounds; one prone, one standing. For every round of five targets there are eight bullets available, though the last three can only be single-loaded manually one at a time from spare round holders or bullets deposited by the competitor into trays or onto the mat at the firing line. If after eight bullets there are still misses, one 150 m penalty loop must be taken for each missed target remaining. The first-leg participants start all at the same time, and as in cross-country skiing relays, every athlete of a team must touch the team's next-leg participant to perform a valid changeover. On the first shooting stage of the first leg, the participant must shoot in the lane corresponding to their bib number (Bib #10 shoots at lane #10 regardless of position in race.), then for the remainder of the relay, the relay team shoots at the lane in the position they arrived (Arrive at the range in 5th place, you shoot at lane five.)