Biathlon at the Winter Olympics explained

Size:150
Code:BTH
Sport:biathlon
Menevents:5
Womenevents:5
Mixedevents:1

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 (4 × 7.5 km during 1994–2002, and 4 × 6 km in 2006), and 7.5 km sprint. A pursuit race (12.5 km for men and 10 km for women) was included at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The top 60 finishers of the sprint race (10 km for men and 7.5 km for women) 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 (15 km for men and 12.5 km for women) was introduced where the top 30 biathletes from the previous four events were allowed to start together for the competition.

Military patrol

See main article: Military patrol at the Winter Olympics. Prior to the biathlon debut at the 1960 Winter Olympics, there was a military patrol event that was held at four Winter Olympic Games: 1924, 1928, 1936, and 1948. Medals were awarded for military patrol in 1924, but it was a demonstration event for the other three Winter Games. Military patrol is considered by the International Biathlon Union to be the precursor to biathlon.[1]

Summary

width=50Gameswidth=50Year width=50Eventswidth=150Best Nation
1 (1)
1 (1)
1 (1)
1 (2)
1 (1)
1 (1)
2 (2)
2 (3)
2 (4)
3 (5)
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width=50Gameswidth=50Year width=50Eventswidth=150Best Nation
3 (2)
3 (1)
6 (1)
6 (1)
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10 (2)
10 (5)
11 (6)
11 (3)
11 (7)
2026 11

Events

Men's

= official event, (d) = demonstration event

Event 28 32 36 48 52 56 Years
Military patrol 4
individual (20 km) 17
relay (4×7.5 km) 15
sprint (10 km) 12
pursuit (12.5 km) 6
mass start (15 km) 5
Total events 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5

Women's

= official event, (d) = demonstration event

Event 28 32 36 48 52 56 Years
individual (15 km) 9
relay (4×6 km) [2] 9
sprint (7.5 km) 9
pursuit (10 km) 6
mass start (12.5 km) 5
Total events 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5

Mixed

Event 28 32 36 48 52 56 Years
relay (4×6 km) [3] 3
Total events 1 1 1

Medal table

See also: List of Olympic medalists in biathlon. Sources (after the 2022 Winter Olympics):[4]
Accurate as of 2022 Winter Olympics and IOC Executive Board decision of May 19, 2022 to redistribute medals in the biathlon women's 4x6km event at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Notes

Number of biathletes by nation

NOCs no longer competing at the Winter Olympics
Nations - - - - - - - 9 14 16 14 18 18 25 22 28 32 32 34 37 37 36 28 30 56
Biathletes - - - - - - - 30 51 72 62 74 76 95 90 196 193 183 190 204 221 216 219 212 1583

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: A Quick Look at Biathlon through the Years . International Biathlon Union - IBU . 2022-01-04 . 2023-06-28.
  2. The women's relay has been contested over three different distances: 3×7.5 km (1992), 4×7.5 km (1994–2002) and 4×6 km (2006–10)
  3. The mixed relay has been contested over two different distances: 2×6 km + 2×7.5 km (2014–18) and 4×6 km (2022)
  4. Web site: Olympic Analytics - Medals by Countries . olympanalyt.com . 2022-02-20.