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Biathlon

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Not to be confused with duathlon or biathle.
Biathlon
Several biathletes in the shooting area of a competition
Highest governing bodyInternational Biathlon Union
Characteristics
Team membersSingle competitors or relay teams
Mixed-sexYes
EquipmentSkis, Poles, Rifle
Presence
Olympic1924 (Military patrol)
1960 (Officially)

The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

History

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the biathlon "is rooted in the skiing traditions of Scandinavia, where early inhabitants revered the Norse god Ullr as both the ski god and the hunting god". In modern times, the activity that developed into this sport was an exercise for Norwegian people that was an alternative training for the military. Norwegian skiing regiments organized military skiing contests in the 18th century, divided in four classes: shooting at mark while skiing at top speed, downhill race among trees, downhill race on big hills without falling, and a long race on flat ground while carrying rifle and military pack. In modern terminology these military contests included downhill, slalom, biathlon, and cross-country skiing.[1] One of the world's first known ski clubs, the Trysil Rifle and Ski Club, was formed in Norway in 1861 to promote national defense at the local level. 20th century variants include Forsvarsrennet (the military contest) – a 17 km cross-country race with shooting, and the military cross-country race at 30 km including marksmanship. The modern biathlon is a civilian variant of the old military combined exercise.[2] In Norway, the biathlon was until 1984 a branch of Det frivillige Skyttervesen, an organization set up by the government to promote civilian marksmanship in support of national defense. In Norwegian, the biathlon is called skiskyting (literally ski shooting).[3] In Norway there are still separate contests in skifeltskyting, a cross-country race at 12 km with large-caliber rifle shooting at various targets with unknown range.[4]

Called military patrol, the combination of skiing and shooting was contested at the Winter Olympic Games in 1924, and then demonstrated in 1928, 1936, and 1948, but did not regain Olympic recognition then because the small number of competing countries disagreed on the rules. During the mid-1950s, however, the biathlon was introduced into the Soviet and Swedish winter sport circuits and was widely enjoyed by the public. This newfound popularity aided the effort of having the biathlon gain entry into the Winter Olympics.

The first Biathlon World Championship was held in 1958 in Austria, and in 1960 the sport was finally included in the Olympic Games.[3] At Albertville in 1992, women were first allowed in the Olympic biathlon.

The competitions from 1958 to 1965 used high-power centerfire cartridges, such as the .30-06 Springfield and the 7.62×51mm NATO, before the .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridge was standardized in 1978. The ammunition was carried in a belt worn around the competitor's waist. The sole event was the men's 20 kilometres (12 mi) individual, encompassing four separate ranges and firing distances of 100 metres (330 ft), 150 metres (490 ft), 200 metres (660 ft), and 250 metres (820 ft). The target distance was reduced to 150 metres (490 ft) with the addition of the relay in 1966. The shooting range was further reduced to 50 metres (160 ft) in 1978 with the mechanical targets making their debut at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.[citation needed]

Governing body

In 1948, the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon (UIPMB) was founded, to standardise the rules for the biathlon and the modern pentathlon. In 1993, the biathlon branch of the UIPMB created the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which officially separated from the UIPMB in 1998.

Presidents of the UIPMB/IBU:

Championships

The following articles list major international biathlon events and medalists. Contrary to the Olympics and World Championships (BWCH), the World Cup (BWC) is an entire winter season of (mostly) weekly races, where the medalists are those with the highest sums of World Cup points at the end of the season.

Rules and equipment

Prone position: Sylvie Becaert, Antholz 2010.
Standing position: Raphaël Poirée (left) and Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Antholz 2006.

The complete rules of the biathlon are given in the official IBU rule books.[5]

Basic concepts

A biathlon competition consists of a race in which contestants ski through a cross-country trail system whose total distance is divided into either two or four shooting rounds, half in prone position, the other half standing. Depending on the shooting performance, extra distance or time is added to the contestant's total running distance/time. The contestant with the shortest total time wins.

For each shooting round, the biathlete must hit five targets and receives a penalty for each missed target, which varies according to the competition rules, as follows:[6]

  • Skiing around a 150-metre (490 ft) penalty loop—typically taking 20–30 seconds for elite biathletes to complete, depending on weather and snow conditions.
  • Adding one minute to the skier's total time.
  • Use of an extra cartridge (placed at the shooting range) to hit the target; only three such extras are available for each round, and a penalty loop must be done for each target 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 the biathlon, which means that the free technique is usually the preferred one, being the fastest. No equipment other than skis and ski poles may be used to move along the track. The minimum ski length is the height of the skier less 4 centimetres (1.6 in). The rifle has to be carried by the skier during the race at all times.

Shooting details

The biathlete carries a small-bore rifle, which weighs at least 3.5 kilograms (7.7 lb), excluding ammunition and magazines. The rifles use .22 LR ammunition and are bolt action or Fortner (straight-pull bolt) action.

The target range shooting distance is 50 metres (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 millimetres (1.8 in); when shooting in the standing position, the target diameter is 115 millimetres (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 kilometres (12 mi) individual race (15 kilometres (9.3 mi) for women) is the oldest biathlon event; the distance is skied over five laps. The biathlete shoots four times at any shooting lane,[7] 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 kilometres (6.2 mi) for men and 7.5 kilometres (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 metres (490 ft) must be skied before the race can be continued. As in the individual competition, the biathletes start in intervals.

Pursuit

Olympic gold medalists Olga Zaitseva and Andrea Henkel at the World Cup pursuit race in Oberhof, 2013.
Main article: Pursuit racing

In a pursuit, biathletes' starts are separated by their time differences from a previous race,[8] most commonly a sprint. The contestant crossing the finish line first is the winner. The distance is 12.5 kilometres (7.8 mi) for men and 10 kilometres (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 metres (490 ft). 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-served 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 kilometres (9.3 mi) for men or 12.5 kilometres (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 the competitor's bib number (Bib #10 shoots at lane #10 regardless of position in race), with the rest of the shooting bouts being on a first-come, first-served basis (If a competitor arrives at the lane in fifth place, they shoot at lane 5). As in sprint and pursuit, competitors must ski one 150 metres (490 ft) 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 kilometres (4.7 mi) (men) or 6 kilometres (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 (490 ft) 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 on a first-come, first-served basis (arrive at the range in fifth place, shoot at lane 5).

Mixed relay

The most recent addition to the number of biathlon competition variants, the mixed relay is similar to the ordinary relay but the teams are composed of two women and two men. Legs 1 and 2 are done by the women, legs 3 and 4 by the men. The women's legs are 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) and men's legs are 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) as in ordinary relay competitions.

In 2014, single mixed relay was introduced by the IBU. Each team has a man and a woman, and each runs two 3.0 kilometres (1.9 mi) legs, except the last leg where the man completes 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) for a total 13.5 kilometres (8.4 mi).

Team (obsolete)

A team consists of four biathletes, but unlike the relay competition, all team members start at the same time. Two athletes must shoot in the prone shooting round, the other two in the standing round. In case of a miss, the two non-shooting biathletes must ski a penalty loop of 150 m (490 ft). The skiers must enter the shooting area together, and must also finish within 15 seconds of each other; otherwise a time penalty of one minute is added to the total time. Since 2004, this race format has been obsolete at the World Cup level.

Broadcasting

Biathlon events are broadcast most regularly where the sport enjoys its greatest popularity, namely Germany (ARD, ZDF), Austria (ORF), Norway (NRK), Finland (YLE), Estonia (ETV), Latvia (LTV), Lithuania (LRT), Croatia (HRT), Poland (TVP), Sweden (SVT), Russia (Russia-2, Channel One), Belarus (TVR), Slovenia (RTV), Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT), Bulgaria (BNT), and South Korea (KBS); it is broadcast on European-wide Eurosport, which also broadcasts to the Asia-Pacific region. World Cup races are streamed (without commentary) via the IBU website.[9]

The broadcast distribution being one indicator, the constellation of a sport's main sponsors usually gives a similar, and correlated, indication of popularity: for biathlon, these are the Germany-based companies E.ON Ruhrgas (energy), Krombacher (beer), and Viessmann (boilers and other heating systems).

United States biathlete Jeremy Teela at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Biathlon records and statistics

Biathlon records, rules, news, videos, and statistics for many years back are available at the IBU (International Biathlon Union) web site Biathlonworld.Com

Biathlon variants

Two common variations on the traditional winter biathlon are the summer biathlon, where skiing is replaced by a cross-country running or roller-skiing, and the archery biathlon (ski archery), where the rifle is replaced by a recurve bow.

There have also been summer competitions in roller-ski biathlon, mountain bike biathlon, orienteering biathlon, and run archery. The primitive biathlon uses snowshoes and muzzleloaders.

The Boy Scouts of America offers a bikeathlon variant at their national Scout jamboree, which mixes BMX biking with air rifle shooting at biathlon type targets.[10]

Cadets Canada also offers a biathlon to cadets across Canada, with three stages: zones, provincial, and national. Zone competitions are occasionally held as summer biathlons due to lack of snow in some southern areas. A .22LR caliber rifle is used at all levels. Races are shorter than world class events.[11]

The World Police and Fire Games offer a summer variant which combines cross-country running with service pistol shooting.

The Russian military runs tank biathlon competitions.

See also

Biathlon's two sports disciplines:

Other multi-discipline sports (otherwise unrelated to biathlon):

Notes

  1. ^ Bergsland, Einar (1946): På ski. Oslo: Aschehoug.
  2. ^ Bø, Olav: Skiing throughout history, translated by W. Edson Richmond. Oslo: Samlaget, 1993.
  3. ^ a b Kunnskapsforlagets idrettsleksikon (Encyclopedia of Sports), Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget, 1990
  4. ^ https://snl.no/skifeltskyting
  5. ^ IBU rule books
  6. ^ IBU Congress (2012). "IBU Event and Competition Rules". Rules adopted by the 2012 10th Regular IBU Congress. International Biathlon Union. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
  7. ^ Even in English-speaking countries such as Canada and the United States each country may use different terms for the same thing in biathlon. For example: Stage (USA) vs. Bout (Canada), Shooting Point (USA) vs. Shooting Lane (Canada)
  8. ^ To be precise; the pursuit competition start intervals are determined by common rounding to the nearest whole second of the biathletes' time differences from the previous race – the amount of time each biathlete lagged after the winner to the finish line.
  9. ^ Startseite - www.biathlonworld.com
  10. ^ :: Crosman: Summer House - Bikathalon::
  11. ^ National Cadet Biathlon Championship - 2007 - Championnat national de biathlon des cadets
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