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Biathlon at the 1968 Winter Olympics – Relay

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Men's biathlon relay
at the X Olympic Winter Games
VenueAutrans
Dates15 February
Competitors56 from 14 nations
Winning time2:13:02.4
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Soviet Union
Alexander Tikhonov
Nikolay Puzanov
Viktor Mamatov
Vladimir Gundartsev
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Norway
Ola Wærhaug
Olav Jordet
Magnar Solberg
Jon Istad
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Sweden
Lars-Göran Arwidson
Tore Eriksson
Olle Petrusson
Holmfrid Olsson
1972 →

The Men's 4 x 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 1968 Winter Olympics took place on 15 February, at Autrans. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing. This was the first time the biathlon relay was contested in the Olympic program.[1][2]

Results

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Norway had won the first two official relay competitions at the Biathlon World Championships, but in Grenoble they were forced to ski five penalty loops while the Soviet Union skied only two, allowing the Soviets to pull away to win by almost two minutes. Sweden didn't go on the penalty loop at all, the only team to do so, and while their skiing couldn't match the top two, they did manage to finish in the bronze medal spot, just as they had in the two previous world championship relays.[1]

Rank Bib Team Penalties Result Deficit
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4  Soviet Union
Alexander Tikhonov
Nikolay Puzanov
Viktor Mamatov
Vladimir Gundartsev
2
1
1
0
0
2:13:02.4
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 7  Norway
Ola Wærhaug
Olav Jordet
Magnar Solberg
Jon Istad
5
1
2
0
2
2:14:50.2
+1:47.8
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 12  Sweden
Lars-Göran Arwidson
Tore Eriksson
Olle Petrusson
Holmfrid Olsson
0
0
0
0
0
2:17:26.3 +4:23.9
4 2  Poland
Józef Różak
Andrzej Fiedor
Stanisław Łukaszczyk
Stanisław Szczepaniak
4
2
1
1
0
2:20:19.6
+7:17.2
5 1  Finland
Juhani Suutarinen
Heikki Flöjt
Kalevi Vähäkylä
Arve Kinnari
5
3
1
0
1
2:20:41.8 +7:39.4
6 3  East Germany
Heinz Kluge
Hans-Gert Jahn
Horst Koschka
Dieter Speer
4
1
1
0
2
2:21:54.5 +8:52.1
7 8  Romania
Gheorghe Cimpoia
Constantin Carabela
Nicolae Bărbăşescu
Vilmoş Gheorghe
4
0
0
4
0
2:25:39.8 +12:37.4
8 13  United States
Ralph Wakley
Edward Williams
Bill Spencer
John Ehrensbeck
8
2
4
1
1
2:28:35.5 +15:33.1
9 6  West Germany
Herbert Hindelang
Theo Merkel
Xaver Kraus
Gerhard Gehring
6
2
0
2
2
2:29:56.6 +16:54.2
10 9  France
Daniel Claudon
Serge Legrand
Aimé Gruet-Masson
Jean-Claude Viry
10
2
3
3
2
2:31:12.9 +18:10.5
11 11  Austria
Paul Ernst
Adolf Scherwitzl
Horst Schneider
Franz Vetter
10
1
0
1
8
2:33:47.1 +20:44.7
12 10  Great Britain
Marcus Halliday
Alan Notley
Peter Tancock
Frederick Andrew
9
1
2
5
1
2:34:40.9 +21:38.5
13 14  Japan
Isao Ono
Miki Shibuya
Shozo Okuyama
Hajime Yoshimura
9
2
0
5
2
2:35:21.0 +22:18.6
5  Canada
George Ede
Knowles McGill
George Rattai
Esko Karu
DNF

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Rapport Officiel Xes Jeux Olympiques D'Hiver 1968 Grenoble" (PDF). Comité d'organisation des Xemes jeux olympiques d'hiver. LA84 Foundation. 1968. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
  2. ^ "Biathlon at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Games: Men's 4 x 7.5 kilometres Relay". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2019.