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Biathlon

XX Winter Olympic Games Torino 2006

Biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting, not to be confused with summer biathlon, which combines cross country running with riflery.

EVENTS: Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics will be held in the town of Cesana San Sicario (in the commune of Cesana Torinese), Italy. Ten competitions are included in the Olympics programme, five for men and five for women: individual, sprint, pursuit, relay and mass start. Cesana San Sicario is 97 kilometres from Torino and can be reached by the SS 24 road. By train from Torino through the line Torino-Bardonecchia-Modane and from France via Modane, as far as Oulx then by free Olympic shuttle buses. Also by car through through the Frejus tunnel, highway A32, exit at Oulx, then the Olympic shuttle service.

CALENDAR:

EVENT	DATE	TIME	PLACE
Mens 20 km Individual	Saturday February 11	13:00	Cesana San Sicario
Womens 15 km Individual	Monday, February 13	12:00	Cesana San Sicario
Mens 10 km Sprint	Tuesday, February 14	13:30	Cesana San Sicario
Womens 7,5 km Sprint	Thursday February 16	12:00	Cesana San Sicario
Mens 12,5 km Pursuit + Womens 10 km Pursuit	Saturday February 18	12:30	Cesana San Sicario
Mens 4 x 7,5 km Relay	Tuesday February 21	12:00	Cesana San Sicario
Womens 4 x 6 km Relay	Thursday February 23	12:00	Cesana San Sicario
Mens 15 km Mass Start + Womens 12,5 km Mass Start	Saturday February 25	10:00	Cesana San Sicario

HISTORY

The sport has its origins in military exercises especially targeted at Norwegian soldiers. The first known competition took place in 1767 when border patrol companies competed against each other. Gradually the sport became more common throughout Scandinavia as an alternative training for the military.

It appeared as demontrations with the name of "military patrol" at the Olympic Winter Games in 1924, 1928, 1936 and 1948, but did not gain Olympic recognition then, as the small number of competing countries disagreed on the rules.

The first World Championship in the sport was held in 1958 in Austria, and in 1960 the sport was finally included in the Olympic Games.

RULES OF BIATHLON:

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

Skiing All skiing techniques are permitted in biathlon, but no other equipment than skis and ski poles may be used. Minimal length of the skis is the height of the skier less 4 cm.

Shooting The biathlete carries the 3.5 kg rifle including ammunition in magazines on her/his back during the race. The rifles used are 5.6 mm (.22) caliber and are not automatic or semi-automatic; loading must be done manually by the biathlete. The target range shooting distance is 50 m. Prone shooting target diameter is 45 mm, standing is 115 mm. The five targets are self-indicating, in that they flip from black to white when hit, giving the biathlete instant visual feedback for each shot fired.

COMPETITION EVENTS:

Sprint: In the sprint, held over 10 km (7.5 km for women), the biathlete shoots twice (10 shots); once prone, once standing. For each miss, a penalty loop of 150 m has to be skied before the race can be continued. The biathletes start in intervals, normally of 30 seconds.

Pursuit: In a Pursuit, the biathletes start with the time difference between them from a previous race, often a Sprint. The contestant crossing the finish line first becomes the winner. The distance is 12.5 km (10 km for women), there are four shooting bouts (two prone, two standing), and each miss means a penalty loop of 150 m. In World Cup pursuits, the 60 top ranking biathletes after the preceding race are allowed to participate.

Mass start: In the mass start, all biathletes start at the same time; first across the finish line wins. In this 15 km (or 12.5 km for women) competitoin, there are four bouts of shooting; two standing, two prone. As in Sprint races, competitors must ski one 150m penalty loop for each miss.

Individual: The 20 km individual race (15 km for women) is the oldest biathlon event. The biathlete shoots four times, in the order of prone, standing, prone, standing, totalling 20 targets. For each missed target a fixed penalty time, usually one minute, is added to the skiing time of the biathlete. As in the sprint competition, the biathletes start in intervals.

Relay: Teams consist of four biathletes, who each ski 7.5 km (both men and women), with two shooting rounds (one prone, one standing). For every round of fivetargets there are eight bullets available, though the last three can only be loaded one at a time from trays at the shooting range. If after eight bullets there are still misses, one 150 m penalty loop must be taken for each miss. 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 exchange.

Team: A team consists of four biathletes, and all 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. The skiers must enter the shooting area together, and must also finish within 15 seconds of each other, otherwise a time penalty of 1 minute is added to the total time. This race format is now obsolete at the World cup level (2004).

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