Information AboutBiathlon |
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Unsurprisingly, biathlon events are broadcast most regularly where the sport enjoys its greatest popularity, namely Germany ( ARD , ZDF ), Norway ( NRK ), Finland ( YLE ), Sweden ( SVT ), Russia ( RTR ), Belarus ( TVR ), Slovenia ( RTV ), Estonia ( ETV ), and Bulgaria ( BNT ); it is also broadcast on European-wide Eurosport . Some events are broadcast on U.S. cable channel OLN . The broadcast distribution being one indicator, the constellation of a sport's main (energy), Krombacher (beer), and Viessmann (boilers and other heating systems). biathlete Jeremy Teela at the 2002 Winter Olympics .]] CONCISE HISTORY The sport has its origins in an exercise for Norwegian Soldier s. 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 . Called Military Patrol , the combination of skiing and shooting was demonstrated 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 (see also Governing body, below). During the mid-1950s, however, biathlon was introduced into the Russian and Swedish winter sport circuits and was widely enjoyed by the public. This newfound popularity aided the effort of having biathlon gain entry into the Winter Olympics, where it has later become one of the most cherished sports. The first World Championship in biathlon was held in 1958 in Austria , and in 1960 the sport was finally included in the Olympic Games . At Albertville in 1992, women were first allowed in Olympic biathlon. GOVERNING BODY In 1948 , the ''Union '''I'''nternationale de '''P'''entathlon '''M'''oderne et '''B'''iathlon '''(UIPMB)''''' was founded, to standardise the rules for biathlon and Modern Pentathlon . In 1993 , the biathlon branch of the UIPMB created the '''''I'''nternational '''B'''iathlon '''U'''nion '''(IBU)''''', which officially separated from the UIPMB in 1998 . Presidents of the UIPMB/IBU: CHAMPIONS 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 .]] .]] The complete rules of biathlon is given in the official IBU rule book (see External Links , below). However, the concise description given below, along with the section on competition format, should be enough for a spectator to understand what is going on at a biathlon stadium whether actually being there or at home watching a televised biathlon event. Basic concepts In short, 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, 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:
In order to keep track of the contestants' progress and relative standing throughout a race, Split Time s (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 Cm less than the height of the skier. Shooting details The biathlete carries the 3.5 Kg small bore rifle including ammunition in magazines on her/his back during the race. The rifles use .22 LR ammunition and are Bolt Action . The target range shooting distance is 50 M or 160 feet. There are five circular targets to be hit in each shooting round. When shooting in the Prone position the target diameter is 45 Mm or 1.7 inches, when shooting in the standing position the target diameter is 115 mm or 4.5 inches. 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 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. Competitors' starts are staggered, normally by 30 seconds. Sprint The sprint is 10 km for men and 7.5 km for women. The biathlete shoots twice, 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,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. most commonly a Sprint. The contestant crossing the finish line first is the winner. The distance is 12.5 km for men and 10 km for women, 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 in the skiing track, and undercapacity at the shooting range, World Cup Pursuits are held with only the 60 top ranking biathletes after the preceding race. Mass start In the Mass start, all biathletes start at the same time and the first across the finish line wins. In this 15 km (12.5 km for women) competition, there are four bouts of shooting; two standing, two prone. 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 since here all contestants start simultaneously). Relay The Relay teams consist of four biathletes, who each ski 7.5 km (men) or 6 km (women), 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 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 changeover. Mixed relay The most recent addition to the number of biathlon competition variants, the Mixed relay, is similar to the ordinary Relay but for the composition of the teams, each of which consists of two women and two men. Legs 1 and 2 are done by the women, legs 3 and 4 by the men. The legs are 6 km, as in the ordinary women's Relay competition. Team (obsolete) A team consists of four biathletes, but unlike the case of 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. 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. Since 2004, this race format has been obsolete at the World Cup level. BIATHLON VENUES World Cup events and World Championships in biathlon have traditionally been held at the following relatively few locations. (Due to the complicated shooting range equipment, which absolutely has to work in order to hold successful races, biathlon is a highly demanding sport for organisers.)
OTHER BIATHLON VARIANTS Two common variations on biathlon are summer biathlon, where skiing is replaced by a cross-country run, and ''' Archery biathlon''' (or Ski Archery ), where the rifle is replaced by a ''' Recurve Bow '''. There have also been summer competitions in ''' Roller-ski biathlon''', ''' Mountain Bike biathlon''' and ''' Orienteering biathlon'''. NOTES SEE ALSO Biathlon's two sports disciplines: Other multi-discipline sports (otherwise unrelated to biathlon): EXTERNAL LINKS
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