Ski warfare became a sport of skis and rifles
Biathlon blends cross-country skiing with rifle shooting, descending from nineteenth-century Scandinavian military patrols and ski warfare. Britannica ties its roots to Norse reverence for Ullr, god of skiing and hunting. Skiers race with their rifles on their backs, then must steady their breathing to hit targets fifty metres away.
Biathlon joins cross-country skiing and rifle shooting and is known in the Nordic languages simply as ski-shooting. It grew out of military patrol, a combined exercise that Norwegians used as alternative army training, and in Norway it belonged until 1984 to a government-founded body promoting civilian marksmanship for national defence. As military patrol it was a medal event at the 1924 Winter Olympics, then a demonstration in 1928, 1936, and 1948, when Norway and Finland were strong.
The first world championship was held in Austria in 1958, and biathlon entered the Olympics for good in 1960. Early races used powerful centrefire rounds such as the .30-06 Springfield, with ammunition carried in belt pouches, before the small .22 long rifle cartridge became standard in 1978. Women first competed at the Olympics in Albertville in 1992, the pursuit arrived at Salt Lake City in 2002, and the International Biathlon Union, created in 1993, broke fully away from the modern pentathlon body in 1998.
A race is a series of ski loops broken by two or four shooting bouts, half lying prone and half standing, with five targets per bout. Each miss costs a 150-metre penalty loop, a minute added to the time, or, in relays only, the use of one of three spare rounds. Targets stand 50 metres away and measure 45 millimetres across for prone shooting but 115 millimetres for standing. The oldest event, the men's 20-kilometre individual, runs five laps with four bouts totalling 20 targets.
Any cross-country technique is allowed, and nearly everyone chooses skate skiing, with skis at least as long as the skier's height minus 4 centimetres. The rifle, carried in a harness, must weigh at least 3.5 kilograms and fire .22 bullets of 2.55 to 2.75 grams. Because the ammunition is usually subsonic, ear protection is not needed. Split times taken around the course and after each bout let arena screens and television show who leads.
Source: Biathlon
