From the Greek “bi”, meaning two, and “athlon”, meaning competition, biathlon had its first manifestations due to human needs. This is because primitive northern European men had to go hunting in hostile places on “skis” (or their equivalents at the time) and carrying a weapon on their shoulder. Learn all about biathlon now!
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All about Biathlon: what is it?
The biathlon is an individual event that combines two sports simultaneously: cross-country skiing and shooting.
The ski competition, on certain routes, has shooting stands for athletes to shoot a rifle at five stationary targets.
Each failure adds 150 meters to the ski race or adds one minute to the total time of the competition.
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All about Biathlon: history of the sport
Biathlon originated as a means of hunting in the snow in Scandinavia, but it only became a sport in the 18th century, when it became official in Norway in 1912.
Thirty-six years later, the UIPMB – International Union of Modern Pentathlon and Biathlon – was founded to standardize the rules of both disciplines.
However, it wasn’t until 1993 that biathlon gained its own association, the International Biathlon Union, which split from the UIPMB in 1998.
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In Brazil, the sport was recognized by the IBU much later. It was at the beginning of 2004 that the CBDN took control of winter biathlon in Brazil;
In 2006, we had our first participation in an official international competition, with athletes Leandro Ribela and Buck Kelmerson, in Austria. In 2007, the Confederation started preparing the Brazilian biathlon championship.
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Five years later, Brazil qualified for the World Championships for the first time, with athlete Jaqueline Mourão, who took part in two events: Sprint and Individual.
She was also responsible for the most significant chapter in the history of Brazilian biathlon so far: she qualified for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, competing in the Sprint and Individual events.
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All about Biathlon: how does it work?
In biathlon, the athlete shoots at targets from a distance of 50m in two positions: lying down and standing up;
- Lying down: 4.5cm diameter target
- Standing: 11.5cm diameter target
In a tournament, the athlete must stop two to four times to shoot, infringing 5 shots each time they stop. For each misfire, the competitor is punished with additional laps on the ski or an increase in time in the final result.
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All about Biathlon: types of races
Did you know that there are different race formats within biathlon? Get to know them all now!
Individual
It’s the main biathlon. The women start by skiing 15 km, the men 20. The athletes leave at 30-second intervals. On the course, there are 4 shooting stands – two are standing and two are lying down – and they alternate.
Sprint
In this format, the women’s category is 7.5 km and the men’s 10 km. The race has 2 shooting lanes, in which the athletes leave every 30 seconds and run three laps around the course.
After the first two rounds, they stop at the shooting stand and shoot to hit the 5 white targets, lying down and standing up. If they miss, they have to go 150 meters further to complete the third lap.
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Persecution
The women’s race is 10 km and the men’s 12.5 km. In this format, we have 4 shooting opportunities, in which the athletes leave with the final times of the sprint.
Relays and mixed relays
The competition is run by teams of 4 athletes, each running 7.5 km in the men’s class and 6 km in the women’s class. Each runner must make two stops to shoot at the 5 white targets for which they have eight bullets;
As with the other disciplines, if the athlete misses the shot, they have to take the 150-meter penalty route and then continue with the race.
In the mixed format, we have two athletes of each sex. The women take turns every 6 km between the first 2 stages. In the third and fourth stages, the men ski for 7.5 km.
Mass exits
Here there are only 4 shooting opportunities and the athletes go out at the same time. It was a novelty implemented at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
The men’s race is 15 km long and the women’s 12.5 km. In all of them, athletes are required to carry their weapon on their shoulder and the skiing technique is free.
All about Biathlon: curiosities
Due to climatic aspects, Brazil is not a favorable country for the sport, but there are some interesting facts about our biathlon history:
- So far, Brazil has only participated in one adult sport.
- At the Youth Winter Games, we had two representatives: Taynara da Silva in Lausanne 2020 and Mariana Silva in Gangwon 2024.
- Mariana Silva’s coach at the 2024 Games was Mirlene Picin, the inspiration for the character Mika from “Turma da Mônica Joven”.
Do you want to learn about other sports? So, now that you’ve read all about bialto, check it out too:
