Biathlon is an event that combines two disciplines: cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Here’s what you need to know:
MILAN, Milan Metropolitan — The Winter Olympics will include a race that combines two disciplines: cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.
Biathlon is a sport in which athletes use guns and skis to earn points.
The roots of this event date back to the first Winter Olympics in 1924, when an event called Military Patrol was held. According to , this modern sport was introduced at the 1960 Olympics, held in what is now called Olympic Valley in California. Olympic.
Here’s everything you need to know about biathlon in Milano Cortina 2026.
What kind of guns do they use in biathlon?
Athletes use .22 caliber long rifles. national rifle association calls it “the most versatile and widely used firearm in the world.”
The rifle can be custom-fitted for each Olympic athlete, resulting in a different look and style. Still, there are requirements that all athletes must follow.
These rifles must hold at least 8 pounds. Athletes wear them on their backs when skiing miles of slopes. According to , the rifle can only fire rimfire rounds. NBC Olympics.
Also, the rifle must not be automatic or semi-automatic. This means the athlete must manually load/unload it. Olympic athletes have some say in which rifle they use, but it must fall into one of four categories:
- common bolt system
- Cocking the pistol grip
- straight pull action
- Straight pull action with ball bearing lock
What is biathlon?
This sport allows individual and team running. The players set out with skis on their feet and rifles on their backs. Athletes can ski between 7.6 miles and 30.6 miles, depending on the type of event: individual, sprint, relay, mixed, or group start.
Olympic athletes ski a certain distance and, depending on the type of competition, stop a certain number of times to aim at a target. During the shooting portion of the event, the targets are approximately 50 meters away. If an athlete misses the target, they will either be assessed a time penalty or have to go through a 490-foot penalty loop before continuing again.
There are 11 biathlon events taking place in Milan-Cortina.
- Men’s 20km individual
- Women’s 15km individual
- Men’s 10km sprint
- Women’s 7.5km sprint
- Men’s 12.5km Pursuit
- Women’s 10km pursuit
- Men’s 15km mass start
- Women’s 12.5km mass start
- Men’s 4×7.5km relay
- Women’s 4x6km relay
- Mixed relay 4×6km (M+W)
Norway, Germany, and France perform well in this category, winning dozens of medals in this category since the games began.