Biathlon debuted at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Olympic Valley, California with the men's 20 km individual event. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, the men's 4 × 7.5 km relay debuted, followed by the 10 km sprint event at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Beginning at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, women's biathlon debuted with the 15 km individual, 3 × 7.5 km relay (4 × 7.5 km during 1994–2002, and 4 × 6 km in 2006), and 7.5 km sprint. A pursuit race (12.5 km for men and 10 km for women) was included at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The top 60 finishers of the sprint race (10 km for men and 7.5 km for women) would qualify for the pursuit event. The sprint winner starts the race, followed by each successive biathlete at the same time interval they trailed the sprint winner in that event. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, a mass start (15 km for men and 12.5 km for women) was introduced where the top 30 biathletes from the previous four events were allowed to start together for the competition.
Military patrol
Prior to the biathlon debut at the 1960 Winter Olympics, there was a military patrol event that was held at four Winter Olympic Games: 1924, 1928, 1936, and 1948. Medals were awarded for military patrol in 1924, but it was a demonstration event for the other three Winter Games. Military patrol is considered by the International Biathlon Union to be the precursor to biathlon.
Summary GamesYear EventsBest Nation1 1924 1 (1)2 1928 1 (1)3 4 1936 1 (1)5 1948 1 (2)6 7 8 1960 1 (1)9 1964 1 (1)10 1968 2 (2)11 1972 2 (3)12 1976 2 (4)13 1980 3 (5)GamesYear EventsBest Nation14 1984 3 (2)15 1988 3 (1)16 1992 6 (1)17 1994 6 (1)18 1998 6 (3)19 2002 8 (4)20 2006 10 (2)21 2010 10 (5)22 2014 11 (6)23 2018 11 (3)24 2022 11 (7)25 2026 11 (1)
Events Men's • = official event, (d) = demonstration event Event 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22 26 Years Military patrol • (d) (d) (d) 4 individual (20 km) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 18 relay (4×7.5 km) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 16 sprint (10 km) • • • • • • • • • • • • • 13 pursuit (12.5 km) • • • • • • • 7 mass start (15 km) • • • • • • 6 Total events 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5
Women's • = official event, (d) = demonstration event Event 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22 26 Years individual (15 km) • • • • • • • • • • 10 relay (4×6 km)The women's relay has been contested over three different distances: 3×7.5 km (1992), 4×7.5 km (1994–2002) and 4×6 km (2006–10) • • • • • • • • • • 10 sprint (7.5 km) • • • • • • • • • • 10 pursuit (10 km) • • • • • • • 7 mass start (12.5 km) • • • • • • 6 Total events 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 5
Mixed Event 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22 26 Years relay (4×6 km)The mixed relay has been contested over two different distances: 2×6 km + 2×7.5 km (2014–18) and 4×6 km (2022) • • • • 4 Total events 1 1 1 1
Medal table
Sources (after the 2026 Winter Olympics): Accurate as of 2026 Winter Olympics and IOC Executive Board decision of September 19, 2025 to reallocate Olympic medals for Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014
Notes This table does not include medals of 1924 military patrol event, that the IOC now treats as a separate discipline. 2 silver medals and no bronze were awarded at 2010 men's individual distance.
Number of biathletes by nation
NOCs no longer competing at the Winter Olympics Nations - - - - - - - 9 14 16 14 18 18 25 22 28 32 32 34 37 37 36 28 30 29 Biathletes - - - - - - - 30 51 72 62 74 76 95 90 196 193 183 190 204 221 216 219 212 210
See also List of Olympic venues in biathlon Biathlon rifle Anschütz 1827F
References
External links