The men's 4 × 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 1988 Winter Olympics 23 February, at Canmore Nordic Centre. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing.
At each shooting station, a competitor has eight shots to hit five targets; however, only five bullets are loaded in a magazine at one – if additional shots are required, the spare bullets must be loaded one at a time. If after the eight shots are taken, there are still targets not yet hit, the competitor must ski a 150-metre penalty loop.
Summary The East German team were defending world champions, and had won at least a silver medal in every major competition of the 80s except for the 1984 Olympic race. In Calgary, they again failed to medal, missing three early shots to fall well behind. With the East Germans in trouble, the Soviets were able to pull away and win by more than a minute. This was the sixth consecutive relay win for the Soviet Union, and with the country dissolving before the 1992 Games, this win ensured that the Soviet Union never lost an Olympic relay. West Germany and Italy, the two teams that claimed bronze medals behind the top two teams at the 1986 and 1987 World Championships, rounded out the medals in Calgary.
Results
Rank Bib Team Penalties (P+S) Result Deficit 3 Dmitry VasilyevSergei TchepikovAlexandr PopovValeriy Medvedtsev 00 00 00 00 0 1:22:30.021:04.320:12.020:35.120:38.6 – 5 Ernst ReiterStefan HöckPeter AngererFritz Fischer 00 00 00 00 0 1:23:37.421:05.721:18.020:33.920:39.8 +1:07.4 9 Werner KiemGottlieb TaschlerJohann PasslerAndreas Zingerle 00 00 00 00 0 1:23:51.520:57.921:31.120:38.620:43.9 +1:21.5 4 1 Anton Lengauer-StocknerBruno HofstätterFranz SchulerAlfred Eder 00 00 00 00 0 1:24:17.620:55.621:20.521:15.120:46.4 +1:47.6 5 11 Jürgen WirthFrank-Peter RoetschMatthias JacobAndré Sehmisch 33 00 00 00 0 1:24:28.422:51.820:20.920:29.120:46.6 +1:58.4 6 4 Geir EinangFrode LøbergGisle FenneEirik Kvalfoss 00 00 00 00 0 1:25:57.021:58.621:46.420:59.921:12.1 +3:27.0 7 10 Peter SjödénMikael LöfgrenRoger WestlingLeif Andersson 30 00 03 00 0 1:29:11.922:18.321:25.023:40.221:48.4 +6:41.9 8 16 Vasil BozhilovVladimir VelichkovKrasimir VidenovKhristo Vodenicharov 71 00 04 00 2 1:29:24.922:14.720:58.823:28.222:43.2 +6:54.9 9 8 Lyle NelsonCurt SchreinerDarin BinningJosh Thompson 21 00 00 01 0 1:29:33.022:43.321:39.722:17.322:52.7 +7:03.0 10 12 Éric ClaudonJean-Paul GiachinoHervé FlandinFrancis Mougel 60 04 00 00 2 1:30:22.821:58.123:58.221:26.822:59.7 +7:52.8 11 6 Jiří HolubecFrantišek ChládekTomáš KosJan Matouš 30 03 00 00 0 1:30:48.821:53.223:52.723:32.221:30.7 +8:18.8 12 2 Juha TellaAntero LähdeArto JääskeläinenTapio Piipponen 53 00 20 00 0 1:30:54.423:33.022:54.122:46.521:40.8 +8:24.4 13 13 Mike DixonMark LanginCarl DaviesTrevor King 50 00 00 10 4 1:31:44.621:35.621:55.523:31.524:42.0 +9:14.6 14 15 Tadashi NakamuraMisao KodateAkihiro TakizawaKoichi Sato 62 11 02 00 0 1:32:52.423:26.621:46.925:15.122:23.8 +10:22.4 15 7 Charles PlamondonGlenn RupertusKen KarpoffJamie Kallio 41 21 00 00 0 1:33:37.024:48.422:52.422:29.623:26.6 +11:07.0 16 14 Hong Byung-SikJoo Young-DaiKim Yong-WoonShin Young-Sun 70 12 10 21 0 1:51:42.726:42.026:38.929:43.428:38.4 +29:12.7
References
External links IBU Biathlon Datacenter – 1988 Olympics Relay