The following is about the qualification rules and the quota allocation for the biathlon at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Quota allocation A total quota of 230 athletes are allowed at the Games (115 both men and women). The first 218 quota allocations will be assigned using a combination of the Nation Cup scores of their top 3 athletes in the individual, sprint, and relay competitions, during the 2016–17 Biathlon World Cup season. The final 12 spots will be allocated during the 2017–18 Biathlon World Cup season to nations who have not qualified any athletes yet, with a maximum of two per nation.
An athlete also must meet requirements before competing: During the 2016/17 or 2017/18 Biathlon World Cup season the athlete must have two results at IBU Cup, Open European Championships, World Championships or World Cup in the Sprint or Individual that at a maximum is 20% behind the average time of the top three athletes. Or, two placings in the top half at the Junior World Championships. They also can have a combination of both criteria (one of each). All relay members must meet this requirement as well.
Nations ranked 1-5 in the 2016–17 season will qualify six athletes, 6-20 five athletes, and 21-22 two athletes, for both male and female competitions. The final six spots in each gender are filled individually in the 2017–18 season from the IBU Qualifying points list to a maximum of two for a nation, from nations not already qualified. One of these spots will be used by the host if not already qualified. Additionally, the host will be allowed to enter enough additional athletes to compete in each of the relay races. There will be no reallocation of unused spots.
Qualification summary Nations Men's Women's Total 6 5 3 9 2 0 2 5 5 10 5 5 10 5 5 10 0 2 2 5 6 11 5 1 6 5 3 5 8 6 6 12 6 6 12 0 1 1 5 6 11 1 5 6 5 5 10 2 1 3 2 2 4 6 5 11 2 5 7 5 1 6 6 2 5 2 4 5 5 10 5 2 7 1 5 6 5 5 10 5 5 10 5 6 11 5 5 10Total: 28 NOCs 109 110 219
Qualification standings
Qualifies 6 athletes Qualifies 5 athletes Qualifies 2 athletes Qualifies 2 athletes by IBU qualifying points Qualifies 1 athlete by IBU qualifying points
Final standings after 22 events +Men's standingsMen's standingsPositionCountry2016–2017 Nations Cup Points 1 7448 2 7416 3 7192 4 7181 5 6926 6 6270 7 6223 8 5556 9 5395 10 5290 11 5098 12 4885 13 4625 14 4483 15 4322 16 4203 17 4069 18 3408 19 3393 20 3202 21 3152 22 2988 23 2739 24 2586 25 1715 26 1242 27 492 28 467 29 162 30 161 31 70 32 47
Final standings after 22 events +Women's standingsWomen's standingsPositionCountry2016–2017 Nations Cup Points 1 7951 2 7646 3 6605 4 6547 5 6481 6 6265 7 6139 8 6034 9 5683 10 5193 11 5101 12 5035 13 4954 14 4743 15 4619 15 4619 17 4498 18 3608 19 3142 20 3051 21 2969 22 2737 23 2692 24 2086 25 1584 26 1228 27 642 28 459 29 339 30 144 31 104 32 64
Note that there is a limit of four athletes per nation able to enter each specific event regardless of quota.
References
External links Full breakdown of Nations Cup standings including how the points are tabulated and which athletes have contributed to their nation's total