Type of Competition

Whether individual, pursuit or mass start. Every type of competition in biathlon has its appeal.

You can find out exactly where the differences and similarities lie here.

Mass Start

With all competitors starting at the same time, the mass start competition offers spectators the ultimate in excitement. Since a lane must be available at the shooting range for each competitor at almost the same time due to the simultaneous start, the number of participants is limited to 30. The route length is 10 kilometers for the ladies and 12,5 kilometers for the men.

The athletes manage four shooting bouts: prone - prone - standing - standing. For the first shooting bout, the order depends on the start number of the athletes. From the second shooting bout, the athletes line up on the free shooting lanes in the order in which they arrived at the shooting range, starting from the right.

Participation in the mass start is based on the top results in the overall ranking of the current World Cup.

Sprint

The sprint is most similar to the individual competition. However, the route is significantly shorter. The women's total length is 6 kilometers while the men's is 7.5 kilometers. The individual lap is 2 kilometers long for women and 2.5 kilometers for men.

During the competition, standing and prone shooting is used. Especially at these short distances, every hit counts. After three laps, it's hard to make up for lost seconds. If you allow yourself to miss, you have to complete the 150m penalty loop in 21 to 26 seconds.

 

Super Sprint

The Super Sprint consists of a qualification and a final competition.

The distance for women and men is 4.5 kilometers for the qualification and 7.5 kilometers for the final. The athletes complete the 1.5-kilometer circuit three times in the qualification and five times in the final. In the qualification, one shot is taken lying down and one shot standing up. In the final, the shooting performance increases to two prone and two standing. If you miss, you have to go into the 75m penalty loop.

After qualifying, the top 30 runners start simultaneously in the Super Sprint final.

Pursuit

Pursuit eligibility is based on the results of the previously held sprint competition. The pursuers try to catch up with the first-placed in the appropriate order, so that the spectators can look forward to an exciting competition.

The women have to complete a total distance of 7.5 kilometers. For men, however, the distance is 10 kilometers. Both the women and the men will shoot twice in a prone position and twice in a standing position.

Should targets remain black after shooting, the athletes must cover an additional 75 meters in the penalty loop, which costs valuable time to catch up with the pursued.