Relay Biathlon
Jacklyn Whitson
Relay Biathlon
A Relay Biathlon team is made up of four bio-athletes. It is a combination of two sports cross country skiing and rifle shooting. Women ski six kilometers. The men ski seven and a half kilometers. A men or a women team ski over three laps with two shooting rounds. One is prone which is when the shooter is laying face down on the ground. The other position is standing. For every round, there is eight bullets available. The last three bullets, they can only be single-loaded manually one at a time. If there are still misses after eights bullets, one 150 meter penalty loop must be taken for each missed target.
History
In 1924, the military patrol contested in the Winter Olympics. Then in 1928, 1936, and 1948 it was demonstrated. It didn't regain Olympic recognition then. The small number of countries competing disagreed with the rules of the sport. Then in the mid-1950's the biathlon was introduced to Swedish and Soviet winter sport circuit. The population of the sport aided the effort to bring the Biathlon into the Olympics. In 1958, the first world championship was held in Austria. Then in 1960 the sport got included in the Olympics. In 1992 was the first time women were allowed to participate in the sport.
Lanes
For the first leg of the race, all the participants start at the same time. The fist shooting stage, the participant will start at the lane with the corresponding bib number. Example: Bib Number 5 = Lane 5. For the following races, the teams line up on the first-come- first serve basis. Example: 1st place= Lane 1.