Biathletes enters the target range at McMiller
original photo by Ted Nelson
Biathlon is a word derived from Greek meaning “two challenges.” Technically the term could be referred to any activity that requires two different aspects in competition. Sometimes it is used to describe joint biking and running events or combined running and swimming events. However, the term is predominantly used to describe the combination of cross-country skiing and rifle marksmanship.
The biathlon has been an Olympic event from 1924-1948 and then reintroduced in 1960 with a female competition introduced in 1992. There will be five men events and five women events in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Biathletes ski a distance varying by event from 7.5km to 20km while carrying a .22 caliber rifle on their back. The contestants shoot five times each from the standing position and the prone position. The size of the target for the standing position is about the size of a CD while the prone position targets are about the size of a silver dollar. They shoot from a distance of 50 meters away.
Depending on the event the skier must either ski penalty laps or they have penalty time added to their ski time for missed targets. The winner is the participant with the lowest ski time after penalty time or penalty laps are added if applicable.
This year the U.S. has five men and four women participating in the Olympic biathlon races. Tim Burke from Pauls Smith, New York is our best chance at a medal. In December of 2009 Burke, despite never winning a World Cup race, became the first ever US biathlete to capture the overall World Cup lead. The U.S. has never won a biathlon medal at the Olympics, so there is a lot of pressure on Burke to take a place on the podium. Good luck in Vancouver Tim Burke.
The closest biathlon course near the Chicago area is in Wisconsin at the McMiller Sports Center in South Kettle Moraine State Forest. Stay tuned for an article in the near future which will cover how to get started in this very interesting with the Wisconsin Biathlon Association.
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Comments
If they have a eating sour candy and watching TV biathlon, I'm pretty sure I could win a gold medal. :-)
This is fascinating! Thanks for providing the background info on this. Very informative!
I wish our biathlon Olympians much luck.Looking forward to the start of the games.
It always seems an odd combination of skills, shooting and skiing.
Thanks for sharing info on the biathlon.
Everyone loves a biathlon!
Nice to know the history of the sport. good article.
loved the video Ted, was dancing around my computer :-)
Interesting read. AND educational. Always a pleasure to learn something new.
I would like to try a biathlon one day.
Wow - really interesting article - I learned a lot about the sport and will follow with more interest now - thanks!
I just saw them do this on "The Biggest Loser" TV show... They had the contestants participate in an abbreviated form of this. Seems like a strange combo but will watch for it in the Olympics.
Very interesting.
Do you have to be bi-polar to participate in a biathlon? That would be a fun group to compete against.
neat descriptive piece, ted...
Cheers..
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