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Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics included ten biathlon events. They were held at the Cesana-San Sicario arena. The events began on 11 February and ended on 25 February 2006. Approximately 6,500 spectators were expected by the organizing committee. In these Games, biathlon events were open to both men and women but they raced in different distances.

Medal table

Men's events

Individual (20 km)

The individual race consisted of five laps around a track with four stops at the shooting range. During each shooting section, the biathlete fired five shots at five targets. Misses resulted in penalties of one minute per miss being added to the time for the course. The first and third shooting sections were conducted in the prone position, while the second and fourth were done standing. A total of 89 biathletes were to compete (one did not start), starting with a staggered start and 30 seconds behind each competitor.

The event was the first medal event of the 2006 Olympics, held on 11 February. Michael Greis of Germany hit 19 of the 20 targets and used a net time of 54:23.0 (with one penalty minute) to clinch the gold medal, 16 seconds ahead of Norway's Ole Einar Bjørndalen. Norway also won the bronze medal, with Halvard Hanevold beating Sergei Tchepikov by 0.8 seconds despite two penalty minutes to the Russian's one.

Sprint (10 km)

In the sprint competition, the biathletes ski three loops of a track. Shooting occurs after the first and second loops. The first shooting session is from the prone position, the second from a standing position. Each shooting session consists of five shots. Missing a target incurs a penalty of extra distance—the biathlete must complete a 150 metre penalty loop for each shot missed. The distance of each loop is 3.3 kilometres, for a total length of 10 kilometres. Ole Einar Bjørndalen of Norway was the defending World and Olympic champion, but as in the individual competition, Germany's Michael Greis leads the World Cup standings, with three more Germans in the top six ^[1].

The event was conducted on 14 February.

Pursuit (12.5 km)

60 athletes can compete - the athletes who placed among the top 60 in the sprint event. The pursuit competition is heavily based upon the results of the sprint. The gold medallist in the sprint event starts first. The silver medallist starts second, with an interval between the starts equal to the amount of time behind the leader that the silver medallist finished the sprint.

Each biathlete completes five loops of the track. After the first and second loops, the competitor fires five shots from the prone position. Similarly, the third and fourth loops are followed by five more shots each, this time from the standing position. Missed shots result in the biathlete having to complete a 150 metre penalty loop for each target missed. The first competitor to cross the finish line is the winner, unlike the individual and sprint competitions in which best time is used. The men's pursuit uses a 2.5 kilometre loop, to cover a total of 12.5 kilometres.

Any competitor who is lapped by another is disqualified. The men's event was scheduled for 18 February, immediately following the women's event.

Bjørndalen was the defending World and Olympic champion in this event as well, but is placed fourth in the World Cup, behind Germany's Michael Rösch, Frenchman Raphaël Poirée and another German, Sven Fischer^[2].

Mass start (15 km)

The mass start competitions are limited to 30 biathletes. The format is similar to that of the pursuit competition, consisting of five loops of the track, each 3 kilometres in length, plus penalty loops and four shooting sessions (in the order prone, prone, standing, standing). The differences are in the distance covered (slightly longer) and the start format (as the name suggests, all competitors begin at the same time). The mass start took place on 25 February, and was the first time this event was held at the Olympic Games.

Ole Einar Bjørndalen was defending World Champion, but is tenth in the overall World Cup, where the Frenchman Raphaël Poirée leads ^[3].

Tomasz Sikora's silver medal finish was the first biathlon medal ever for Poland, men's or women's.

Relay (4 x 7.5 km)

The top 20 teams compete in the relay event, though only biathletes that have qualified for individual competition can be part of a relay team. Teams consist of four members. The competition begins with the first member of each team participating in a mass start. Each team member skis three loops of the 2.5 kilometre track, firing five shots from the prone position after the first loop and from the standing position after the second. If the athlete misses one or more shots, he is allowed to use up to three extra shots, which have to be individually reloaded. If the athlete has still failed to hit all the targets, he must ski a 150 metre penalty loop for each miss. The second and subsequent members of the team begin their three loops when tagged by the preceding biathlete. Final rankings are determined by the order in which the final member of each team crosses the finish line.

Sven Fischer, Michael Greis, Ricco Gross and Michael Rösch of Germany posted a winning time of one hour, 21 minutes and 51.5 seconds. Russia claimed the silver and France took the bronze. [1]

Women's events

Individual (15 km)

The women's individual event is conducted in a similar manner to the men's, but the loop is shorter; 3 kilometres. It was held on Monday, 13 February, and a total of 87 biathletes were to compete. Anna Bogaliy-Titovets won at this track at the trial Olympics in 2005, when she finished in a time of 50:47.9 with one penalty minute. Andrea Henkel is defending World Champion^[4], and was the defending Olympic champion. Henkel has not won a 15 km World Cup race apart from these two wins in the Championships, however^[5], and it's the Swede Anna Carin Olofsson who leads the World Cup standings on the 15 km individual^[6].

Olga Pyleva (RUS) finished the race in second place, 45.5 seconds behind Ishmouratova. However, three days after the race, it was revealed that Pyleva had failed the first of the two doping tests^[7]. She was later found to have a tainted "B" sample as well, and was stripped of her silver medal.

Sprint (7.5 km)

The women's sprint is similar to the men's sprint, but the women ski loops of 2.5 kilometres, resulting in an overall event length of 7.5 kilometres. The competition was held on 16 February.

Uschi Disl is defending World Champion at the sprint, while Kati Wilhelm won the sprint at the trial Olympics in 2005, despite shooting two penalty laps. Wilhelm is also defending Olympic champion, and leads the sprint World Cup ahead of Disl and Russian Svetlana Ishmouratova^[8].

Pursuit (10 km)

2 kilometres is the distance for the women's loop, for a total distance of 10 kilometres. The rules are the same as in the men's competition, but the women's pursuit will be held earlier in the day. At the 2005 World Championships, Germany's Uschi Disl successfully defended her four-second lead after the sprint event to win the pursuit, while Russian Olga Pyleva won the event at the 2002 Olympics. Kati Wilhelm leads the pursuit World Cup standings before the Olympics, ahead of Sandrine Bailly of France and Disl^[9].

Mass start (12.5 km)

The women contested their mass start on 25 February in five loops of 2.5 kilometres. Apart from the length, the event was conducted in the same way as the men's. Germany's Martina Glagow leads the World Cup standings before the Olympics^[10], while Norway's Gro Marit Istad Kristiansen is the current World Champion at the event.

Relay (4 x 6 km)

The women contested their relay in a similar manner to the men's relay on 23 February. Each athlete completes three loops of 2 kilometres each before exchanging with a new athlete. This was the first Olympics where the womens' relay legs were 6 km instead of 7.5 km.

Germany won the relay event at the 2002 Winter Olympics, while Russia's women are the current World Champions after beating Germany by 41.4 seconds at the 2005 World Championship; Russia also leads the World Cup standings after four relay events^[11].

Despite missing the veteran Olga Pyleva, suspended for two years after failing an anti-doping test last week, the Russian team led from start to finish. The Germans finished 50.7 seconds behind for the silver. The French team took the bronze. [2]

Qualification

All entries must be submitted to the organizing committee by 30 January 2006.

The pursuit competitions use the results of the sprint competition as a qualifier; the best 60 biathletes in the sprint qualify for the pursuit for each gender.

Restrictions on entry

The top 20 countries at the International Biathlon Union Nations Cup ranking of 2004–05, which is printed below, are permitted to pick four biathletes for each event, and five biathletes for the whole Olympics. The top five may send a sixth biathlete as a reserve. The countries seeded 21st to 28th (27th for women) may send a maximum of one biathlete. Other countries may not send biathletes unless the top 28 countries do not fill their quota. These restrictions apply to each gender, so that the countries who appear in the top 20 in both the men's and the women's list are able to send five men and five women.

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2006 Winter Olympics medal count Pos Country Gold Silver Bronze Total 1  Germany 11 12 6 29 2  United States 9 9 7 25 3  Austria 9 7 7 23 4  Russia 8 6 8 22 5  Canada 7 10 7 24 6  Sweden 7 2 5 14 7  Korea 6 3 2 11 8  Switzerland 5 4 5 14 9  Italy 5 0 6 11 10  France 3 2 4 9  Netherlands 3 2 4 9 12  Estonia 3 0 0 3 13  Norway 2 8 9 19 14  China 2 4 5 11 15  Czech Republic 1 2 1 4 16  Croatia 1 2 0 3 17  Australia 1 0 1 2 18  Japan 1 0 0 1 19  Finland 0 6 3 9 20  Poland 0 1 1 2 21  Belarus 0 1 0 1  Bulgaria 0 1 0 1  Great Britain 0 1 0 1  Slovakia 0 1 0 1 25  Ukraine 0 0 2 2 26  Latvia 0 0 1 1     84 84 84 252

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