2010 Olympic Biathlon was held at the Whistler Olympic Park in Vancouver, British Columbia from February 13 through February 26. It is held every four years at the site of the Winter Olympics. The biathlon is a combination of cross country skiing and rifle shooting. In the individual start events, the competitors ski a required distance then stop and take five shots at a target. Missing a target results in a penalty. They ski each loop five times and stop four times per loop to shoot.

Winners are determined by a combination of time and time penalties accumulated during missed shots at the target. Sprint competitions are similar except competitors start in 30 second intervals and there are two stops to shoot per loop. The winner of the sprint event is chased by the top 60 in what is called the persuit event. There is also a relay event, with four members per team and a mass start event where the 30 top ranked competitors try to cross the finish line first.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/additional-information/about-the-sport_144492xG.html Competitors to watch include Kati Wilhelm, Andrea Henkel and Michael Greis of Germany, Ole Einar Bjorndalen and Halvar Hanevold of Norway, Olga Medvedtseva and Olga Zaitseva of Russia, Vincent Defrasne of France, Tomasz Sikora of Poland and Jeremy Teela of the United States.http://www.nbcolympics.com/biathlon/athletes/index.html

The biathlon started as a world championship event in Saalfelden, Austria in 1958. It became an Olympic event for men at the 1960 Winter Olympics. There were no women Olympic events in the biathlon until 1992 in Albertville, France. There are five events for both men and women, with distances varying. The events are individual, sprint, pursuit, mass start and relay.http://www.nbcolympics.com/biathlon/insidethissport/index.html Legendary athletes in the biathlon include Sergei Tchepikov of Russia, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and Magnar Solberg of Norway and Mark Kirchner and Uschi Disl of Germany.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/athletes/legendary-athletes/

Winners

February 13

In the women's 7.5 kilometer sprint, Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia won the gold medal with one penalty and a time of 19:55.6. Magdalena Neuner of Germany finished 1.5 seconds behind at 19:57.1 with one penalty to win the silver medal. Marie Dorin of France won the bronze medal with a time of 20:06.5. Olga Zaitseva of Russia finished in seventh, 27.8 seconds behind Kuzmina. Olga Medvedtseva of Russia finished in 22nd with a time of 21:01.6, Andrea Henkel of Germany finished in 27th with two penalties and a time of 21:15.7 and Kati Wilhelm of Germany finished in 30th with three penalties and a time of 21:27.2.http://www.nbcolympics.com/biathlon/resultsandschedules/event=BTW007000/phase=BTW007101/doc=expresults.html

February 14

The men's 10 kilometer sprint started at 11:15 am. Vincent Jay of France started in sixth but finished first and won the gold with a time of 24:07.8. Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway moved from a tenth place start to win the silver medal with a time of 24:20. Jakov Fak of Croatia took home the bronze with a time of 24:21.8. Jean Philippe Leguellec finished sixth with a time of 24:57.6. It was the highest finisher for Canada. Jeremy Teela finished ninth with a time of 25:21.7. That was the highest finish ever by a United States athlete in the biathlon at the Olympics.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/schedule-and-results/mens-10-km-sprint_btm010101hJ.html

February 16

The women's 10 km persuit medal event was held at 10:30 am. Sixty competitors started, fifty-seven finished and Evile Saue of Estonia, Marina Lebedeva of Kazakhstan and Martina Halinarova of Slovakia were lapped. Magdalena Neuner of Germany won the gold medal with a time of 30:16.0 for her second medal of the games. Anastazia Kuzmina of Slovakia finished 12.3 seconds behind to win the silver. That was her second medal of this year's Olympics. Marie Laure Brunet of France finished sixteen seconds behind Kuzmina to win the bronze.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/schedule-and-results/womens-10-km-pursuit_btw510101Yu.html

The men's 12.5 km pursuit was held at 12:45 pm. Sixty competitors started, fifty-nine of them finished and Peter Dokl of Slovenia was lapped. Bjorn Ferry of Sweden was the gold medal with a time of 33:38.4 Christoph Sumann of Austria finished 16.5 seconds behind Dokl to win the silver medal. Vincent Jay held off Simon Eder of Austria by 2.8 seconds to win the bronze medal. For Jay, that was his second medal of the Olympics. Ole Einar Bjorndalen of Norway started in bronze medal position but dropped to seventh, 51.4 seconds behind Ferry.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/schedule-and-results/mens-12.5-km-pursuit_btm512101oV.html

February 18

The women's 15 km individual was held at 10:20 am. Eighty-six competitors finished and only Tanja Karisk of Bosnia & Herzegovina did not finish. Tora Berger of Norway won the gold with just one penalty and a time of 40:52.8. She finished 20.7 seconds ahead of Elena Khrustaleva of Kazakhstan, who won the silver. Darya Domracheva of Belarus won the bronze with a time of 41:21.0.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/schedule-and-results/womens-15-km-individual_btw015101EA.html

The men's 20 km individual was held at 1:20 pm. All eighty-eight competitors finished. Emil Hegle Svendsen won the gold with only one penalty and a time of 48:22.5. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway had two penalties but edged out Sergey Nokikov of Belarus for the silver. Nokikov won the bronze.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/schedule-and-results/mens-20-km-individual_btm020101lE.html

February 21

The men's 15 km mass start was held at 11:00 am. Thirty competitors started. Evgeny Ustyugov of Russia won the gold with a time of 35:35.7 Martin Fourcade of France finished 10.5 seconds behind to win the silver. Pavol Hurajt of Slovakia won the bronze, 16.6 seconds behind Ustyugov. Christoph Sumann and Daniel Mesotitsch of Austria finished fourth and fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/schedule-and-results/mens-15-km-mass-start_btm715101uV.html

The women's 12.5 km mass start was held at 1:00 pm. Thirty competitors started. Magdalena Neuner won the gold with a time of 35:19.6. That was her second gold medal of this year's Olympics and third medal overall. Olga Zaitseva of Russia finished 5.5 seconds behind Neuner and won the silver medal. Simone Hauswald of Germany was 7.3 seconds behind Neuner and won the bronze. Olga Medvedtseva of Russia finished fourth and Teja Gregorin of Slovenia finished fifth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/schedule-and-results/womens-12.5-km-mass-start_btw712101yi.html

February 23

The women's 4 x 6 km relay was held at 11:30 am. Nineteen teams participated. France was in the lead after the first two legs but fell to third to win the bronze. Germany was third after the first two legs but finished second to win the silver. Russia was second after the first two legs but pulled into first to win the gold. Ukraine finished fourth, Sweden came in fifth and Norway finished sixth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/schedule-and-results/womens-4x6-km-relay_btw406101ys.html

February 26

The men's 4 x 7.5 km relay was held at 11:30 am. Nineteen teams participated. Norway, who was seventh after the first leg, lead after each other leg to win the gold with a final time of 1:21:38.1. Austria held the second position after each leg and won the silver with a time of 1:22:16.7. Russia was just 0.02 seconds behind Austria and won the bronze. Sweden finished fourth, Germany fifth and France sixth.http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/schedule-and-results/mens-4x7.5-km-relay_btm407101qR.html