Biathlon

winter sport · skiing · shooting · competition

Skiing plus shooting. Biathlon mixes two totally different skills: racing on skis across snowy trails and carefully shooting at targets with a rifle. Athletes have to be both super fast runners and calm, accurate shooters.

Born from war games. Biathlon started in 1800s Scandinavia as a military training exercise called ski warfare, where soldiers had to ski and shoot. Eventually it became a real sport that people compete in for fun and glory instead of combat.

Mistakes cost time. In a biathlon race, missing your shots at the targets doesn't disqualify you, but it does slow you down. Depending on the type of competition, each missed shot adds either extra distance you have to ski or extra time to your final score.

Sections of challenge. A biathlon course is broken up into shooting rounds called bouts where skiers stop to shoot at targets. The shooting itself has no time limit, so athletes can take as long as they need to aim carefully before heading back out on the trail.