Biathlon World Cup

[SuperAllyMcleod]

Not everyone's cup of tea I know, but the new Winter Biathlon World Cup Series starts this Sunday with a Mixed Relay in Sweden - you can catch it live on Eurosport at 2:30pm.

Biathlon really is a great sport to watch and one of the few that give equal billing to the men and the women. Please give it a try, I'm sure you will enjoy it if you do.

The sport consists of skiing around a circuit (between 2km and 5km long) and stopping to shoot 5 targets after each lap. The skill is obviously in being able to ski quickly but also in being able to calm yoursef down to shoot steadily and quickly too. This is not as easy as you may think and no race can ever be considered over until the winner finishes shooting and crosses the line.

This season should be very interesting as there have been a number of high profile retirements and we don't have the distraction of the Winter Olympics to take everyone's focus away from the job in hand.

In the mens event current World Cup winner Martin Fourcade will be going for his fourth title in a row but faces stiff competition from Emile Hegle Svendsen the Bo Brothers as well as the evergreen legend Ole Einar Bjorndalen.

While in the womens event, current World Cup Winner Kaisa Makarainen will be trying for her third title. If anything the competition in the womens event should be even tougher with triple Olympic gold medallist Darya (Dasha) Domracheva likely to be the front runner. Dasha, a former ballet dancer, is the most graceful skier you are ever likely to see! In addition, Gabriella Soukalova will be a contender and all eyes will be on the German ladies team to see if they can recover from a couple of very poor seasons.

After Sunday there are a few days rest before there is an Individual event on Wednesday followed by a Sprint and a Pursuit. There are then another two weekends of racing before Christmas and after the New Year they pick up again over January and February, running up to the World Championships in March.


What's Going On GuideWhile the basic principle of the sport is the same - Skiing and Shooting - there are a variety of formats. Not all formats are raced at every meet (with the exception of the World Championships in March) and usually there are 3 formats for both men and women.

The Sprint - (Women 7.5Km, Men 10Km)The athletes go individually at 30 second intervals and are racing against the clock.
They ski three circuits of the track and stop to shoot after laps one and two.
They shoot once in the prone position (lying down) and once in the standing position (in that order).
Each missed target results in having to ski a penalty loop of 150m.
The winner is the athlete that completes the course in the quickest time.

The Pusuit - (Women 10Km, Men 12.5Km)This event occurs after a sprint (the following day) and the sprint winner heads of first.
The other athletes follow at time intervals determined by the result of the sprint and attempt to chase the leader down.
They ski five circuits of the track and stop to shoot after laps one, two, three and four.
They shoot twice in the prone position (lying down) and twice in the standing position (in that order).
Each missed target results in having to ski a penalty loop of 150m.
The winner is the first athlete across the finish line.

The Individual - (Women 15Km, Men 20Km)The athletes go individually at 30 second intervals and are racing against the clock.
They ski five circuits of the track and stop to shoot after laps one, two, three and four.
They shoot twice in the prone position (lying down) and twice in the standing position (alternating between the two).
Each missed target results in one minute being added to their time.
The winner is the athlete that completes the course in the quickest time.

The Mass Start - (Women 12.5km, Men 15Km)The most spectacular event and limited to the top 30 athleters.
All thletes start together in a mass start.
They ski five circuits of the track and stop to shoot after laps one, two, three and four.
They shoot twice in the prone position (lying down) and twice in the standing position (in that order).
Each missed target results in having to ski a penalty loop of 150m.
The winner is the first athlete across the finish line.

The Relay - (Women 4 x 6Km, Men 4 x 7.5Km)Teams consist of 4 athletes and the teams start together.
Each athlete skis three circuits of the track and stops to shoot after laps one and two.
They shoot once in the prone position (lying down) and once in the standing position (in that order).
Each athlete carries three spare rounds that they can load individually should they miss any targets.
Each target unhit after (up to 8 shots) results in having to ski a penalty loop of 150m.
The winners are the first team across the finish line.

The Mixed Relay - (2 x 6Km + 2 X 7.5Km)This is exactly the same as the relay but the women take the first two legs and are then followed by the men.

[SuperAllyMcleod]

Bump - 2015/2016 season gets underway today - Eurosport2 @ 2:15.