This will be the 15th time that the biathlon is held at the Olympics. The US has never won a medal. They didn’t even have anyone closer than ninth in Vancouver. But there’s hope this year. The US has a reigning world silver medalist and they have one of their best shots at a medal ever. Maybe 2014 will be the year the US finally breaks through in the biathlon.

Biathlon’s Olympic History

Biathlon’s Olympic history really begins with another event held at four Olympics from 1924 to 1948. This event was called military patrol and was very similar to the current biathlon as it involved both skiing and shooting. It never caught on and only once were medals awarded, the other three times it was a demonstration event. In 1960 the modern biathlon made its Olympic debut and it’s been around ever since. It started with just one men’s event and expanded to three by 1980. Women were first involved in 1992 when they were given a program to mirror the men’s. Since then the program has grown to five competitions each for the men and women and for the first time in Sochi there will be a mixed event as well.

Germany has been the best country in biathlon with 59 of the 190 medals if you combine Germany and the former teams of West Germany and East Germany. 21 countries have medaled in biathlon including Kazakhstan. One country you won’t find on that list though? The US.

How the Biathlon Competitions Work

If speed skating is a sport where there is almost no difference other than distance between events, biathlon is a sport where there are a ton of differences between events. One thing to keep in mind through all the events is that there are two styles of shooting: prone and standing. Standing is self-obvious but if you haven’t heard of the prone position it’s basically like lying down.

The first events held are the sprint races. In the sprint races the competitors will be spaced out in 30 seconds intervals at the start and do three loops to complete the race. After the completion of each loop the athlete will have a shooting phase where they must hit a target. Accuracy on the target doesn’t matter, just hitting the target. The first shooting is prone, the second standing. If you miss a target you have to ski a 150-meter penalty loop after you are done shooting. If you miss two targets, two loops. Men will race a 10km race (so 3.3km per loop) while women only go 7.5km (2.5km per loop).

If you thought now that we’ve done the sprint race and awarded the medals we can forget about it, think again. The results of that race establish the starting grid for the pursuit events. Only the top 60 from the sprint race move into the pursuit event. They will start from the same point but each athlete will be delayed at the start as long as they finished sprint race behind the leader. To win this race you have to pass the leader, overcoming as much time as you were behind in the sprint event! How long do you have to do it? Five loops (2.5 km loops for men, 2km loops for women) and four shooting times. The shooting is done in the prone position the first two times and standing the second two times. If you miss a target you face the same 150m penalty as the sprint race.

Next up is the individual events. These will be started the same way as the sprint races but the big difference is the penalty for missing a target. Instead of skiing an extra 150m you are automatically given a one minute penalty to be added to your final time. The men will do five loops of 4km while the women do five loops of 3km. The four rounds of shooting are done from the prone, standing, prone, and standing positions.

The final events that don’t involve teams are the mass-start events. I think you can guess how the field begins the race (don’t worry there are only 30 athletes so it’s not too much chaos). The punishment for missing targets in this event is once again a 150m penalty loop. If you put together a penalty loop and a mass-start what do you get? You get a race where the first person across the finish line is the winner (unlike the individual and sprint races). The variance between the four solo events of whether it’s a race to the finish line or a race against the clock does provide for some interesting finishes and some nice variety. The men will race five 3km loops in this race while the women do five 2.5km loops. In both events the shooting position order is prone, prone, standing, and standing.

Finally we’ve come to the relay events! The first relay event is the mixed relay event, which is making its debut in the Olympics! Teams consist of four skiers, two men and two women, with the women skiing the first two legs. All teams start at the same time and the 150m penalty loop is in effect for this event. Each member of the team skates three loops (2km for the women, 2.5km for the men) with shooting in between loops. The first shooting is done from the prone position, the second from the standing position. The non mixed relays also involve four members and follow the same format as the mixed relay event.

US Team

The team is made up of five men and five women. Four of the athletes are veterans from the Vancouver team while three of them were also on the team in Turin.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

US Biathlon

Men:
Lowell Bailey**
Tim Burke**
Russell Currier
Sean Doherty
Leif Nordgren

Women:
Lanny Barnes**
Annelies Cook
Susan Dunklee
Hannah Dreissigacker
Sara Studebaker*

* – Was on team in Vancouver
** – Was on team in Vancouver & Turin

A Sochi 2014 Biathlon list on twitter including all of these athletes

US Team’s Olympic History

In Vancouver Lowell Bailey competed for the US in three solo events but couldn’t finish any higher than 36th (10km sprint and 12.5km pursuit). Bailey also took part in the 20km individual where he finished 57th. Bailey was part of a 4×7.5km relay team which finished 13th. Bailey was a little more competitive in the individual event in Turin when he finished 27th. Bailey was also in the sprint event (47th) and the pursuit event (48th). He did take part in a top-ten finish by the relay team when they came in ninth.

Tim Burke was also part of the US team in Vancouver. Like Bailey he was part of the 13th place finishing 4×7.5km relay team. In the solo events he had a good finish in the 15km mass start, 18th, while he ended up 45th in the 20km individual, 46th in the 12.5km pursuit and 47th in the 10km sprint. Eight years ago in Turin, Burke was a part of the ninth place finish by the relay team. Burke also came in 36th in the sprint and pursuit events and 58th in the individual event.

Lanny Barnes competed in two solo events for the US in Vancouver. Barnes was 78th in the 7.5km sprint event which meant she didn’t reach the 10km pursuit event. She was much better in the 15km individual event where she finished 23rd. She was also part of the 4x5km relay team that finished 17th. Barnes competed in just two events in Turin. Barnes came in 64th in the individual event and also took part in the relay team which finished 15th.

Vancouver saw the Olympic debut of Sara Studebaker. Studebaker was a member of the 4x5km relay team that finished 17th and also competed individually in three events. Studebaker’s best event was the 15km individual race where she finished 34th. She wound up 45th in the 7.5km sprint event and 46th in the 10km pursuit event.

Schedule

All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Saturday, February 8th
*9:30 AM – Men’s Sprint 10km

Sunday, February 9th
*9:30 AM – Women’s 7.5km Sprint

Monday, February 10th
*10 AM – Men’s 12.5km Pursuit

Tuesday, February 11th
*10 AM – Women’s 10km Pursuit

Thursday, February 13th
*9 AM – Men’s Individual 20km

Friday, February 14th
*9 AM – Women’s 15km Individual

Sunday, February 16th
*10 AM – Men’s 15km Mass Start

Monday, February 17th
*10 AM – Women’s 12.5km Mass Start

Wednesday, February 19th
*9:30 AM – 2x6km Women + 2×7.5km Men Mixed Relay

Friday, February 21st
*9:30 AM – Women’s 4x6km Relay

Saturday, February 22nd
*9:30 AM – Men’s 4×7.5km Relay

US Team’s Recent World Championship History

The 2013 Biathlon World Championships were held in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic in February 2013.

The US found some success in the men’s 20km individual event. Four of the Olympic team members were in that event and all finished in the top 60 with Russell Currier in 60th place. Lowell Bailey finished 29th with Leif Nordgren coming in 20th. The top American though was Tim Burke who came in second to win a silver.

Tim Burke was again the top American in the 10km sprint event where he finished in a tie for 28th. Lowell Bailey was second best with a 32nd place finish while Russell Currier was 44th and Leif Nordgren was 53rd.

Using those results to set the field for the 12.5km pursuit event the US had all four of their athletes in the field. Lowell Bailey put together a great performance and didn’t miss a single target to move up from 32nd at the start to finish in 13th. Tim Burke fell from 28th to 32nd while Leif Nordgren moved up from 53rd to 43rd and Russell Currier fell from 44th to 52nd.

The final solo event, the mass start 15km event featured two Americans in the 30 athlete field. Lowell Bailey took another turn as the top American finishing in 13th while Tim Burke ended up 30th.

Bailey, Currier, Nordgren, and Burke teamed up for the relay event but finished 12th.

On the women’s side Susan Dunklee, Sara Studebaker, Annelies Cook, and Hannah Dreissigacker all competed for the US in the 15km individual event. Dunklee was the top American in 15th while Studebaker joined her in the top 30 with a 27th place finish. Cook ended up 38th while Dreissigacker was 56th.

The 7.5km sprint event didn’t go as well for the US as the top American was Annelies Cook and she finished 45th. Susan Dunklee wasn’t far behind her in 49th as they both qualified for the pursuit event. Sara Studebaker came in 65th while Hannah Dreissigacker ended up 71st.

In the pursuit event Susan Dunklee only was able to edge up from 49th to 47th while Annelies Cook fell from 46th to 51st.

Dunklee, Cook, Dreissigacker, and Studebaker combined for the team relay where they ended up 11th.

The US combined Annelies Cook, Susan Dunklee, Lowell Bailey, and Leif Nordgren for the mixed relay team. The mixed team did better than both the men’s and women’s team as they finished 8th and within a minute of the bronze.

US Olympic History

As mentioned at the top, the US has never won a biathlon medal at the Olympics.

In 2010 the closest the US came was in the men’s 10km sprint where Jeremy Teela finished 9th. Teela was also the top American in the 12.5km pursuit in 24th. Tim Burke was the top US competitor in the 20km individual (45th) and the 15km mass start (18th). The US relay team came in 13th.

On the women’s side the closest US athlete to a medal was Lanny Barnes who finished 23rd in the 15 km individual. Sara Studebaker was top for the US in the 7.5km sprint finishing 45th and in the 10km pursuit ending up 46th. The women’s relay team finished 17th.