إدارة مسابقات واتحادات Biathlon

Biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It developed from the sport of military patrol, which began in 19th century Scandinavia and originated in ski warfare. In the Nordic languages, the sport is called "ski-shooting". The sport of biathlon involves many different types of races, with the commonality being contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds called bouts. The shooting rounds do not have a time limit, but depending on the competition, missed shots result in extra distance or time being added to the contestant's total.

According to Encyclopædia Britannica, biathlon "is rooted in the skiing traditions of Scandinavia, where early inhabitants revered the Norse god Ullr as both the ski god and the hunting god." In modern times, the activity that developed into this sport was an exercise for Norwegians as alternative training for the military. Norwegian skiing regiments organized military skiing contests in the 18th century, divided into four classes: shooting at mark while skiing at top speed, downhill race among trees, downhill race on big hills without falling, and a long race on flat ground while carrying a rifle and military pack. In modern terminology, these military contests included downhill, slalom, biathlon, and cross-country skiing. One of the world's first known ski clubs, Trysil Skytte- og Skiløberforening (the Trysil Rifle and Ski Club), was formed in Norway in 1861 to promote national defense at the local level. 20th century variants include Forsvarsrennet (the military contest), a 17 km cross-country race with shooting, and the military cross-country race at 30 km including marksmanship.

The modern biathlon is a civilian variant of the old military combined exercise. In Norway, the biathlon was, until 1984, a branch of Det frivillige Skyttervesen, an organization set up by the government to promote civilian marksmanship in support of national defence. In Norwegian, the biathlon is called skiskyting (literally ski shooting). In Norway, there are still separate contests in skifeltskyting, a cross-country race at 12 km with large-caliber rifle shooting at various targets with unknown range.

Called military patrol, the combination of skiing and shooting was contested at the Winter Olympic Games in 1924 and then demonstrated in 1928, 1936, and 1948, during which time Norway and Finland were strong competitors. In 1948, the sport was reorganized under the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon and became re-accepted as an Olympic sport in 1955, with widespread popularity within the Soviet and Swedish winter sport circuits.

The first Biathlon World Championship was held in 1958 in Austria, and in 1960 the sport was finally included in the Olympic Games. At Albertville in 1992, women were first allowed in the Olympic biathlon. The pursuit format was added for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, and the IBU added mixed relay as a format for the 2006 Olympics.

The competitions from 1958 to 1965 made use of high-power centrefire cartridges, such as the .30-06 Springfield and the 7.62×51mm NATO, before the .22 long rifle rimfire cartridge was standardized in 1978. The ammunition was carried in several pouches on a belt worn around the competitor's waist. The sole event was the men's 20 km individual, encompassing four separate ranges and firing distances of 100 m, 150 m, 200 m, and 250 m. The target distance was reduced to 150 m with the addition of the relay in 1966. The shooting range was further reduced to 50 m in 1978 with the mechanical self-indicating targets making their debut at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. For the 2018–2019 season, fully electronic targets were approved as an alternative to paper targets used in zeroing or mechanical steel targets for IBU events.

In 1948, the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) was founded to standardize the rules for the modern pentathlon and from 1953 also biathlon. In July 1993, the biathlon branch of the UIPMB created the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which officially separated from the UIPMB in 1998.

The following articles list major international biathlon events and medalists. Unlike the Olympics and World Championships (BWCH), the World Cup (BWC) is an entire winter season of (mostly) weekly races, where the medalists are those with the highest sums of World Cup points at the end of the season.

The rules of the biathlon are given in the International Biathlon Union Competition Rules and the Annexes to the Event and Competition Rules which are updated by the IBU yearly.

A biathlon competition consists of a race in which contestants ski a series of loops on a cross-country trail system and includes either two or four shooting rounds called bouts, half in the prone position, the other half in the standing position. Depending on the shooting performance, extra distance or time is added to the contestant's total skiing distance/time. Depending on the event the contestant with the shortest total time or first to cross the finish line wins.

For each shooting bout, the biathlete must hit the five targets or receive a penalty for each missed target, which varies according to the competition rules as follows:

Skiing around a 150 m (490 ft) or 75 m (246 ft) penalty loop.

Adding a 1 minute or 45 second penalty to the skier's total time.

Use of an extra cartridge (held on a spare round holder on an athlete's rifle) to hit the target; only three such "spare rounds" are available for each shooting stage (bout), and a penalty loop must be done for each target remaining. These rounds are only available in the relay race.

In order to keep track of the contestants' progress and relative standing throughout a race, split times (intermediate times) are taken at several points along the skiing track and upon finishing each shooting bout. The large display screens commonly set up at biathlon arenas, as well as the information graphics shown as part of the TV picture, will typically list the split time of the fastest contestant at each intermediate point and the times and time differences to the closest runners-up.