Biathlon at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Biathlon
at the XXII Olympic Winter Games
VenueLaura Biathlon & Ski Complex, Krasnaya Polyana, Russia
Dates8–22 February 2014
Competitors220 Quota limit
Biathlon at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Individual   men   women
Sprint   men   women
Pursuit   men   women
Mass start   men   women
Relay   men mixed women

Biathlon at the 2014 Winter Olympics was held at the Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex near Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. The eleven events took place between 8–22 February 2014.[1]

For the first time ever, a mixed relay event was staged after being voted onto the Olympic program in 2011.[2]

Competition schedule

The following is the competition schedule for all eleven events.[3]

All times are (UTC+4).

Date Time Event
8 February 18:30 Men's 10 km sprint
9 February 18:30 Women's 7.5 km sprint
10 February 19:00 Men's 12.5 km pursuit
11 February 19:00 Women's 10 km pursuit
13 February 18:00 Men's 20 km individual
14 February 18:00 Women's 15 km individual
17 February 19:00 Women's 12.5 km mass start
18 February 14:30 Men's 15 km mass start
19 February 18:30 Mixed 4 x 6 km / 7.5 km relay
21 February 18:30 Women's 4 x 6 km relay
22 February 18:30 Men's 4 x 7.5 km relay

Medal summary

Notably absent from the medals for biathlon in the 2014 Games were the German women who had won six medals in 2006 and five in 2010. The men's team meanwhile recovered from a poor Games in Vancouver to achieve two silver medals. France's women, who had won three medals in 2010, also missed the podium, as did Canada, despite some promising performances. Sweden's men were also expected to win a medal but they too missed out.

13 athletes went home with two or more medals with five athletes winning three medals each. Belarus's Darya Domracheva won three gold medals to be the most successful biathlete at the Games, while France's Martin Fourcade was the most successful male winning two gold and one silver medal. 2012/13 women's World Cup winner Tora Berger won a medal of each color, while team-mate Tiril Eckhoff won one gold and two bronze at her first Games. Czech athlete Ondřej Moravec won two silver and one bronze.

The biathlon portion was marred by German biathlete Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle's positive doping test. Sachenbacher-Stehle had finished fourth in both the mass start and the mixed relay but was disqualified from both events after testing positive for the banned substance methylhexanamine.

Medal table

 Rank  Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  Norway (NOR) 3 1 2 6
2  Belarus (BLR) 3 0 1 4
3  France (FRA) 2 1 1 4
4  Russia (RUS) 1 2 1 4
5  Ukraine (UKR) 1 0 1 2
6  Slovakia (SVK) 1 0 0 1
7  Czech Republic (CZE) 0 3 2 5
8  Germany (GER) 0 2 0 2
9  Austria (AUT) 0 1 1 2
10  Switzerland (SUI) 0 1 0 1
11  Italy (ITA) 0 0 1 1
 Slovenia (SLO) 0 0 1 1
Total 11 11 11 33

Men's events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Individual
 Martin Fourcade
France (FRA)
49:31.7  Erik Lesser
Germany (GER)
49:43.9  Evgeniy Garanichev
Russia (RUS)
50:06.2
Sprint
 Ole Einar Bjørndalen
Norway (NOR)
24:33.5  Dominik Landertinger
Austria (AUT)
24:34.8  Jaroslav Soukup
Czech Republic (CZE)
24:39.2
Pursuit
 Martin Fourcade
France (FRA)
33:48.6  Ondřej Moravec
Czech Republic (CZE)
34:02.7  Jean-Guillaume Béatrix
France (FRA)
34:12.8
Mass start
 Emil Hegle Svendsen
Norway (NOR)
42:29.1  Martin Fourcade
France (FRA)
42:29.1  Ondřej Moravec
Czech Republic (CZE)
42:42.9
Relay
 Russia (RUS)
Alexey Volkov
Evgeny Ustyugov
Dmitry Malyshko
Anton Shipulin
1:12:15.9  Germany (GER)
Erik Lesser
Daniel Böhm
Arnd Peiffer
Simon Schempp
1:12:19.4  Austria (AUT)
Christoph Sumann
Daniel Mesotitsch
Simon Eder
Dominik Landertinger
1:12:45.7

Women's events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Individual
 Darya Domracheva
Belarus (BLR)
43:19.12  Selina Gasparin
Switzerland (SUI)
44:35.3  Nadezhda Skardino
Belarus (BLR)
44:57.8
Sprint
 Anastasiya Kuzmina
Slovakia (SVK)
21:06.8  Olga Vilukhina
Russia (RUS)
21:26.7  Vita Semerenko
Ukraine (UKR)
21:28.5
Pursuit
 Darya Domracheva
Belarus (BLR)
29:30.7  Tora Berger
Norway (NOR)
30:08.3  Teja Gregorin
Slovenia (SLO)
30:12.7
Mass start
 Darya Domracheva
Belarus (BLR)
35:25.6  Gabriela Soukalová
Czech Republic (CZE)
35:45.8  Tiril Eckhoff
Norway (NOR)
35:52.9
Relay
 Ukraine (UKR)
Vita Semerenko
Juliya Dzhyma
Valentyna Semerenko
Olena Pidhrushna
1:10:02.5  Russia (RUS)
Yana Romanova
Olga Zaitseva
Ekaterina Shumilova
Olga Vilukhina
1:10:28.9  Norway (NOR)
Fanny Welle-Strand Horn
Tiril Eckhoff
Ann Kristin Aafeldt Flatland
Tora Berger
1:10:40.1

Mixed events

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Relay
 Norway (NOR)
Tora Berger
Tiril Eckhoff
Ole Einar Bjørndalen
Emil Hegle Svendsen
1:09:17.0  Czech Republic (CZE)
Veronika Vítková
Gabriela Soukalová
Jaroslav Soukup
Ondřej Moravec
1:09:49.6  Italy (ITA)
Dorothea Wierer
Karin Oberhofer
Dominik Windisch
Lukas Hofer
1:10:15.2

Qualification

A total quota of 220 athletes were allowed to compete at the Games (113 men and 107 women). Countries were assigned quotas using a combination of the Nation Cup scores of their top 3 athletes in the individual sprint and relay competitions at the 2012 and 2013 World Championships.[4]

References