What is biathlon? Plus how to watch every event at the Winter Olympics 2026

Right now, most of us are likely looking ahead to a traditional triathlon season – finding training plans ready for the three-sport format and polishing our swim-bike-run skills. With the Winter Olympics underway this week in Milano though you might be wondering about the most wintery version – biathlon.

While triathlon might be the most famous of the “athlon” sports, there are many other formats you can compete in though – and not all of which include swimming, cycling, or running.

Put simply, biathlon is a winter-based event, in which athletes take part in two sports: cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. In the classic individual race format, women ski 15km in total and men 20km. Throughout the race, there are five rounds of shooting and each missed target adds a penalty.

At the Winter Olympics, athletes will ski on a track with the number of loops completed varying depending on the race distance.

The shooting elements are a mix of standing and prone positions to add to the difficulty and the targets have variable diameters (45 mm for shooting in the prone position, 115 mm for standing) with each being placed 50 m from the firing line. A missed target results in a penalty: an extra 150 m to ski (a penalty loop) or one minute added to the overall time (in individual races).

The winner is determined by the athlete who receives the best time overall including the added penalty points. There are several versions of the race, including sprint and relay variations, where missed shots result in penalty laps instead of added time.

How to watch

All biathlon events will take part at Antholz/Anterselva, an international biathlon centre in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and you can watch them on the BBC iPlayer and Discovery+ in the UK and NBC/Peacock in the United States. Find a full country-by-country guide on how to watch live here.

The competitions at Milano Cortina 2026 will consist of 11 events:

• Men’s 20km Individual
• Women’s 15km Individual
• Men’s 10km Sprint
• Women’s 7.5km Sprint
• Men’s 12.5km Pursuit
• Women’s 10km Pursuit
• Men’s 15km Mass Start
• Women’s 12.5km Mass Start
• Men’s 4 x 7.5km Relay
• Women’s 4 x 6km Relay
• Mixed Relay 4 x 6km (M+W).

The biathlon events run from 8-21st February 2026 and you can find the full schedule here.

Lead image: Lou Jeanmonnot (FRA) competes in the Biathlon World Championships Lenzerheide 2025. Image: Pierre Teyssot