Winter Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024: How to watch biathlon at the 2024 YOG
Want all the details about biathlon at the next Winter Youth OIympic Games Gangwon 2024? You can find schedule and all the top facts you need to know here.
Biathlon
We’re just over a year away from the fourth Winter Youth Olympic Games and the first to be held in Asia: Gangwon 2024.
The South Korean province, which also hosted the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, welcomes the world’s best young athletes in January 2024.
Every winter Olympic sport, including biathlon, is on the programme.
Two elements in one discipline. From cross-country skiing to rifle shooting. Endurance, accuracy, speed band body control. One of the most demanding sports, there is no other like biathlon.
Discover all the essentials you need to know about biathlon at Gangwon 2024 as we begin the countdown towards the Opening Ceremony on 19 January 2024.
Biathlon at Gangwon 2024: Schedule and venue
Many venues used for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 are being re-used for Gangwon 2024, and it’s no different in biathlon.
The Alpensia Sports Park, which hosted biathlon during PyeonChang 2018 and saw the last Olympic race of Martin Fourcade winning his 5th Olympic gold, will be repurposed for Gangwon 2024 and will once more welcome the biathletes from all around the world.
While the Winter Youth Olympics Gangwon 2024 are set to take place from 19 January – 1 February 2024, specific dates have not yet been set for biathlon competition.
The venue will not only host biathlon. Cross-country skiing, ski jumping, nordic combined and the sliding sports of luge, bobsleigh and skeleton will also take place there.
Biathlon at Gangwon 2024: Events and format
The events will be the same as at Lausanne 2020. There will be sprint, individual and relay events in biathlon, making a total of 6 events that will be contested in biathlon at Gangwon 2024.
Men’s events:
- Men’s 7.5km Sprint
- Men’s 12.5km Individual
Women’s events:
- Women’s 6km Sprint
- Women’s 10km Individual
Mixed events:
- Mixed Relay 4x6km (W+M)
- Single Mixed Relay 6km (W) + 7.5km (M)
The individual competition is the most traditional format. Men ski 12.5km and women 10km. There are four rounds of shooting (alternating between prone and standing position). If they miss a target, one minute is added to the overall time.
In the sprint, men have to ski 7.5km and women 6km, with two rounds of shooting – the first one in the prone position and the second one standing. They have to do a 150-metre penalty loop if they miss one target.
In the mixed relay, we’ll see competing four athletes per nation in the following order: woman-woman-man-man skiing 6km each, with each athlete shooting twice and the classic 150m penalty loop in place.
Only two athletes per nation (one man and one woman) compete in the single mixed relay, skiing and shooting twice each. Women ski 6km and men 7.5km. Again, missed targets result in penalty loops.
Athletes competing in biathlon at Gangwon 2024 must be born between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2007, making athletes between 15 and 18 years old.
How to qualify for biathlon at Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games
200 athletes will compete in biathlon in 2024, the same number as in Lausanne, with 100 spots per gender (97 qualification places + 3 host country places per gender). NOCs cannot have more than four men and four women in their biathlon teams.
The qualification period runs officially from 1 January 2022 to 29 December 2023.
For more details you can check here.
Winter Youth Olympic Games biathlon – previous stars
Some of the medallists from the Winter Youth Olympics at Innsbruck 2012 stepped on the podium 10 years later at Beijing 2022.
French biathlete Fabien Claude, who won 2012 YOG bronze in the mixed relay, claimed silver in the men’s 4x7.5km relay.
Uliana Nigmatullina (ROC), who won 2012 YOG gold in the 7.5km sprint, took bronze in the 4x6km mixed relay and silver in the 4x6km relay in Beijing
Germany’s Franziska Preuss built on her success from Innbruck (three golds, one silver) by winning bronze at the last Winter Olympics in China.
Who will announce themselves as the next star of the future at Gangwon 2024?