The Biathlon World Cup: history and records

The Biathlon World Cup runs each winter from November or December to late March, with meetings at a different venue most weeks. [1] Its overall winner receives the Big Crystal Globe, and each discipline has its own Small Crystal Globe. [2]

A season comprises nine to ten meetings, with events taking place from Wednesday–Thursday through Sunday. [1] Relay competitions are held four to six times per season. [1] There are breaks around some holidays and for a couple of weeks before the season's major championships. [1]

World Championships and Winter Olympics events were formerly counted as World Cup events. [1] The last Olympics to count towards the World Cup were those of 2010, and from the 2014 Games competitors no longer receive World Cup points for Olympic performances. [1] The last World Championships to count were held in Pokljuka, Slovenia, in 2021. [1] A Norwegian source likewise states that World Championship events no longer count from the 2022/23 season. [3]

The athlete with the highest total score across all disciplines wins the Big Crystal Globe. [2] A Small Crystal Globe goes to the leader of the season total in each discipline. [2] An athlete can therefore win both the Big Crystal Globe and Small Crystal Globes in the same season. [2]

From the 2022/23 season, every World Cup race counts towards the final overall standings. [4] Previously, each athlete's two worst results were discarded after the season's last race, while the single-discipline cups had no discarded results. [5] Until 2009/10, the three worst results were dropped in the overall cup, and the worst result was dropped in disciplines with more than three races. [5]

No results were discarded in the 2010/11 season. [5] Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of results to be discarded was temporarily raised to four for 2020/21. [5]

Separate Nations Cups for women and men count each nation's three best athletes in the normal-distance, sprint and short normal-distance races, together with its relay and mixed relay results. [6] In individual races the scale runs from 160 points for a win down to 1 point, with up to 140 athletes scoring. [6] Relays award 420 points for first place down to 20 for 30th, and mixed relays count for half, shared equally between the women's and men's cups. [6]

One record list names all male and female biathletes with eight or more individual World Cup, World Championship or Olympic wins. [7] In that list, biathletes who are still active are highlighted in light blue. [7] Another list ranks the 15 most-started biathletes in individual World Cup or Olympic races. [8] Active athletes are highlighted in light blue in that list as well. [8]