Biathlon at the 1972 Winter Olympics – Relay

Men's biathlon relay

at the XI Olympic Winter Games

Venue| Makomanai Biathlon Site
Dates| 11 February
Competitors| 52 from 13 nations
Winning time| 1:51:44.92
Medalists
| |  |  Soviet Union
Aleksandr Tikhonov
Rinnat Safin
Ivan Biakov
Viktor Mamatov

|
|

|  |  Finland
Esko Saira
Juhani Suutarinen
Heikki Ikola
Mauri Röppänen
|  |  East Germany
Hansjörg Knauthe
Joachim Meischner
Dieter Speer
Horst Koschka

<- 1968

1976 ->

Biathlon at the
1972 Winter Olympics

Individual| men
Relay| men

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The Men's 4 x 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 1972 Winter Olympics took place on 11 February, at Makomanai Biathlon Site. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing.[1][2]

At each shooting station, a competitor has eight shots to hit five targets; however, only five bullets are loaded in a magazine at one - if additional shots are required, the spare bullets must be loaded one at a time. If after the eight shots are taken, there are still targets not yet hit, the competitor must ski a 150-metre penalty loop.[3]

## Results

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The last three Biathlon World Championships saw the Soviet Union take the relay title ahead of the Norwegians; at the first exchange in Sapporo, however, both were in surprising positions. Alexander Tikhonov had to take two penalty loops, and ended up more than a minute behind the surprise leaders from Japan, as Isao Ono stormed to a big lead. The British were also well placed, in third, with the East Germans splitting the two surprise contenders. In the second leg, the surprise teams fell off, the Japanese taking five penalty loops and the British four. It was the Soviets who asserted their authority, Rinnat Safin putting together the only sub 27-minute leg of the race to stake them to a one-minute lead. The Americans were now surprisingly in bronze medal position, while Norway's Kåre Hovda took three penalties to leave them more than two minutes behind.[1]

Ivan Biakov needed a penalty loop on the third leg, but still managed to extend the lead over Dieter Speer of East Germany, with Sweden coming up into third place through some good shooting by Torsten Wadman. Viktor Mamatov had a quick final leg to ease the Soviets home to victory, while the other medal placing changed after some shooting struggles. Holmfrid Olsson of Sweden and Horst Koschka of East Germany each missed twice, dropping the Swedes out of the medals and the East Germans to bronze, behind a Finnish team that had a great final leg from Mauri Röppänen. As for Norway, all four of their shooters needed at least one penalty leg, but they still managed to finish fourth, though there was a substantial gap between them and the top three.[1]

Rank  | Bib | Team | Penalties (P+S) | Result  | Deficit

|
|
|
|
|

| 1 |  Soviet Union
Aleksandr Tikhonov
Rinnat Safin
Ivan Biakov
Viktor Mamatov | 1+6 2+3
0+1 2+3
0+1 0+0
1+3 0+0
0+1 0+0 | 1:51:44.92
28:54.48
26:48.52
28:15.90
27:46.02 | –
| 9 |  Finland
Esko Saira
Juhani Suutarinen
Heikki Ikola
Mauri Röppänen | 1+5 2+9
0+0 1+3
1+3 1+3
0+1 0+3
0+1 0+0 | 1:54:37.25
28:52.04
29:37.33
28:45.79
27:22.09 | +2:52.33
| 12 |  East Germany
Hansjörg Knauthe
Joachim Meischner
Dieter Speer
Horst Koschka | 0+4 4+8
0+1 0+0
0+1 0+2
0+2 2+3
0+0 2+3 | 1:54:57.67
28:11.72
28:35.86
28:50.72
29:19.37 | +3:12.75
4 | 13 |  Norway
Tor Svendsberget
Kåre Hovda
Ivar Nordkild
Magnar Solberg | 0+9 7+12
0+3 1+3
0+1 3+3
0+2 2+3
0+3 1+3 | 1:56:24.41
28:23.86
29:43.80
29:41.97
28:34.78 | +4:39.49
5 | 4 |  Sweden
Lars-Göran Arwidson
Olle Petrusson
Torsten Wadman
Holmfrid Olsson | 4+10 2+8
1+3 0+3
3+3 0+1
0+1 0+1
0+3 2+3 | 1:56:57.40
28:23.09
29:32.78
27:52.03
31:09.50 | +5:12.48
6 | 10 |  United States
Peter Karns
Terry Morse
Dennis Donahue
Jay Bowerman | 0+7 1+7
0+1 0+2
0+3 0+1
0+2 0+1
0+1 1+3 | 1:57:24.32
28:50.37
28:43.56
29:01.97
30:48.42 | +5:39.40
7 | 5 |  Poland
Józef Różak
Józef Stopka
Andrzej Rapacz
Aleksander Klima | 1+7 3+11
0+1 2+3
0+0 1+3
0+3 0+3
1+3 0+2 | 1:58:09.92
29:36.15
29:21.63
29:05.75
30:06.39 | +6:24.10
8 | 11 |  Japan
Isao Ono
Shozo Sasaki
Miki Shibuya
Kazuo Sasakubo | 2+9 3+9
0+3 0+2
2+3 3+3
0+1 0+1
0+2 0+3 | 1:59:09.48
27:35.73
33:46.08
27:59.80
29:47.87 | +7:24.56
9 | 2 |  Romania
Nicolae Veştea
Victor Fontana
Ion Ţeposu
Vilmoş Gheorghe | 1+6 4+11
0+0 0+3
1+3 3+3
0+3 0+2
0+0 1+3 | 1:59:30.61
28:47.96
32:19.63
28:47.13
29:35.89 | +7:45.69
10 | 6 |  Italy
Willy Bertin
Giovanni Astegiano
Corrado Varesco
Lino Jordan | 2+11 4+9
2+3 0+1
0+3 0+2
0+3 1+3
0+2 3+3 | 1:59:47.62
29:06.56
28:43.42
30:58.59
30:59.05 | +8:02.70
11 | 7 |  Great Britain
Malcolm Hirst
Keith Oliver
Jeffrey Stevens
Alan Notley | 2+7 3+9
0+2 0+0
2+3 1+3
0+1 2+3
0+1 0+3 | 2:01:38.84
28:19.40
31:58.85
30:53.97
30:26.62 | +9:53.92
12 | 3 |  Czechoslovakia
Ladislav Žižka
Pavel Ploc
Ján Húska
Arnošt Hájek | 3+12 0+8
0+3 0+2
1+3 0+2
0+3 0+1
2+3 0+3 | 2:03:08.17
28:59.51
30:38.69
31:29.79
32:00.18 | +11:23.25
13 | 8 |  France
René Arpin
Noël Turrell
Daniel Claudon
Aimé Gruet-Masson | 3+10 1+9
0+2 1+3
0+2 0+1
2+3 0+2
1+3 0+3 | 2:03:08.90
30:04.71
29:34.23
32:05.94
31:24.02 | +11:23.98

## References

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1. ^ a b c "The XI Olympic Winter Games Sapporo 1972" (PDF). Organizing Committee for the XIth Olympic Winter Games. LA84 Foundation. 1972. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
2. ^ "Biathlon at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games: Men's 4 x 7.5 kilometres Relay". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
3. ^ Wallechinsky, David (1972). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics. New York: The Overlook Press. p. 320\. ISBN 1-58567-185-1.

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Olympic champions in men's biathlon – 4 × 7.5 km relay

* 1968:  Alexander Tikhonov, Nikolay Puzanov, Viktor Mamatov, Vladimir Gundartsev (URS)
* 1972:  Alexander Tikhonov, Rinnat Safin, Ivan Biakov, Viktor Mamatov (URS)
* 1976:  Aleksandr Elizarov, Ivan Biakov, Alexander Tikhonov, Nikolay Kruglov (URS)
* 1980:  Vladimir Alikin, Alexander Tikhonov, Vladimir Barnashov, Anatoly Alyabyev (URS)
* 1984:  Dmitry Vasilyev, Juri Kashkarov, Algimantas Šalna, Sergei Bulygin (URS)
* 1988:  Dmitry Vasilyev, Sergei Tchepikov, Alexandr Popov, Valeriy Medvedtsev (URS)
* 1992:  Ricco Groß, Jens Steinigen, Mark Kirchner, Fritz Fischer (GER)
* 1994:  Ricco Groß, Frank Luck, Mark Kirchner, Sven Fischer (GER)
* 1998:  Ricco Groß, Peter Sendel, Sven Fischer, Frank Luck (GER)
* 2002:  Halvard Hanevold, Frode Andresen, Egil Gjelland, Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR)
* 2006:  Ricco Groß, Michael Rösch, Sven Fischer, Michael Greis (GER)
* 2010:  Halvard Hanevold, Tarjei Bø, Emil Hegle Svendsen, Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR)
* 2014: vacant
* 2018:  Peppe Femling, Jesper Nelin, Sebastian Samuelsson, Fredrik Lindström (SWE)
* 2022:  Sturla Holm Lægreid, Tarjei Bø, Johannes Thingnes Bø, Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen (NOR)

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