What Kind of Gun Do They Use in Biathlon? Behind the Rifle Olympians Shoot

MILANO, Metropolitan City of Milan — The Winter Olympics includes a race combining two disciplines: cross country skiing and rifle shooting. 

Biathlon is the sport where athletes use guns and skis to earn points. 

The event has roots going back to the first Winter Olympics in 1924 with an event called military patrol. The modern sport was introduced at the 1960 Olympics in what is now called Olympic Valley, California, according to the Olympics. 

Here’s everything you need to know about biathlon at Milano Cortina 2026.

Athletes use .22-caliber long rifles, which the National Rifle Association calls the “most versatile and widely used firearms in the world.” 

Rifles can be custom fit per Olympian, resulting in them varying in look and style. Even so, there are requirements all athletes must follow. 

These rifles must sit at minimum 8 lbs. and are worn on the athletes backs while they ski a multi-mile slope. The rifles can only shoot rim fire ammunition, according to NBC Olympics. 

The rifles also must not be automatic or semi-automatic, meaning they must manually loaded/unloaded by the athlete. Olympians do have some say in what rifle they use, but it must remain in one of the four following categories: 

• Common bolt system
• Pistol grip cocking
• Straight pull action
• Straight pull action with ball-bearing locking

The sport offers individual and team runs. Athletes dawn skis on their feet and a rifle on their back, then set off. Depending on the type of event – individual, sprint, relay, mixed or mass start – athletes can ski between 4.6 miles and 18.6 miles. 

Olympians ski a distance, then stops a certain amount of times depending on the type of event to shoot at targets. Targets are roughly 50 meters away in the shooting portion of the event. If athletes miss a target, they are penalized either with a time penalty or taking the 490-foot penalty loop before continuing again. 

There will be 11 biathlon events in Milano Cortina: 

• 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)

Norway, Germany and France over perform in this category, winning dozens of medals in it since the games began.