The Pursuit competition was included by the IBU into the competition program of World Championships and World Cup event from 1996/97 season on. With 60 athletes at the start, the Pursuit competition will take about 30 minutes. Therefore, it integrates easily in the competition program and can be covered without problems by the TV. It is a very exciting competition in which the leaders on the sprint course will change quite often due to the frequent shooting bouts. The spectator remains always informed about the current standing of the competition which allows also the athlete starting last to win.
The start order is determined by the placings of the previous Sprint competition. The winner of the previous Sprint competition will be the first to start in the Pursuit, the second one following in an interval that is equal to the time he had lost in the Sprint competition compared to the Winner, and so on.
During World Championships the 45 best of the previous Sprint competition will be eligible to start, for World Cup event, it will be 60 best of the previous Sprint. Medals for World Championships and World Cup points will be awarded for the previous Sprint and for the Pursuit competition. The men will ski a distance of 12,5 km and the women a distance of 10 km. There will be shooting bouts for the men after 2,5 km leg and after each 2 km leg for the women shooting 5 rounds at five targets in the positions prone, prone, standing, standing. This order of shooting - different from other Biathlon competitions - makes the competition more exciting allowing athletes who are good marksmen in one of the shooting positions to take the lead far ahead or to score better places.
For each target missed, the competitors have to ski a penalty loop of 150 m that will cost some places. The spectators can easily follow this exciting competition as the sequence that the athletes take returning to the course after a penalty loop is the current standing in the competition. The IBU has submitted a motion to the IOC to include Pursuit competition into the program of the Olympic Winter Games from 2002 on.
