Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's individual

Men's biathlon individual at the XX Olympic Winter Games
300px Men's biathlon 20 km individual final
Venue	Cesana San Sicario
Dates	February 11
Competitors	89 from 35 nations
Winning time	54:23.0
Medalists
Michael Greis  Germany Ole Einar Bjørndalen  Norway Halvard Hanevold  Norway

Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Individual		men		women
Sprint		men		women
Pursuit		men		women
Mass start		men		women
Relay		men		women

The Men's 20 kilometre individual biathlon competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 11 February, at Cesana San Sicario.

The individual race consisted of five laps around a four kilometre loop with four stops at the shooting range. During each shooting section, each biathlete fired five shots at five targets. Misses resulted in penalties of one minute per miss being added to the time for the course. The first and third shooting sections were conducted in the prone position, while the second and fourth were done standing. A total of 88 biathletes competed, starting with a staggered start and 30 seconds behind each competitor.

Michael Greis of Germany hit 19 of the 20 targets and used a net time of 54:23.0 (with one penalty minute) to clinch the gold medal, 16 seconds ahead of Norway's Ole Einar Bjørndalen. Norway also won the bronze medal, with Halvard Hanevold beating Sergei Tchepikov by 0.8 seconds despite two penalty minutes to the Russian's one.

The previous year's trial World Cup event at this track saw Michael Greis of Germany win the event in a time of 53:18.7. At the 2005 World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, the Czech Roman Dostál won, while Ole Einar Bjørndalen was the defending Olympic champion, as he was in all the other men's events (except the mass start, which is held for the first time at the Olympics). However, neither Bjørndalen (9th) nor Dostal (33rd) headed the men's individual World Cup standings—the German Michael Greis did.

The event started with early starters Ricco Groß (Germany, started as number 4) and Pavel Rostovtsev (Russia, 1) shooting well, missing one and two of their 20 shots respectively; Groß suffered his missed shot on the very last of the four shootings. However, their cross-country times were not good enough, as Rene Vuillermoz (Italy, 13) beat Groß by 14 seconds on the first loop. With only one miss in his first 15 shots, Vuillermoz could have taken the lead if he had hit all five targets on the final shooting. However, he missed three times and eventually finished 25th. Maxim Tchoudov (Russia, 14) led after two loops, 28 seconds ahead of Groß, but had spoiled his chance with three missed shots. By that time, many of the best skiers had started, with Greis (38) coming into the third shooting after one miss on the second. He hit five targets, and went out in the second best time, 12 seconds behind Marek Matiasko (Slovakia, 21), who was yet to miss a shot. Meanwhile, the defending champion Bjørndalen (54) had missed once on each of the first two shootings, and when all had passed the second loop he was 15th.

However, Bjørndalen completed the third loop quickly, and with five hits he cut Greis' lead from 39 to 23 seconds just before Greis was to shoot his fourth shooting. Greis did not miss, and with the leader Matiasko conceding one penalty minute, Greis took the lead nearly a minute ahead of second-placed Julien Robert (France, 35), who had not missed a single shot. Some other late starters visited the top ten after the first loops, such as Sven Fischer (Germany, 63) and Zdeněk Vítek (Czech Republic, 67) but vanished, and there were only four others who could beat Greis' skiing speed. Except for Bjørndalen, all of the previous had started before him, but missed too many shots to compete; however, Bjørndalen had caught 37 seconds on the first 12 km, and needed a further 23. Thus, Bjørndalen was the only threat, and though Bjørndalen hit all five targets on the final shooting, he struggled with loading the rifle before the final shot. He later said he lost "7-8 seconds" on the error. Thus, Bjørndalen did not beat the German in the fourth loop, and though he cut a further seven seconds off Greis' time in the final loop, it was only enough to take the silver. The late starting Halvard Hanevold (Norway, 74), shot down the last 10 targets to jump from 28th place after two loops to a fourth place after the fourth, with third-placed Robert eight seconds ahead with two penalty minutes less. Hanevold had no problems with catching Robert on the final lap, ending nearly half a minute ahead, but lost seconds to Sergei Tchepikov (Russia, 28), who improved all the way through the course. Eventually, his 6.3-second lead after the fourth loop turned into 0.8 seconds in goal; it was enough, though, and Hanevold could celebrate his second Olympic medal on the individual event. Jay Hakkinen become the first American to finish in the Top 10 ever in the Winter Olympic biathlon with his 10th-place finish.

Results

One Austrian athlete was disqualified after the IOC determined they had violated the Anti-Doping rules; Wolfgang Perner had originally placed 60th.

Rank	Name	Country	Ski Time	Penalties	Result	Deficit
	Michael Greis	Germany	53:23.0	1	54:23.0	—
	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Norway	52:39.0	2	54:39.0	+0:16.0
	Halvard Hanevold	Norway	53:31.9	2	55:31.9	+1:08.9
4	Sergei Tchepikov	Russia	54:32.7	1	55:32.7	+1:09.7
5	Marek Matiaško	Slovakia	54:48.6	1	55:48.6	+1:25.6
6	Julien Robert	France	55:59.4	0	55:59.4	+1:36.4
7	Christian De Lorenzi	23x15px Italy	55:04.0	1	56:04.0	+1:41.0
8	Ivan Tcherezov	Russia	54:05.7	2	56:05.7	+1:42.7
9	Wilfried Pallhuber	23x15px Italy	55:08.4	1	56:08.4	+1:45.4
10	Jay Hakkinen	United States	53:10.9	3	56:10.9	+1:47.9
11	Ricco Groß	Germany	55:14.3	1	56:14.3	+1:51.3
12	Paavo Puurunen	Finland	55:38.9	1	56:38.9	+2:15.9
13	Pavel Rostovtsev	Russia	54:47.2	2	56:47.2	+2:24.2
14	Kyoji Suga	Japan	55:57.7	1	56:57.7	+2:34.7
15	Frode Andresen	Norway	54:10.2	3	57:10.2	+2:47.2
16	Stian Eckhoff	Norway	54:11.8	3	57:11.8	+2:48.8
17	Sven Fischer	Germany	54:14.3	3	57:14.3	+2:51.3
18	Ruslan Lysenko	Ukraine	56:16.6	1	57:16.6	+2:53.6
19	Ilmārs Bricis	Latvia	53:19.2	4	57:19.2	+2:56.2
20	Raphaël Poirée	France	54:21.1	3	57:21.1	+2:58.1
21	Tomasz Sikora	Poland	54:22.1	3	57:22.1	+2:59.1
22	Zdeněk Vítek	Czech Republic	54:26.8	3	57:26.8	+3:03.8
23	Carl Johan Bergman	Sweden	54:30.9	3	57:30.9	+3:07.9
24	Sergey Novikov	Belarus	55:02.6	3	58:02.6	+3:39.6
25	Rene Laurent Vuillermoz	23x15px Italy	54:17.9	4	58:17.9	+3:54.9
26	Friedrich Pinter	Austria	57:25.7	1	58:25.7	+4:02.7
27	Lowell Bailey	United States	55:45.1	3	58:45.1	+4:22.1
28	Björn Ferry	Sweden	54:49.0	4	58:49.0	+4:26.0
29	Pavol Hurajt	Slovakia	55:49.6	3	58:49.6	+4:26.6
30	Roman Dostál	Czech Republic	54:53.5	4	58:53.5	+4:30.5
31	Simon Fourcade	France	56:01.7	3	59:01.7	+4:38.7
32	Maxim Tchoudov	Russia	54:12.0	5	59:12.0	+4:49.0
33	Tomáš Holubec	Czech Republic	57:13.1	2	59:13.1	+4:50.1
34	Vincent Defrasne	France	53:16.1	6	59:16.1	+4:53.1
35	David Ekholm	Sweden	57:18.2	2	59:18.2	+4:55.2
36	Robin Clegg	Canada	57:21.5	2	59:21.5	+4:58.5
37	Jānis Bērziņš	Latvia	57:24.3	2	59:24.3	+5:01.3
38	Miroslav Matiaško	Slovakia	56:43.8	3	59:43.8	+5:20.8
39	Andriy Deryzemlya	Ukraine	56:47.2	3	59:47.2	+5:24.2
40	Janez Marič	Slovenia	54:53.0	5	59:53.0	+5:30.0
41	Ludwig Gredler	Austria	56:55.1	3	59:55.1	+5:32.1
42	Michael Rösch	Germany	53:56.6	6	59:56.6	+5:33.6
43	Vladimir Drachev	Belarus	55:59.5	4	59:59.5	+5:36.5
44	Mattias Nilsson Jr.	Sweden	55:01.1	5	60:01.1	+5:38.1
45	Michal Šlesingr	Czech Republic	55:03.8	5	60:03.8	+5:40.8
46	Rustam Valiullin	Belarus	55:04.1	5	60:04.1	+5:41.1
47	Matjaž Poklukar	Slovenia	57:07.6	3	60:07.6	+5:44.6
48	Jean Philippe Leguellec	Canada	57:28.0	3	60:28.0	+6:05.0
49	Olexander Bilanenko	Ukraine	57:28.6	3	60:28.6	+6:05.6
50	Zhang Chengye	China	53:49.1	7	60:49.1	+6:26.1
51	Jeremy Teela	United States	56:03.3	5	61:03.3	+6:40.3
52	Matthias Simmen	Switzerland	56:04.9	5	61:04.9	+6:41.9
53	Wiesław Ziemianin	Poland	57:16.0	4	61:16.0	+6:53.0
54	Alexey Korobeynikov	Ukraine	57:17.8	4	61:17.8	+6:54.8
55	Paolo Longo	23x15px Italy	57:27.9	4	61:27.9	+7:04.9
56	Dušan Šimočko	Slovakia	57:37.8	4	61:37.8	+7:14.8
57	Tom Clemens	Great Britain	57:43.9	4	61:43.9	+7:20.9
58	Tim Burke	United States	54:55.0	7	61:55.0	+7:32.0
59	Daniel Mesotitsch	Austria	56:59.7	5	61:59.7	+7:36.7
60	Klemen Bauer	Slovenia	57:25.5	5	62:25.5	+8:02.5
61	Vitaliy Rudenchyk	Bulgaria	56:25.5	6	62:30.0	+8:07.0
62	Roland Lessing	Estonia	57:31.2	5	62:31.2	+8:08.2
63	Hidenori Isa	Japan	56:33.2	6	62:33.2	+8:10.2
64	David Leoni	Canada	56:37.8	6	62:37.8	+8:14.8
65	Marian Blaj	Romania	56:38.8	6	62:38.8	+8:15.8
66	Indrek Tobreluts	Estonia	57:43.6	5	62:43.6	+8:20.6
67	Tatsumi Kasahara	Japan	57:44.6	5	62:44.6	+8:21.6
68	Kristaps Lībietis	Latvia	57:13.4	4	62:13.4	+8:50.4
69	Janez Ožbolt	Slovenia	58:18.5	5	63:18.5	+8:55.5
70	Dimitri Borovik	Estonia	58:25.8	5	63:25.8	+9:02.8
71	Alexandre Syman	Belarus	56:31.4	7	63:31.4	+9:08.4
72	Grzegorz Bodziana	Poland	58:39.6	5	63:39.6	+9:16.6
73	Alexsandr Chervyhkov	Kazakhstan	57:56.4	6	63:56.4	+9:33.4
74	Priit Viks	Estonia	59:08.1	5	64:08.1	+9:45.1
75	Krzysztof Pływaczyk	Poland	60:12.9	4	64:12.9	+9:49.9
76	Simon Hallenbarter	Switzerland	56:37.0	8	64:37.0	+10:14.0
77	Imre Tagscherer	Hungary	58:11.1	7	65:11.1	+10:48.1
78	Shinya Saito	Japan	57:29.4	8	65:29.4	+11:06.4
79	Edgars Piksons	Latvia	59:12.5	7	66:12.5	+11:49.5
80	Luis Alberto Hernando	Spain	59:54.4	7	66:54.4	+12:31.4
81	Park Yoon-Bae	23x15px South Korea	60:03.4	7	67:03.4	+12:40.4
82	Cameron Morton	Australia	60:03.7	7	67:03.7	+12:40.7
83	Miro Ćosić	Bosnia and Herzegovina	61:32.7	7	68:32.7	+14:09.7
84	Sebastian Beltrame	Argentina	60:24.3	9	69:24.3	+15:01.3
85	Aleksandar Milenković	Serbia and Montenegro	61:36.3	9	70:36.3	+16:13.3
86	Marco Zúñiga	Chile	66:02.5	5	71:02.5	+16:39.5
87	Stavros Christoforidis	Greece	62:13.3	11	73:13.3	+18:50.3
-	Mihail Gribusencov	Moldova	Did not start
-	Wolfgang Perner	Austria	Disqualified