Biathlon at the 1968 Winter Olympics – Relay

The Men's 4 × 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 1968 Winter Olympics took place on 15 February, at Autrans. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing. This was the first time the biathlon relay was contested in the Olympic program.^[1][2]

Men's biathlon relay at the X Olympic Winter Games
Venue	Autrans
Dates	15 February 1968
Competitors	56 from 14 nations
Winning time	2:13:02.4
Medalists
Soviet Union Alexander Tikhonov Nikolay Puzanov Viktor Mamatov Vladimir Gundartsev  Norway Ola Wærhaug Olav Jordet Magnar Solberg Jon Istad  Sweden Lars-Göran Arwidson Tore Eriksson Olle Petrusson Holmfrid Olsson
1972 →

Results

Norway had won the first two official relay competitions at the Biathlon World Championships, but in Grenoble they were forced to ski five penalty loops while the Soviet Union skied only two, allowing the Soviets to pull away to win by almost two minutes. Sweden didn't go on the penalty loop at all, the only team to do so, and while their skiing couldn't match the top two, they did manage to finish in the bronze medal spot, just as they had in the two previous world championship relays.^[1]

Rank	Bib	Team	Penalties	Result	Deficit
	4	Soviet Union Alexander Tikhonov Nikolay Puzanov Viktor Mamatov Vladimir Gundartsev	2 1 1 0 0	2:13:02.4	–
	7	Norway Ola Wærhaug Olav Jordet Magnar Solberg Jon Istad	5 1 2 0 2	2:14:50.2	+1:47.8
	12	Sweden Lars-Göran Arwidson Tore Eriksson Olle Petrusson Holmfrid Olsson	0 0 0 0 0	2:17:26.3	+4:23.9
4	2	Poland Józef Różak Andrzej Fiedor Stanisław Łukaszczyk Stanisław Szczepaniak	4 2 1 1 0	2:20:19.6	+7:17.2
5	1	Finland Juhani Suutarinen Heikki Flöjt Kalevi Vähäkylä Arve Kinnari	5 3 1 0 1	2:20:41.8	+7:39.4
6	3	East Germany Heinz Kluge Hans-Gert Jahn Horst Koschka Dieter Speer	4 1 1 0 2	2:21:54.5	+8:52.1
7	8	Romania Gheorghe Cimpoia Constantin Carabela Nicolae Bărbăşescu Vilmoş Gheorghe	4 0 0 4 0	2:25:39.8	+12:37.4
8	13	United States Ralph Wakley Edward Williams Bill Spencer John Ehrensbeck	8 2 4 1 1	2:28:35.5	+15:33.1
9	6	West Germany Herbert Hindelang Theo Merkel Xaver Kraus Gerhard Gehring	6 2 0 2 2	2:29:56.6	+16:54.2
10	9	France Daniel Claudon Serge Legrand Aimé Gruet-Masson Jean-Claude Viry	10 2 3 3 2	2:31:12.9	+18:10.5
11	11	Austria Paul Ernst Adolf Scherwitzl Horst Schneider Franz Vetter	10 1 0 1 8	2:33:47.1	+20:44.7
12	10	Great Britain Marcus Halliday Alan Notley Peter Tancock Frederick Andrew	9 1 2 5 1	2:34:40.9	+21:38.5
13	14	Japan Isao Ono Miki Shibuya Shozo Okuyama Hajime Yoshimura	9 2 0 5 2	2:35:21.0	+22:18.6
–	5	Canada George Ede Knowles McGill George Rattai Esko Karu	DNF