The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

The sport is rooted in the skiing traditions of Scandinavia, where early inhabitants revered the Norse god Ull as both the ski god and the hunting god. Ull’s goddess wife Skadi was also celebrated as a hunter-skier.

The combined skills of skiing and rifle marksmanship were first developed by the region’s militaries. Documents describe Norwegian and Swedish ski units fighting in the Second Northern War (1700–21), and, in 1767, the first recorded biathlon competition took place along the Norway-Sweden border between patrol companies.

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