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Glite Dictionary
🥇 Two-part contest 🎿 Skiing and shooting
biathlon

biathlon

1 6.1
A sport where people ski cross-country and stop to shoot rifles
  • noun
  • /baɪˈæθlən/
translation icon : biatlón
  • The Olympic biathlon event includes both skiing and rifle shooting.
  • Biathlon team
  • Biathlon: skiing
  • Olympic biathlon

Examples

  • In the biathlon, athletes ski cross-country before stopping to shoot at targets.

  • Uh, Eugenie tells me that you won gold in the biathlon.

    Town & Country (2001)

  • He won a gold medal in biathlon.

    Town & Country (2001)

  • Part I of this series (PSA Journal, August 2004) was concerned with the sport of Biathlon -- with a twist!

    Academic text (2004)

  • She trained for months to prepare for the biathlon competition this winter.

How Demanding

biathlon
1 6.1

Surface Forms

biathlon singular
biathlons plural

Morphology

biathlon = athlon (semi-transparent) = bi + athlon

The components 'bi-' and '-athlon' transparently signal 'two-event contest', but understanding requires familiarity with the combining form '-athlon'.

Etymology

Biathlon comes from the parts bi- meaning 'two' and -athlon meaning 'contest', like in triathlon. So the winter biathlon mixes two sports, usually cross-country skiing and rifle shooting, with athletes switching between them.