The following is about the qualification rules and the quota allocation for the biathlon at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Quota allocation A total quota of 210 athletes are allowed at the Games (105 both men and women). The first 93 quota allocations, per gender, will be assigned from the 2024/25 World Cup Nation Cup score. The final 12 spots, per gender, will be allocated using the IBU Qualifying Points List (as of 18 January 2026), to nations who have not qualified any athletes yet, with a maximum of two per nation.
From the 2024/25 world cup final standings, NOCs ranked 1-3 will qualify six athletes, 4-10 five athletes, and 11-20 four athletes, for both male and female competitions. The final twelve spots in each gender are filled individually from the IBU Qualifying points list to a maximum of two for a nation, from nations not already qualified. Two of these spots will be used by the host if not already qualified. The host may only start in the relay competitions that they have enough qualified athletes for. Reallocation of unused quotas will be from the IBU Qualifying points list for nations that have not yet qualified, or only have one qualifier. For each event a maximum of 4 athletes per NOC may compete, except the Mass Start in which it remains possible to qualify up to 6.
Minimum Requirements During the 2024/25 or 2025/26 Biathlon World Cup season the athlete must have two results at IBU Cup, Open European Championships, World Championships or World Cup in the Sprint or Individual and have at most an IBU Qualifying point total of 150 or less. Or, two placings in the top half at the Junior World Championships. They also can have a combination of both criteria (one of each). All relay members must meet this requirement as well.
Qualification summary The NOC rankings are complete, so quotas achieved by this method are assured. The final twelve quotas (per gender), achieved through IBU qualifying points, can continue to change up to the 18 January 2026 deadline. Nations Men's Quotas Women's Quotas Men's Provisional Women's Provisional Total 1 1 4 5 9 4 4 8 4 4 8 4 4 8 1 2 3 2 1 3 5 5 10 1 2 3 4 4 8 5 5 10 6 6 12 5 6 11 1 1 2 5 5 10 2 2 4 4 4 8 4 4 8 2 1 3 6 5 11 4 4 8 4 1 5 4 2 6 5 4 9 1 1 2 6 6 12 5 5 10 5 5 10 4 4 8Total: 29 NOCs 93 93 12 12 210
Qualification standings Qualifies 6 athletes Qualifies 5 athletes Qualifies 4 athletes Qualifies 2 athletes by IBU qualifying points Qualifies 1 athlete by IBU qualifying points
Standings after 26 of 26 events. +Men's standingsPositionCountryNations Cup Points 1 9002 2 8842 3 7862 4 7689 5 6776 6 6737 7 6493 8 6382 9 6320 10 6095 11 6085 12 5530 13 4666 14 4479 15 4360 16 4347 17 4283 18 4176 19 4099 20 3560 21 3406 22 2885 23 2485 24 723 25 689 26 667 27 313 28 300 29 300 30 264 31 197 32 65 33 60 34 13
Standings after 26 of 26 events. +Women's standingsPositionCountryNations Cup Points 1 9060 2 8146 3 8051 4 7967 5 7066 6 6758 7 6522 8 6124 9 6018 10 5782 11 5733 12 5045 13 5072 14 4850 15 4820 16 4784 17 4532 18 4420 19 4088 20 3501 21 2846 22 2663 23 2489 24 928 25 707 26 572 27 452 28 384 29 233 30 186 31 159 32 149 33 104
IBU Qualifying points As of 17 January 2026.
+Men's standingsPositionAthletePoints 1 Maksim Makarov 51.31 2 Sondre Slettemark 59.02 3 Jacques Jefferies 61.33 4 Pavel Magazeev 62.09 5 Vladislav Kireyev 63.26 6 Krešimir Crnković 64.10 7 Matija Legović 64.82 8 Asset Dyussenov 66.23 9 Yan Xingyuan 68.43 10 Tomáš Sklenárik 69.95 11 Šimon Adamov 70.32 12 Timofei Lapshin 74.13 13 Gu Cang 78.49 14 Mikito Tachizaki 79.04 15 Masaharu Yamamoto 93.04 16 Noah Bradford 111.26 17 Choi Du-jin 112.43 18 Phoenix Sparke 120.16 19 Rasmus Schiellerup 125.21 20 Enkhsaikhan Enkhbat 126.26
+Women's standingsPositionAthletePoints 1 Alina Stremous 37.70 2 Chu Yuanmeng 50.75 3 Anne de Besche 55.13 4 Anika Kožica 67.89 5 Ukaleq Slettemark 70.97 6 Anastasia Tolmacheva 73.31 7 Meng Fanqi 74.11 8 Ekaterina Avvakumova 84.83 9 Aisha Rakisheva 95.10 10 Olga Poltoranina 95.74 11 Shawna Pendry 95.81 12 Darcie Morton 99.22 13 Andreea Mezdrea 99.97 14 Darya Dolidovich 103.15 15 Gaia Brunello 110.99 16 Aliona Makarova 111.65 17 Konstantina Charalampidou 115.15 18 Iva Morić 122.23 19 Mariya Abe 132.06 20 Mikoto Takeuchi 136.56
References