Biathlon World Championships
The first Biathlon World Championships was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The original team event, Team, was held for the last time in 1965, to be replaced in 1966 by the team event, Relay. The number of events has grown significantly over the years. Beginning in 1984, women biathletes had their own World Championships, and finally, from 1989, both genders have been participating in joint Biathlon World Championships. In 1978 the development was enhanced by the change from the large army rifle calibre to a small bore rifle, while the range to the target was reduced from 150 to 50 meters.
Venues
The Biathlon World Championships of the season takes place during February or March. Some years it has been necessary to schedule parts of the Championships at other than the main venue because of weather and/or snow conditions. Full, joint Biathlon World Championships have never been held in Olympic Winter Games seasons. Biathlon World Championships in non-IOC events, however, have been held in Olympic seasons. In 2005, the then new event of Mixed Relay was arranged separately from the ordinary Championships.Past Championships:
- 1958 Saalfelden, Austria
- 1959 Courmayeur, Italy
- 1961 Umeå, Sweden
- 1962 Hämeenlinna, Finland
- 1963 Seefeld, Austria
- 1965 Elverum, Norway
- 1966 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany
- 1967 Altenberg, East Germany
- 1969 Zakopane, Poland
- 1970 Östersund, Sweden
- 1971 Hämeenlinna, Finland
- 1973 Lake Placid, New York, United States
- 1974 Minsk, USSR
- 1975 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy
- 1976 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy
- 1977 Vingrom, Norway
- 1978 Hochfilzen, Austria
- 1979 Ruhpolding, West Germany
- 1981 Lahti, Finland
- 1982 Minsk, USSR
- 1983 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy
- 1984 Chamonix, France
- 1985 Ruhpolding, West Germany and Egg am Etzel, Switzerland
- 1986 Oslo, Norway and Falun, Sweden
- 1987 Lake Placid, New York, United States and Lahti, Finland
- 1988 Chamonix, France
- 1989 Feistritz an der Drau, Austria
- 1990 Minsk, USSR; Oslo, Norway and Kontiolahti, Finland
- 1991 Lahti, Finland
- 1992 Novosibirsk, Russia
- 1993 Borovets, Bulgaria
- 1994 Canmore, Canada
- 1995 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy
- 1996 Ruhpolding, Germany
- 1997 Brezno-Osrblie, Slovakia
- 1998 Pokljuka, Slovenia and Hochfilzen, Austria
- 1999 Kontiolahti, Finland and Oslo, Norway
- 2000 Oslo, Norway and Lahti, Finland
- 2001 Pokljuka, Slovenia
- 2002 Oslo, Norway
- 2003 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
- 2004 Oberhof, Germany
- 2005 Hochfilzen, Austria and Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
- 2006 Pokljuka, Slovenia
- 2007 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy
- 2008 Östersund, Sweden
- 2009 Pyeongchang, South Korea
- 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
- 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
- 2012 Ruhpolding, Germany
- 2013 Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic
- 2015 Kontiolahti, Finland
- 2016 Oslo, Norway
- 2017 Hochfilzen, Austria
- 2019 Östersund, Sweden
- 2020 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy
- 2021 Pokljuka, Slovenia
- 2023 Oberhof, Germany
- 2024 Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic
- 2025 Lenzerheide, Switzerland
Numbers in brackets denotes number of victories in corresponding disciplines. Boldface denotes record number of victories.
Individual (20 km)
This event was first held in 1958.| Season | Winner | Runner-up | Third | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1958 |  Adolf Wiklund|SWESprint (10 km)This event was first held in 1974.
|
Juhani Suutarinen|FIN
Viktor Maigourov|RUS
Sven Fischer|GER
URS|1955SWE
Belarus|1995RUSITA
Venera Chernyshova|USSR
Magdalena Forsberg|SWE
Olena Zubrilova|UKR