Baton Twirling

Baton Twirling has been a popular activity and sport for many years, and is regarded as a completely different activity to majoretting by baton twirlers, who regard twirling to be a sport.

American twirling organizations include United States Twirling Association (USTA), National Baton Twirling Association (NBTA), Twirling Unlimited (TU), Drum Majorettes of America (DMA), World Twirling Assosiation, the UKFM, United Kingdom Federation Of Majorettes] and more. Two of these organizations hold World Championships. USTA is a member of the WBTF, and NBTA holds its own world championships. The two most prominent organizations are USTA and WBTF.

The sport is popular in many countries including Japan, Australia, Canada, United States, Brazil, South Africa, Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and the Seychelles. Many of these countries compete at the WBTF World Championships, held in August every year. Many also compete in the NBTA World Championships, held every 3 years in April.

Competitive Baton Twirling

Drum Majorettes of America is a smaller organization, but very similar to the other organizations. It offers the same events (Solo, Strut, Two Baton, etc.) Along with other competitions, nationals is held annually in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. DMA does not offer a world championship.

The National Baton Twirling association is one organization in competitive baton twirling. Throughout the year there are many local, state, and regionals competitions leading up to Nationals (AYOP: America's Youth on Parade) in South Bend, Indiana at The University of Notre Dame every year and a worlds competition every three years in new locations each time. Events include: For Individuals at nationals- Solo, 2-baton, 3-baton, X-Strut, Rhythmic Twirl, Show Twirl, Modeling, and a three part pageant, Miss Majorette including solo, X-strut, and modeling. For Worlds: Solo, Two Baton, Rhythmic Twirl (freestyle), Strut, Duet, and Team.

The World Baton Twirling Federation also hold local, state, regional, and National competitions in the Baton Twirling world every year. Members from over 22 countries come and compete in the World Baton Twirling Championships and the WBTF International Cup, which are known as the most pretigious events in the baton twirling world. The 27th WBTF World Baton Twirling Championships were recently held in Rome, Italy, along with the 2nd WBTF International Cup.

Individual Twirling routines include: Solo, Fancy Best Appearing, Military Best Appearing, Fancy Strut, Military Strut, Basic Box Military Box, Dress modeling, Show routines, Multiple baton solo (two, three) and more.

The World Championships have the following events:

Freestyle Senior Women & Men, Junior Women and Men A solo event accompanied by a compulsory/short programme event Pair Senior & Junior Made up of men and/or women Team 6+ members Men and women can compete together

The International Cup Championships have the following events:

Event Description Levels Age Divisions

Solo 1 one baton solo routine to set music A and B Junior, Senior and Adult
Solo 2 second baton solo routine to set music A and B Junior, Senior and Adult
Solo 3 third baton solo routine to set music A and B Junior, Senior and Adult
Team 6-8 Members A and B
Group 9+ Members A and B

Since 2005, the two competitions have been run concurrently over a week. In 2009, the competitions will begin running separately, with the International Cup falling on uneven years and the World Championships on even years. New events such as Freestyle and Pairs across different age levels and divisions will then be added to the International Cup, in a manner similar to the current Solo events.

The following cities have previously hosted the competitions:

1980 Seattle USA 1st World Championships

1981 Nice France
1982 Tokyo Japan
1983 Milan Italy
1984 Calgary Canada
1985 Frankfurt Germany
1986 Turin Italy
1987 Paris France
1988 Nagoya Japan
1989 Lausanne Switzerland
1990 Texas USA
1991 Padova Italy
1992 Paris France
1993 Den Bosch Netherlands
1994 Toronto Canada 1980 Seattle USA 1st World Championships
1981 Nice France
1982 Tokyo Japan
1983 Milan Italy
1984 Calgary Canada
1985 Frankfurt Germany
1986 Turin Italy
1987 Paris France
1988 Nagoya Japan
1989 Lausanne Switzerland
1990 Texas USA
1991 Padova Italy
1992 Paris France
1993 Den Bosch Netherlands
1994 Toronto Canada
1995 Geneva Switzerland
1996 Genova Italy
1997 Hawaii USA
1998 Lyon France
1999 Daytona Beach USA
2000 Den Bosch Netherlands
2001 Villebon sur Yvette France
2002 Saskatoon Canada
2003 Badalona Spain
2004 Osaka Japan
2005 Minnesota/St. Paul USA 1st International Cup begins running concurrently
2006 Rome Italy
2007 Hamilton, Ontario Canada
2008 Limerick Ireland last year both competitions will run concurrently
2009 Sydney Australia 1st lone standing International Cup

Famous Baton Twirlers

Current World Champions (World Baton Twirling Federation)

Senior Women: Chiho Honjo
Senior Men: Toshimichi Sasaki
Junior Men: Keisuke Komada
Junior Women: Tomoe Nisigaki
Team: France
Senior Pair: Japan
Junior Pair: Japan

Current NBTA World Champions

Senior Women

Solo- Karrissa Wimberley
Strut- Bobbie-jo Solomon
Freestyle- Danielle VanScoyk
Two Baton- Karrissa Wimberley

Junior Women

Solo- Danielle Cobb
Strut- Danielle Cobb
Freestyle- Danielle Cobb
Two Baton- Chelsea Russell

Pre-Teen

Solo- Kristin Scali (USA) Strut- Melissa Cox (USA) Freestyle- Kristen Scali (USA) Two Baton-Kristin Scail (USA)

Juvenille

Solo- Savannah Miller (USA)
Strut-Alexa Wisener (USA)
Freestyle- Rebecca Lantz (USA)
Two Baton- Savannah Miller (USA)

Junior Boys

Solo- Matt Freeman (USA)
Freestyle- Tihomir Bendelja (HR)
Two Baton- Kevin Vaitilingom (FRA)

Senior Men

Solo- Gerben Helden van (NED)
Freestyle- Cyril Martin (FRA)
Two Baton- Donovan Sarr (USA)

Famous Champions/Podium Finishers

Annetta Lucero (USA), Stacey Singer (CAN) (Seven Time World Champion: 1985, 1988-1993), Seishi Inagaki (JPN), Mark Nash (USA), Leah Holliday (CAN), Chiharu Tachibana (JPN), Karrissa Wimberley (USA), Jason Lee (USA), Bridgette Bartley (USA), Melissa Marcus (USA)Jennifer Marcus (USA), Hollie Neilson (CAN), Echosaisis Clark (USA), Noriko Takahashi (JPN), Chiara Stefanazzi (ITA),Marci Papadopoulos (USA), Bertrand Royer (FRA),Alysha Depp (USA), Akemi Kimura (JPN), Kellie Donovan (USA), Jenny Hannah (USA), Shuichi Kawazu (JPN), Danielle Cobb (USA), Michelle Smith (CAN), Jenna Jemieff (CAN), Danielle VanScoyk (USA), Bobbie-jo Solomon (USA), Sean Wimberley (USA)Dale White (USA), Cathy Fujimi (USA)

Other Notables: Cindy Goldie (CAN), Elisa Johnson (USA), David Doyne (IRE), Kathy Hewitt (ENG), Jennifer Spooner (AUS), Ilona Van Hogeloon (HOL), Casey Berry (CAN), Angel Escuin (SPN), Chelsea Bissonette (CAN), Xavier Papin (FRA), Brenda Bennett (CAN), Stephanie Hart (CAN)

Biathlon

Biathlon (not to be confused with duathlon) is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. Biathlon, however, usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Another popular variant is summer biathlon, which combines cross-country running with riflery.

Unsurprisingly, biathlon events are broadcast most regularly where the sport enjoys its greatest popularity, namely Germany (ARD, ZDF), Austria (ORF), Norway (NRK), Finland (YLE), Estonia (ETV), Poland (TVP), Sweden (SVT), Russia (Sport), Belarus (TVR), Slovenia (RTV), and Bulgaria (BNT); it is also broadcast on European-wide Eurosport. Some events are broadcast on U.S. cable channel OLN.

The broadcast distribution being one indicator, the constellation of a sport's main sponsors usually gives a similar, and correlated, indication of popularity: for biathlon, these are the Germany-based companies E.ON Ruhrgas (energy), Krombacher (beer), and Viessmann (boilers and other heating systems).

Governing Body

In 1948, the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon (UIPMB) was founded, to standardise the rules for biathlon and modern pentathlon. In 1993, the biathlon branch of the UIPMB created the International Biathlon Union (IBU), which officially separated from the UIPMB in 1998.

Presidents of the UIPMB/IBU:

1948-1949: Tom Wiborn (Sweden) 1949-1960: Gustaf Dyrssen (Sweden) 1960-1988: Sven Thofelt, (Sweden) 1988-1992: Igor Dmitriyevich Novikov (USSR/Russia) From 1992: Anders Besseberg (Norway)

Championships

The following articles list major international biathlon events and medalists. Contrary to the Olympics and World Championships (BWCH), the World Cup (BWC) is an entire winter season of (mostly) weekly races, where the medalists are those with the highest sums of World Cup points at the end of the season.

Biathlon Olympic Games Biathlon World Championships Biathlon World Cup

Rules and equipment

Andrea Nahrgang prepares to shoot from the prone position at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Jeremy Teela shoots from the standing position at the 2006 Winter Olympics.The complete rules of biathlon is given in the official IBU rule book (see External links, below). However, the concise description given below, along with the section on competition format, should be enough for a spectator to understand what is going on at a biathlon stadium whether actually being there or at home watching a televised biathlon event.

Basic concepts

In short, a biathlon competition consists of a race in which contestants ski around a cross-country track, and where the total distance is broken up by either two or four shooting rounds, half in prone position, the other half standing. Depending on the shooting performance, extra distance or time is added to the contestant's total running distance/time. As in most races, the contestant with the shortest total time wins.

For each shooting round, the biathlete must hit five targets; each missed target must be "atoned for" in one of three ways, depending on the competition format:

by making a skiing round in a 150 m penalty loop, typically taking 20-30 seconds for top-level biathletes to complete (running time depending on weather/snow conditions), by having one minute added to one's total skiing time, or by having to use an "extra cartridge" (placed at the shooting range) to finish off the target; only three such "extras" are available for each round, and a penalty loop must be made for each of the targets in order to keep track of the contestants' progress and relative standing throughout a race, split times (intermediate times) are taken at several points along the skiing track and upon finishing each shooting round. The large display screens commonly set up at biathlon arenas, as well as the information graphics shown as part of the TV picture, will typically list the split time of the fastest contestant at each intermediate point and the times and time differences to the closest runners-up.

Skiing details

All cross-country skiing techniques are permitted in biathlon, which means that the free technique is usually the preferred one, being the fastest. No other equipment than skis and ski poles may be used for moving along the track. Minimal ski length is 4 cm less than the height of the skier.

Shooting details

The biathlete carries the 3.7 kg small bore rifle including ammunition in magazines on her/his back during the race. The rifles use .22 LR ammunition and are bolt action.

The target range shooting distance is 50 m or 164 feet. There are five circular targets to be hit in each shooting round. When shooting in the prone position the target diameter is 45 mm or 1.7 inches, when shooting in the standing position the target diameter is 115 mm or 4.5 inches. On all modern biathlon ranges, the targets are self-indicating, in that they flip from black to white when hit, giving the biathlete as well as the spectators instant visual feedback for each shot fired.

Competition format

Individual

The 20 km Individual race (15 km for women) is the oldest biathlon event. The biathlete shoots four times at any shooting lane[1], in the order of prone, standing, prone, standing, totalling 20 targets. For each missed target a fixed penalty time, usually one minute, is added to the skiing time of the biathlete. Competitors' starts are staggered, normally by 30 seconds.

Sprint

The sprint is 10 km for men and 7.5 km for women. The biathlete shoots twice at any shooting lane, once prone and once standing, for a total of 10 shots. For each miss, a penalty loop of 150 m must be skied before the race can be continued. As in the Individual competition, the biathletes start in intervals.

Pursuit

In a Pursuit, biathletes' starts are separated by their time differences from a previous race,[2] most commonly a Sprint. The contestant crossing the finish line first is the winner. The distance is 12.5 km for men and 10 km for women, there are four shooting bouts (two prone, two standing, in that order), and each miss means a penalty loop of 150 m. To prevent awkward and/or dangerous crowding of the skiing loops, and overcapacity at the shooting range, World Cup Pursuits are held with only the 60 top ranking biathletes after the preceding race. The biathletes shoot at the lane corresponding to the position they arrived (Arrive at the range in 5th place, you shoot in lane five.) for all shooting bouts

Mass start

In the Mass start, all biathletes start at the same time and the first across the finish line wins. In this 15 km (12.5 km for women) competition, there are four bouts of shooting (two prone, two standing, in that order) with the first shooting bout being at the lane corresponding to your bib (Bib #10 shoots at lane #10 regardless of position in race.) with rest of the shooting bouts being at the lane in the position they arrived (Arrive at the lane in 5th place, you shoot at lane five.). As in Sprint races, competitors must ski one 150 m penalty loop for each miss. Here again, to avoid unwanted congestion, World Cup Mass starts are held with only the 30 top ranking athletes on the start line (half that of the Pursuit since here all contestants start simultaneously).

Relay

The Relay teams consist of four biathletes, who each ski 7.5 km (men) or 6 km (women), with two shooting rounds; one prone, one standing. For every round of five targets there are eight bullets available, though the last three can only be single-loaded manually one at a time from spare round holders or bullets deposited by the competitor into trays or onto the mat at the firing line. If after eight bullets there are still misses, one 150 m penalty loop must be taken for each missed target remaining. The first-leg participants start all at the same time, and as in cross-country skiing relays, every athlete of a team must touch the team's next-leg participant to perform a valid changeover. On the first shooting stage of the first leg, the participant must shoot in the lane corresponding to their bib number (Bib #10 shoots at lane #10 regardless of position in race.), then for the remainder of the relay, the relay team shoots at the lane in the position they arrived (Arrive at the range in 5th place, you shoot at lane five.)

Mixed relay

The most recent addition to the number of biathlon competition variants, the Mixed relay, is similar to the ordinary Relay but for the composition of the teams, each of which consists of two women and two men. Legs 1 and 2 are done by the women, legs 3 and 4 by the men. The legs are 6 km, as in the ordinary women's Relay competition.

Team (obsolete)

A team consists of four biathletes, but unlike the case of the Relay competition, all team members start at the same time. Two athletes must shoot in the prone shooting round, the other two in the standing round. In case of a miss, the two non-shooting biathletes must ski a penalty loop of 150 m. The skiers must enter the shooting area together, and must also finish within 15 seconds of each other, otherwise a time penalty of 1 minute is added to the total time. Since 2004, this race format has been obsolete at the World Cup level.

Biathlon venues

World Cup events and World Championships in biathlon have traditionally been held at the following relatively few locations. (Due to the complicated shooting range equipment, which absolutely has to work in order to hold successful races, biathlon is a highly demanding sport for organisers.)

Country Major biathlon venues

Austria Hochfilzen Saalfelden Canada Canmore Valcartier Finland Kontiolahti Kuusamo Lahti Germany Oberhof Ruhpolding Veltins-Arena* Italy Antholz-Anterselva Cesana-San Sicario Norway Beitostlen Holmenkollen Lillehammer Russia Khanty-Mansiysk Novosibirsk Slovakia Brezno-Osrblie Slovenia Pokljuka Sweden stersund Bulgaria Bansko Borovets United States Fort Kent, ME Presque Isle, ME Lake Placid, NY Soldier Hollow, UT

*The Veltins-Arena, located in Gelsenkirchen and renamed from Arena AufSchalke in July 2005, is the stadium of German football club FC Schalke 04. Since 2002 the stadium has hosted a special end-of-year mixed team event, now called the "Veltins Biathlon World Team Challenge".

Other Biathlon variants

Two common variations on biathlon are summer biathlon, where skiing is replaced by a cross-country run, and archery biathlon (or ski archery), where the rifle is replaced by a recurve bow.

There have also been summer competitions in roller-ski biathlon, mountain bike biathlon and orienteering biathlon. Primitive Biathlon uses snowshoes and muzzleloaders.

The Boy Scouts of America offers a Bikeathlon variant at their National Scout Jamboree that mixes BMX biking with air rifle shooting at biathlon type targets[1], and Philmont Scout Ranch has recently begun offering a similar activity.

Cadets Canada also offers biathlon to cadets across Canada, with 3 stages; zones, provincial and national. Cadets generally use Air Rifles at zones (which also often are held as summer biathlon, with running as opposed to skiing) and .22 caliber rifles at provincials and nationals. Races are shorter then world class events. More information can be found at the National Cadet Biathlon Championship website.

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