Biathlon at the 1980 Winter Olympics – Relay

Men's biathlon relay at the XIII Olympic Winter Games
Venue	Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex Cross Country Biathlon Center
Dates	22 February
Competitors	60 from 15 nations
Winning time	1:34:03.27
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Vladimir Alikin Aleksandr Tikhonov Vladimir Barnashov Anatoly Alyabyev 2nd place, silver medalist(s) File:Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany Mathias Jung Klaus Siebert Frank Ullrich Eberhard Rösch 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) File:Flag of Germany.svg West Germany Franz Bernreiter Hans Estner Peter Angerer Gerd Winkler

The Men's 4 x 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 1980 Winter Olympics took place on 22 February, at Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex Cross Country Biathlon Center. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing. At each shooting station, a competitor has eight shots to hit five targets; however, only five bullets are loaded in a magazine at one time - if additional shots are required, the spare bullets must be loaded one at a time. If after the eight shots are taken, there are still targets not yet hit, the competitor must ski a 150-metre penalty loop.

Results

The East Germans were the two-time defending world champions, while the defending Olympic champions from the Soviet Union had just one bronze medal to show from those two championships. Vladimir Alikin set the tone for the Soviets in the first leg, putting together the single fastest lap of the relay race, and giving his side a twenty second lead over the East Germans. The lead then expanded when Klaus Siebert struggled, needing a penalty loop on each of his two shooting rounds. At the halfway point, the Soviets were more than a minute ahead, and while the Germans cut down the lead over the last two legs, they were not able to get close. West Germany struggled early, Franz Bernreiter taking two penalty loops on the first leg, but strong legs from Hans Estner and Peter Angerer got them up to third, and with Norway's Odd Lirhus taking two penalties on the third leg, the West Germans were able to take the bronze.

Rank	Bib	Team	Penalties	Result	Deficit
1st place, gold medalist(s)	13	File:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Vladimir Alikin Aleksandr Tikhonov Vladimir Barnashov Anatoly Alyabyev	0+4 0+8 0+1 0+1 0+0 0+3 0+0 0+3 0+3 0+1	1:34:03.27 22:40.71 23:44.60 23:48.36 23:49.60	–
2nd place, silver medalist(s)	11	File:Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany Mathias Jung Klaus Siebert Frank Ullrich Eberhard Rösch	1+6 2+12 0+0 0+3 1+3 1+3 0+1 0+3 0+2 1+3	1:34:56.99 23:03.85 24:47.64 23:01.26 24:04.24	+53.72
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)	14	File:Flag of Germany.svg West Germany Franz Bernreiter Hans Estner Peter Angerer Gerd Winkler	0+4 2+11 0+0 2+3 0+1 0+3 0+2 0+2 0+1 0+3	1:37:30.26 24:53.58 24:31.97 23:31.20 24:33.51	+3:26.99
4	8	File:Flag of Norway.svg Norway Svein Engen Kjell Søbak Odd Lirhus Sigleif Johansen	0+7 3+10 0+2 1+3 0+2 0+3 0+0 2+3 0+3 0+1	1:38:11.76 24:52.10 24:03.15 24:08.66 25:07.85	+4:08.49
5	1	File:Flag of France.svg France Yvon Mougel Denis Sandona André Geourjon Christian Poirot	0+5 0+10 0+0 0+2 0+2 0+3 0+2 0+2 0+1 0+3	1:38:23.36 23:30.07 25:14.71 24:44.46 24:54.12	+4:20.09
6	10	File:Flag of Austria.svg Austria Rudolf Horn Franz-Josef Weber Josef Koll Alfred Eder	0+3 4+8 0+2 0+3 0+0 4+3 0+1 0+1 0+0 0+1	1:38:32.02 23:59.95 25:56.99 24:37.12 23:57.96	+4:28.75
7	7	File:Flag of Finland.svg Finland Keijo Kuntola Erkki Antila Kari Saarela Raimo Seppänen	0+5 6+10 0+1 1+3 0+2 3+3 0+2 0+1 0+0 2+3	1:38:50.84 24:18.98 25:04.17 24:14.45 25:13.24	+4:47.57
8	4	File:Flag of the United States.svg United States Martin Hagen Lyle Nelson Donald Nielsen, Jr. Peter Hoag, Jr.	0+5 0+8 0+1 0+2 0+2 0+3 0+1 0+1 0+1 0+2	1:39:24.29 24:25.46 24:43.61 24:31.29 25:43.93	+5:21.02
9	9	File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy Arduino Tiraboschi Adriano Darioli Celestino Midali Luigi Weiss	2+8 0+7 0+1 0+2 0+1 0+2 1+3 0+1 1+3 0+2	1:40:20.79 24:15.71 24:27.55 25:45.94 25:51.59	+6:17.52
10	6	File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden Sven Fahlén Per Andersson Sören Wikström Ronnie Adolfsson	0+7 6+9 0+3 3+3 0+0 1+3 0+2 0+0 0+2 2+3	1:40:44.62 25:46.60 25:06.56 24:11.80 25:39.66	+6:41.35
11	3	File:Flag of Czechoslovakia.svg Czechoslovakia Josef Skalník Jaromír Šimůnek Peter Zelinka Zdeněk Hák	1+5 3+5 1+3 0+2 0+0 3+2 0+2 0+1 0+0 0+0	1:41:48.62 24:31.88 29:37.41 23:55.70 23:43.63	+7:45.35
12	5	File:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Great Britain Graeme Ferguson Keith Oliver Jim Wood Paul Gibbins	0+6 2+8 0+2 0+0 0+2 0+3 0+1 2+3 0+1 0+2	1:42:10.59 24:43.63 25:39.61 26:47.14 25:00.21	+8:07.32
13	2	File:Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Japan Hiroyuki Deguchi Masaichi Kinoshita Takashi Shibata Tsusumisa Kikuchi	1+7 6+9 1+3 0+2 0+2 0+1 0+2 5+3 0+0 1+3	1:45:53.98 25:22.57 25:22.90 28:07.32 27:01.19	+11:50.71
14	15	File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Song Yongjun Ying Zhenshan Li Xiaoming Wang Yumjie	10+10 8+12 0+1 0+3 3+3 3+3 2+3 2+3 5+3 3+3	2:01:33.36 27:06.27 29:22.07 30:39.59 34:25.43	+27:30.09
	12	File:Flag of Argentina (1861–2010).svg Argentina Luis Ríos Jorge Salas Raúl Abella Demetrio Velázquez	DNF