Tactics for passing shooting ranges by the world's and Russia's strongest biathletes

The purpose of the study is to examine Range time indicators to optimize the tactics of shooting range performance by highly skilled biathletes. Research methods and organization. An analysis was conducted on the shooting range times of the top foreign biathletes at the World Cup stages and World Championships from 2023 to 2025, as well as of Russian biathletes at the Russian Championships and the Commonwealth Cup during the 2023–2025 season. The analysis utilized data from the international resource www.biathlonresults.com and the Russian resource www.biathlonrus.com. The results of the study have been integrated into the training process of the Russian national biathlon teams. Research results and conclusions. Range time indicators allow for the identification of athletes' strengths and weaknesses in actions at the shooting range. At the 2025 World Championship, in the men's sprint, the difference in approach and exit times from the two shooting ranges among the athletes who placed 1st to 10th was 4.9 seconds, while for women it was 7.3 seconds. The significant variability in Range time indicators, considering the high density of competitive results, necessitates their analysis and represents a potential for optimizing individual race strategies.