Winter Olympics Betting: All you need to know about biathlon and speed skating

Biathlon

What is it?
It seems a safe Winter Olympics bet that the guys who compete in this sport are the fittest athletes in the world. In order to take part in this sport, you'll need to race over cross-country distances, stopping every now and again to shoot at a target located 50 yards away. Complete and utter control of your pulse-rate is requried here in order to be as accurate as possible with five shots in just 25 seconds. The targets have a diameter of 45mm when a competitor is standing or 115mm when prone. If a target is missed, the result could be a minute penalty or a 150-meter penalty loop. Broadly speaking, the variations of the event follow the regular cross-country. This means that there are women's sprints, men's sprints, relays, mass start, and pursuit.

History
To give you some idea of the difficulty of this sport, it made up the training used by the military in Scandinavia at the start of the 16th century. Norwegian soldiers created this event and the Trysil, the first club in the world, was set up to promote home defense. In fact, when it was first involved in the 1924 Games it was called 'Military Patrol'. It disappeared soon after but came back with a bang during the 1960 event. The pursuit and mass start varieties have only been added post-2000. During the 1980s and 1990s, two women from Russia, Raisa Smetanina and Ljubov Yegorova, were dominant in the event. However, since then, the long-term legacy of the latter has been affected by a positive drugs test.

Who to watch
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen from Norway will arrive at this year's event with a total of nine Winter Olympic gold medals. He will be hungry to make the most of the chance to break the all-time record of 12 held by Bjorn Daehlie. He is the favorite to dominate but Germany's Michael Greiss will not let him have it all his own way, that's for sure. Jay Hakkinen, of the USA, could also have a say.

Fact
So popular was Greiss in Germany after the Torino games that he pushed aside Michael Schmuacher to win the country's Sportsman of the Year award in 2006.

Best Winter Olympics Betting Tip
It's hard to dismiss Bjoerndalen, with Russia's Olga Zaitseva also a top tip in the women's Mass Start.


Speed Skating

What is it?
The only guys to spend as much time with their hands behind their backs as speed skaters are butlers! The long, loping side-to-side stride is one of the Winter Games' most iconic images. The event sees racers skate around a 400m rink in an anti-clockwise direction. In the individuals, they swap lanes to make sure that the skater on the inside is not at any advantage. There are competitions over 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m, 3,000m, 5,000m, and a mighty 10,000m. Furthermore, there is a team pursuit, which consists of eight teams of five skaters. Just three are allowed on the ice at any one time and all times are taken when the third team member crosses the line.

History
The first official competition took place in 1763 in England and the first world championship was held in Holland just before the 20th century began. It was an Olympic sport at Chamonix in 1924 where Clas Thunberg of Finland took three gold medals. The United States' Eric Heiden eclipsed that in 1980 at Lake Placid, winning five golds (he also secured a total of seven world titles). Women only started competing in the Winter Games back in 1960. That year, Lydia Skoblikova won two golds at Squaw Valley before adding another four in Innsbruck at the next Olympics.

Who to watch
Shani Davis, from America, is the favorite in both the 1,000m and 1,500m events. He holds the world record in both disciplines and his only real competition should come from his compatriot Chad Hendrick, who pipped Davis in the 1,500m at the World Cup event in Calgary back in December.

Fact
With a total of 68 medals (28 of them gold), speed skating is the USA's most successful sport in the history of the Winter Games. Furthermore, Davis was the first black athlete to win an individual gold at the Winter Olympics.

Best Bet
The media will focus upon Davis but the Netherlands' Sven Kramer may offer bettors more value. He won a medal in the 500m and 10,000m in Torino but has worked on his skills since then and improved even more.