Olympic Biathlon drama: Is 'chaos' helping or hurting sport at Milano-Cortina Games

From cheating admissions to convicted fraudsters and repealed doping suspensions, the drama surrounding biathlon at Milano Cortina 2026 has made the events anything but boring.

Biathlon, a sport which combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting, was originated by Scandinavian militaries in the 18th century and has been at the Olympic Games since 1960 for men, and 1992 for women.

“If you ask around on the street [about biathlon], for sure, and this is like, from Quebec all the way out to British Columbia, you'll probably have question marks in everybody's eyes,”said three-time Canadian Olympic biathlete Jean-Phillipe Le Guellec.

Biathlon, normally a sport that doesn't garner much Olympic attention, has grabbed plenty of headlines in Italy thanks to the unconventional drama happening off the competitive field.

A member of the Norwegian team admitted on live television to cheating on his girlfriend. Meanwhile, a French athlete won the gold medal after being convicted of fraud and an Italian athlete was added as a late entry after a doping suspension was overturned.

But Le Guellec isn’t sure if it’s helping put biathlon “more on the radar,” or if die-hard fans are going to be driven away to something less controversial.

Despite the sport’s dominant popularity in Europe, it has seldom gathered as much interest in North America.

France currently leads for overall medal count in biathlon at Milano Cortina with nine medals while Norway follows with eight.

However, because the recent international controversies around the Milano-Cortina Olympics, CBC platforms have seen a 140 per cent increase in streams related to biathlon to date compared to Beijing 2022.

Canada has eight athletes competing in biathlon, with all but one