# Biathlon at the 1988 Winter Olympics – Individual

The men's 20 kilometre individual biathlon competition at the 1988 Winter Olympics was held on 20 February, at Canmore Nordic Centre. Each miss resulted in one minute being added to a competitor's skiing time.

## Summary

The defending world champion, Frank-Peter Roetsch, had the fastest ski time by more than a full minute, and despite three missed shots, he held off the field to win by 20 seconds. 1986 World champion Valeriy Medvedtsev and Norway's Eirik Kvalfoss finished with the joint second-fastest ski time, but while Medvedtsev's two misses saw him win silver, Kvalfoss missed three and finished 6th. Italy's Johann Passler, the fourth-fastest skier, held off Sergei Tchepikov, who had the best shooting score, to win bronze.

## Results

| Rank | Bib | Name | Country | Ski Time | Penalties (P+S+P+S) | Result | Deficit |
| | 43 | Frank-Peter Roetsch | East Germany | 53:33.3 | 3 (1+1+0+1) | 56:33.3 | – |
| | 26 | Valeriy Medvedtsev | Soviet Union | 54:54.6 | 2 (0+1+0+1) | 56:54.6 | +0:21.3 |
| | 53 | Johann Passler | Italy | 55:10.1 | 2 (1+0+0+1) | 57:10.1 | +0:36.8 |
| 4 | 51 | Sergei Tchepikov | Soviet Union | 56:17.5 | 1 (0+1+0+0) | 57:17.5 | +0:44.2 |
| 5 | 11 | Juri Kashkarov | Soviet Union | 55:43.1 | 2 (0+1+1+0) | 57:43.1 | +1:09.8 |
| 6 | 50 | Eirik Kvalfoss | Norway | 54:54.6 | 3 (1+1+1+0) | 57:54.6 | +1:21.3 |
| 7 | 28 | André Sehmisch | East Germany | 55:11.4 | 3 (0+1+2+0) | 58:11.4 | +1:38.1 |
| 8 | 35 | Tapio Piipponen | Finland | 55:18.3 | 3 (1+0+1+1) | 58:18.3 | +1:45.0 |
| 9 | 59 | Matthias Jacob | East Germany | 55:20.1 | 3 (0+2+1+0) | 58:20.1 | +1:46.8 |
| 10 | 29 | Peter Angerer | West Germany | 55:46.7 | 3 (0+2+0+1) | 58:46.7 | +2:13.4 |
| 11 | 14 | Gottlieb Taschler | Italy | 55:53.6 | 3 (1+1+0+1) | 58:53.6 | +2:20.3 |
| 12 | 58 | Alexandr Popov | Soviet Union | 56:24.0 | 3 (0+2+1+0) | 59:24.0 | +2:50.7 |
| 13 | 47 | Mike Dixon | Great Britain | 57:32.4 | 2 (1+0+0+1) | 59:32.4 | +2:59.1 |
| 14 | 48 | Jan Matouš | Czechoslovakia | 56:35.3 | 3 (1+0+0+2) | 59:35.3 | +3:02.0 |
| 15 | 12 | Khristo Vodenicharov | Bulgaria | 58:20.8 | 2 (1+0+1+0) | 1:00:20.8 | +3:47.5 |
| 16 | 7 | Jürgen Wirth | East Germany | 57:25.9 | 3 (1+0+1+1) | 1:00:25.9 | +3:52.6 |
| 17 | 61 | Herbert Fritzenwenger | West Germany | 56:27.8 | 4 (0+2+2+0) | 1:00:27.8 | +3:54.5 |
| 18 | 63 | Jean-Paul Giachino | France | 57:43.7 | 3 (0+1+1+1) | 1:00:43.7 | +4:10.4 |
| 19 | 45 | Vasil Bozhilov | Bulgaria | 56:49.8 | 4 (2+1+0+1) | 1:00:49.8 | +4:16.5 |
| 20 | 27 | Frode Løberg | Norway | 56:52.7 | 4 (1+0+3+0) | 1:00:52.7 | +4:19.4 |
| 21 | 32 | Vladimir Velichkov | Bulgaria | 56:56.5 | 4 (1+1+0+2) | 1:00:56.5 | +4:23.2 |
| 22 | 8 | Tomáš Kos | Czechoslovakia | 58:02.7 | 3 (0+1+0+2) | 1:01:02.7 | +4:29.4 |
| 23 | 42 | Fritz Fischer | West Germany | 56:04.5 | 5 (1+1+0+3) | 1:01:04.5 | +4:31.2 |
| 24 | 71 | Bruno Hofstätter | Austria | 57:05.1 | 4 (1+1+0+2) | 1:01:05.1 | +4:31.8 |
| 25 | 57 | Josh Thompson | United States | 56:29.4 | 5 (1+1+0+3) | 1:01:29.4 | +4:56.1 |
| 26 | 33 | Alfred Eder | Austria | 55:39.7 | 6 (3+1+2+0) | 1:01:39.7 | +5:06.4 |
| 27 | 18 | Egon Leitner | Austria | 58:52.3 | 3 (1+1+1+0) | 1:01:52.3 | +5:19.0 |
| 28 | 1 | Carl Davies | Great Britain | 58:54.1 | 3 (0+2+0+1) | 1:01:54.1 | +5:20.8 |
| 29 | 9 | Ernst Reiter | West Germany | 56:54.8 | 5 (2+0+2+1) | 1:01:54.8 | +5:21.5 |
| 30 | 17 | Gisle Fenne | Norway | 56:56.5 | 5 (1+1+3+0) | 1:01:56.5 | +5:23.2 |
| 31 | 30 | Peter Sjödén | Sweden | 59:07.8 | 3 (0+1+0+2) | 1:02.07.8 | +5:34.5 |
| 32 | 37 | Jiří Holubec | Czechoslovakia | 57:08.3 | 5 (0+2+1+2) | 1:02.08.3 | +5:35.0 |
| 33 | 55 | Ken Karpoff | Canada | 59:19.7 | 3 (0+3+0+0) | 1:02:19.7 | +5:46.4 |
| 34 | 19 | Glenn Rupertus | Canada | 56:10.4 | 7 (1+3+2+1) | 1:03:10.4 | +6:37.1 |
| 35 | 24 | Jure Velepec | Yugoslavia | 59:15.6 | 4 (1+1+1+1) | 1:03:15.6 | +6:42.3 |
| 36 | 39 | Franz Schuler | Austria | 55:24.5 | 8 (1+4+1+2) | 1:03:24.5 | +6:51.2 |
| 37 | 68 | Leif Andersson | Sweden | 58:27.3 | 5 (1+1+1+2) | 1:03:27.3 | +6:54.0 |
| 38 | 60 | Juha Tella | Finland | 57:39.0 | 6 (2+1+3+0) | 1:03:39.0 | +7:05.7 |
| 39 | 65 | Sylfest Glimsdal | Norway | 55:46.9 | 8 (2+4+0+2) | 1:03:46.9 | +7:13.6 |
| 40 | 52 | Misao Kodate | Japan | 57:51.0 | 6 (1+3+1+1) | 1:03:51.0 | +7:17.7 |
| 41 | 2 | Thierry Gerbier | France | 57:51.7 | 6 (2+2+1+1) | 1:03:51.7 | +7:18.4 |
| 42 | 15 | Darin Binning | United States | 59:54.8 | 4 (1+1+2+0) | 1:03:54.8 | +7:21.5 |
| 43 | 66 | Werner Kiem | Italy | 57:00.3 | 7 (2+3+1+1) | 1:04:00.3 | +7:27.0 |
| 44 | 62 | František Chládek | Czechoslovakia | 1:00:01.3 | 4 (1+1+1+1) | 1:04:01.3 | +7:28.0 |
| 45 | 21 | Éric Claudon | France | 58:16.8 | 6 (1+3+0+2) | 1:04:16.8 | +7:43.5 |
| 46 | 10 | Charles Plamondon | Canada | 59:27.5 | 5 (1+1+1+2) | 1:04:27.5 | +7:54.2 |
| 47 | 22 | Trevor King | Great Britain | 58:37.9 | 6 (2+1+1+2) | 1:04:37.9 | +8:04.6 |
| 48 | 4 | Tadashi Nakamura | Japan | 57:01.3 | 8 (2+4+0+2) | 1:05:01.3 | +8:28.0 |
| 49 | 40 | Bill Carow | United States | 1:00:10.1 | 5 (0+3+0+2) | 1:05:10.1 | +8:36.8 |
| 50 | 54 | Harri Eloranta | Finland | 58:10.6 | 7 (2+2+1+2) | 1:05:10.6 | +8:37.3 |
| 51 | 49 | Mikael Löfgren | Sweden | 58:12.0 | 7 (2+2+2+1) | 1:05:12.0 | +8:38.7 |
| 52 | 31 | Curt Schreiner | United States | 1:00:22.7 | 5 (1+1+1+2) | 1:05:22.7 | +8:49.4 |
| 53 | 56 | Mark Langin | Great Britain | 1:01:50.3 | 4 (0+1+1+2) | 1:05:50.3 | +9:17.0 |
| 54 | 23 | Zsolt Kovács | Hungary | 1:02:15.2 | 4 (1+2+0+1) | 1:06:15.2 | +9:41.9 |
| 55 | 64 | Khristo Kovachki | Bulgaria | 59:15.6 | 7 (1+2+2+2) | 1:06:15.6 | +9:42.3 |
| 56 | 41 | Hervé Flandin | France | 59:50.9 | 7 (2+3+1+1) | 1:06:50.9 | +10:17.6 |
| 57 | 20 | Andrew Paul | Australia | 1:02:59.3 | 6 (3+2+1+0) | 1:08:59.3 | +12:26.0 |
| 58 | 13 | Arto Jääskeläinen | Finland | 58:29.5 | 11 (4+1+2+4) | 1:09:29.5 | +12:56.2 |
| 59 | 67 | Jamie Kallio | Canada | 1:03:13.1 | 7 (0+0+2+5) | 1:10:13.1 | +13:39.8 |
| 60 | 36 | Koichi Sato | Japan | 1:02:18.7 | 8 (3+2+1+2) | 1:10:18.7 | +13:45.4 |
| 61 | 69 | Akihiro Takizawa | Japan | 1:03:38.0 | 7 (3+2+1+1) | 1:10:38.0 | +14:04.7 |
| 62 | 34 | Hong Byung-sik | South Korea | 1:06:03.2 | 8 (4+0+2+2) | 1:14:03.2 | +17:29.9 |
| 63 | 3 | Joo Young-dai | South Korea | 1:06:27.5 | 8 (3+3+1+1) | 1:14:27.5 | +17:54.2 |
| 64 | 5 | Alejandro Giró | Argentina | 1:11:34.4 | 5 (1+2+1+1) | 1:16:34.4 | +20:01.1 |
| 65 | 70 | Kim Yong-woon | South Korea | 1:08:23.0 | 9 (4+2+1+2) | 1:17:23.0 | +20:49.7 |
| 66 | 44 | Shin Young-sun | South Korea | 1:08:44.5 | 9 (2+3+3+1) | 1:17:44.5 | +21:11.2 |
| 67 | 46 | Luis Argel | Argentina | 1:12:47.6 | 11 (3+3+4+1) | 1:23:47.6 | +27:14.3 |
| 68 | 16 | Elliot Archilla | Puerto Rico | 1:38:57.6 | 13 (2+3+4+4) | 1:51:57.6 | +55:24.3 |
| - | 6 | Roger Westling | Sweden | DNF | - | - | - |
| - | 38 | Andreas Zingerle | Italy | DQ | - | - | - |
| - | 25 | Gustavo Giró | Argentina | DQ | - | - | - |