Biathlon at the 2002 Winter Olympics – Women's relay
| Women's biathlon relay at the XIX Olympic Winter Games
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| Venue | Soldier Hollow |
| Dates | February 18 |
| Competitors | 60 from 15 nations |
| Winning time | 1:27:55.0 |
| Medalists | |
The Women's 4 x 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics 18 February, at Soldier Hollow. 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 – 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.
The women's relay looked to be a battle between some traditional powers of the sport. Germany, having won three of the four World Cup relays coming into the Games, as well as being defending champions, were the only team to have more than one medal winner from the individual races on the team, with Uschi Disl, Kati Wilhelm and Andrea Henkel combining for 4 medals, 2 gold. The World Cup standings were closely fought, though, with defending World Cup winners Norway, led by Liv Grete Skjelbreid-Poirée, not far behind Germany in second. Russia were the defending World Champions, and expected a fast start from pursuit gold medalist Olga Pyleva, and the French, while not winning a medal yet at the Games, had won the last World Cup relay before Salt Lake.
The leaders after the first shoot were not one of the favoured teams, but Ukraine, with Olena Zubrilova shooting clear at her first shoot. Katrin Apel, the only member of the German team not to win a medal in the individual events, also shot clear, and left a few seconds behind Zubrilova. However, there wasn't much separation, as Russia, with pursuit champ Pyleva, Norway's Ann Elen Skjelbreid and Bulgaria, with Pavlina Filipova, were among those in close attention. At the second shoot, Zubrilova's strong form continued, as she shot clear, followed by another outsider, Olga Nazarova of Belarus. The only other team within 10 seconds was Russia, as Pyleva missed her second shot, but stayed close. Apel missed all of her extra rounds, requiring a lap of the penalty loop, and leaving Germany in 12th. Skjelbreid also had trouble for Norway, missing three times to leave her side 30 seconds back. By the exchange Pyleva had pulled ahead by a solid margin, handing off to Galina Kukleva with a ten second lead over Belarus. Skjelbreid made up for her mistakes somewhat, moving into 3rd, as Zubrilova faded for Ukraine. Apel also had a solid closing section, not gaining any time on Russia, but moving her team up to 6th.
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