Military Ski Patrol at the 1936 Winter Olympics

The military ski patrol was held as a demonstration sport in 1928 and 1948, in addition to 1936. For many years it was considered a demonstration sport in 1924, as well, but research by Ture Widlund, co-founder and the first Vice-President of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH), showed that both curling and military ski patrol had the same status in 1924 as all the other sports on the Winter Program, and the 1924 event is now acknowledged as a full-medal Olympic event. A similar event to the military ski patrol was the team event contested at the biathlon World Championships between 1989 and 1998.

The event is a variant of the biathlon relay with four cross-country runners starting together and stopping to shoot at various intervals. The IOC refused to allow military ski patrol on the 1936 Winter Program, but Adolf Hitler wanted it, and coerced the IOC into holding it again as a demonstration sport.