New on the 1968 Olympic program was the 4 x 7.5 km relay. The biathlon relay was first contested internationally at the 1966 World Championships. Each member of the team had two shooting sessions, five targets from the prone position and five from the standing position. A maximum of eight shots per shooting session were allowed, the last three shots had to be loaded one by one. If still not five hits after eight shots, the athlete had to ski an extra penalty lap of 150 m per missed target.
Also in the individual event some rule changes had been made. The shooting range was set to 150 meters for each of the four shooting sessions, and the positions for the four shooting rounds were set as follows: Prone, standing, prone, standing. The target was unchanged, with a one minute penalty for hits in the outer ring and two minutes penalty for each missed target.
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