Biathlon at the 1972 Winter Olympics – Relay

Men's biathlon relay
at the XI Olympic Winter Games
VenueMakomanai Biathlon Site
Dates11 February 1972
Competitors52 from 13 nations
Winning time1:51:44.92
Medalists
 Soviet Union
Aleksandr Tikhonov
Rinnat Safin
Ivan Biakov
Viktor Mamatov
 Finland
Esko Saira
Juhani Suutarinen
Heikki Ikola
Mauri Röppänen
 East Germany
Hansjörg Knauthe
Joachim Meischner
Dieter Speer
Horst Koschka

The Men's 4 × 7.5 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 1972 Winter Olympics took place on 11 February, at Makomanai Biathlon Site. 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.