Background: The purpose of the present study was to identify technical and psychological key determinants for performance development in biathlon shooting in Norwegian junior biathletes, as well as comparing their shooting training to earlier research on the field. Methods: Qualitative in-depth interviews with six biathletes (three male and three female) from the Norwegian Biathlon Federations national team for U23, regarding performance development in biathlon shooting. Results: To manage to identify key determinants, several technical and psychological themes were picked out based on earlier research and themes discussed during the in-depth interviews. The study showed that the technical key determinants highlighted as most important is rifle stability, shooting position, postural balance, triggering and cardiac cycle. Furthermore, the study showed self-efficacy, attention focus and arousal-regulation as psychological key determinants for performance development in biathlon shooting. The study showed no significant sex-differences. Conclusion: The findings of technical key determinants matches with former research. The results emphasize the importance of psychological determinants on performance development in biathlon shooting. The results imply that junior biathletes could benefit from greater knowledge about development of relevant psychological determinants. Nevertheless, the grade of complexity in biathlon shooting makes it hard to conclude, and additional research are necessary to investigate this in a wider matter.
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