The Men's 12.5 kilometre biathlon pursuit competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 18 February, at Cesana San Sicario. Competitors raced over five loops of a 2.5 kilometre skiing course, shooting twenty times, ten prone and ten standing. Each miss required a competitor to ski a 150-metre penalty loop.[1]
The starting order for the pursuit was based on the results of the sprint; the top 60 finishers in that race qualified for the pursuit. In addition, each racer's final deficit behind sprint winner Sven Fischer corresponded to their starting deficit in the pursuit; Halvard Hanevold, who finished 8 seconds behind Fischer in the sprint, started 8 seconds after him in the pursuit. The winner was the first racer over the finish line, Vincent Defrasne.
Two Austrian athletes were disqualified after the IOC determined they had violated the Anti-Doping rules; Wolfgang Rottmann had originally placed 21st, while Wolfgang Perner had placed 25th.[2][3]