In January 2018 Arne Botnan, the sporting director for Norwegian biathlon, announced that Bjørndalen would not be selected for the 2018 Winter Olympics, after he failed to achieve the qualifying standard of a top six finish in a World Cup race before the Norwegian Biathlon Association was due to nominate its Olympic squad on the 15th of that month. However, he did travel to the Games after being accredited as part of the Belarusian Olympic delegation as a coach, in order to support Darya Domracheva. On 3 April 2018 Bjørndalen announced his retirement from competition, explaining that his form had been affected by heart murmurs several times during the previous season.
In January 2018 Arne Botnan the sporting director for Norwegian biathlon announced that Bjørndalen would not be selected for the 2018 Winter Olympics after he failed to achieve the qualifying standard of a top six finish in a World Cup race before the Norwegian Biathlon Association was due to nominate its Olympic squad on the 15th of that month However he did travel to the Games after being accredited as part of the Belarusian Olympic delegation as a coach in order to support Darya Domracheva On 3 April 2018 Bjørndalen announced his retirement from competition explaining that his form had been affected by heart murmurs several times during the previous season