Biathlon European Championships | |
---|---|
Status | active |
Genre | sports competition |
Date(s) | January–February |
Frequency | annual |
Location(s) | various |
Inaugurated | 1994 |
Organised by | IBU |
The Biathlon European Championships are the top-European competitions in biathlon. The first edition was held in 1994, with sprint, pursuit, individual and relay. The number of events has grown significantly over the years. Till 2015, the competitions included also junior events but since 2016 the Junior Championships are held separately.
Even though the event is called European Championships, the event is not restricted to European athletes only. The full name of the competition is Open Biathlon European Championships, meaning that biathletes from non-European countries are eligible to participate and their results being recognised. There are three instances in which non-European competitors have won medals. Lowell Bailey from the United States became the first non-European to win a medal by winning bronze in the Junior Sprint event in 2001, followed by another bronze in the Junior Pursuit. Audrey Vaillancourt of Canada became the first non-European athlete to win gold in the competition, winning the Women's 15 km individual in 2014.
Number | Year | Host city | Events |
---|---|---|---|
— [1] | 1993 | Osrblie | |
1 | 1994 | Kontiolahti | 6 |
2 | 1995 | Le Grand-Bornand | 6 |
3 | 1996 | Ridnaun | 6 |
4 | 1997 | Windischgarsten | 6 |
5 | 1998 | Minsk | 16 |
6 | 1999 | Izhevsk | 8 |
7 | 2000 | Zakopane | 16 |
8 | 2001 | Maurienne | 16 |
9 | 2002 | Kontiolahti | 16 |
10 | 2003 | Forni Avoltri | 16 |
11 | 2004 | Minsk | 16 |
12 | 2005 | Novosibirsk | 16 |
13 | 2006 | Langdorf | 16 |
14 | 2007 | Bansko | 16 |
15 | 2008 | Nové Město na Moravě | 16 |
16 | 2009 | Ufa | 16 |
17 | 2010 | Otepää | 15 |
18 | 2011 | Ridnaun | 15 |
19 | 2012 | Osrblie | 15 |
20 | 2013 | Bansko | 14 |
21 | 2014 | Nové Město na Moravě | 15 |
22 | 2015 | Otepää | 15 |
23 | 2016 | Tyumen | 8 |
24 | 2017 | Duszniki-Zdrój | 8 |
25 | 2018 | Ridnaun | 8 |
26 | 2019 | Raubichi | 8 |
27 | 2020 | Raubichi [2] | 8 |
28 | 2021 | Duszniki-Zdrój | 8 |
29 | 2022 | Arber | 8 |
30 | 2023 | Lenzerheide | 8 |
31 | 2024 | Osrblie | 8 |
32 | 2025 | Val Martello |
Year | Host | Single mixed relay | Mixed relay |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Tyumen | Russia | Russia |
2017 | Duszniki-Zdrój | Russia | Russia |
2018 | Ridnaun | Norway | Ukraine |
2019 | Raubichi | Russia | Sweden |
2020 | Raubichi | Norway | Ukraine |
2021 | Duszniki-Zdrój | Germany | Norway |
2022 | Arber | Russia
| Norway |
2023 | Lenzerheide | Norway | Norway |
2024 | Osrblie | Sweden | Norway |
Updated after 2024 Championships
Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Russia | 60 | 47 | 48 | 155 |
2 | Germany | 42 | 36 | 44 | 122 |
3 | Ukraine | 29 | 32 | 22 | 83 |
4 | Norway | 29 | 31 | 28 | 88 |
5 | Belarus | 19 | 17 | 24 | 60 |
6 | Poland | 13 | 11 | 10 | 34 |
7 | France | 9 | 10 | 15 | 34 |
8 | Latvia | 7 | 4 | 9 | 20 |
9 | Bulgaria | 6 | 7 | 11 | 24 |
10 | Sweden | 6 | 5 | 2 | 13 |
11 | Slovakia | 4 | 7 | 3 | 14 |
12 | Austria | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
13 | Czech Republic | 3 | 14 | 5 | 22 |
14 | Moldova | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
15 | Slovenia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
16 | Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
17 | Romania | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
18 | Canada | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
19 | Italy | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
20 | Lithuania | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Spain | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
22 | Finland | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
23 | Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
United States | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
Totals (24 entries) | 237 | 234 | 236 | 707 |
Ole Einar Bjørndalen is a retired Norwegian professional biathlete and coach, often referred to by the nickname, the "King of Biathlon". With 13 Winter Olympic Games medals, he is second on the list of multiple medalists behind Marit Bjørgen who has won 15 medals. He is also the most successful biathlete of all time at the Biathlon World Championships, having won 45 medals. With 95 World Cup wins, Bjørndalen is ranked first all-time for career victories on the Biathlon World Cup tour. He has won the Overall World Cup title six times, in 1997–98, in 2002–03, in 2004–05, in 2005–06, in 2007–08 and in 2008–09.
Emil Hegle Svendsen is a retired Norwegian biathlete. He has won eight medals at Winter Olympics and five individual gold medals and seven relay gold medals at World Championships.
The biathlon competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics were held at Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, British Columbia. The events were held between the 13th and 26 February 2010.
The 43rd Biathlon World Championships were held in Pyeongchang, South Korea from February 13 to February 22, 2009. It was the first time that the Biathlon World Championships were held in Asia.
Darya Uladzimirauna Domracheva is a retired Belarusian biathlete and coach who competed in the Biathlon World Cup from 2006 to 2018. She won a gold medal in the 4×6 km relay and a silver medal in the mass start competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics, three gold medals in the pursuit, individual, and mass start competitions at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and a bronze medal in the individual competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She was a Biathlon World Cup overall winner for the 2014–15 season.
Miriam Neureuther is a former German biathlete and cross-country skier. She has won an Olympic silver medal in cross-country skiing and two biathlon world championship titles, all in team events. Noted for her fast skiing performances, she won two junior world championship titles in biathlon in 2008 and 2009. Gössner was called up for the Nordic World Ski Championships 2009, where she was part of Germany's cross-country team claiming silver in the 4 × 5 kilometre relay.
Tarjei Bø is a Norwegian professional biathlete. Awarded Olympic gold medals, World Championship gold medals and World Cup victories from 2010 to 2022. Bø debuted in the Biathlon World Cup on 26 March 2009 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In the 2010 Winter Olympics, he earned his first gold medal in the 4 × 7.5 km biathlon relay. On 10 December 2010 he won the World Cup sprint race in Hochfilzen, his first world cup victory. He also won the following pursuit race and anchored the winning relay team. Bø is the older brother of biathlete Johannes Thingnes Bø.
Martin Fourcade is a retired French biathlete. He is a five-time Olympic champion, a thirteen-time World Champion and a seven-time winner of the Overall World Cup. As of February 2018, he is the most successful French Winter Olympian of all time. Fourcade is the all-time biathlon record holder of overall World Cup titles with seven big crystal globes and he's also the all-time record holder of the most consecutive Major Championships titles with at least one non-team gold medal in every major championship from 2011 to 2018.
Anton Vladimirovich Shipulin is a retired Russian biathlete and politician serving as the member of the State Duma since 2019.
Vincent Jay is a former French biathlete and non-commissioned officer. During his career, he won two Olympic medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver - a gold in the sprint and a bronze medal in the pursuit. He was the first Frenchman to win an Olympic sprint Biathlon title. In the World Cup, he has fourteen podiums with two individual victories in Vancouver and two victories as part of relay teams.
Vita Semerenko is a Ukrainian biathlete. She is Olympic champion in women's relay, Olympic medalist and multiple World championships medalist. She is one of the most successful Ukrainian winter athletes.
Erik Lesser is a German former biathlete. In 2010, he ran his first single World Cup Race. At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, he won a silver medal at Men's individual. At the Biathlon World Championships 2013 he won a bronze medal with the German team in Men's relay.
The 44th Biathlon World Championships was held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from March 3–13, 2011.
Johannes Thingnes Bø is a Norwegian biathlete. Thingnes Bø has won the Biathlon World Cup in 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2022/23 and 2023/24. Thingnes Bø is the second male biathlete in the World Cup with more wins with 85 individual World Cup victories, including victories at the Winter Olympic Games.
Stina Nilsson is a Swedish former biathlete and former cross-country skier. She is a five-time Olympic medalist and the 2018 Olympic champion in the individual sprint. In March 2020 she announced that she would switch to competing in biathlon. In April 2024, she announced her return to cross-country skiing, this time as a long-distance racer.
The women's 10 km pursuit biathlon competition of the Sochi 2014 Olympics was held at Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex on 11 February 2014.
Laura Dahlmeier is a retired German biathlete. Dahlmeier started in her first world cup races in the 2012/13 season. In 2014, she participated in the Winter Olympics in Sochi. She won a record of five gold medals at the World Championships of 2017. In 2018 she became the first woman to win the biathlon sprint and pursuit in the same Olympics. During her career she has won a total of two golds and one bronze at the Olympics, seven gold medals, three silver medals and five bronze medals at World Championships, one overall World Cup and two discipline World Cup titles. Dahlmeier announced her retirement from competition in May 2019, at the age of 25. In October 2019, she released a children's book.
The 21st Biathlon European Championships were held in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic from January 29 to February 4, 2014.
Justine Braisaz-Bouchet is a French biathlete, Olympic champion in the 12.5 km mass start at the 2022 Beijing Games and medalist at the Winter Olympics 2018 and World Championships.
Selina Grotian is a German biathlete. She won multiple gold medals at youth and junior world championships in 2022 and 2023, respectively. In the 2023 European Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, she won the gold medal in the pursuit race.