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.
Simon Ammann is a Swiss ski jumper. He is one of the most successful athletes in the history of the sport, having won four individual Winter Olympic gold medals in 2002 and 2010. His other achievements include winning the 2007 Ski Jumping World Championships, the 2010 Ski Flying World Championships, the 2010 Nordic Tournament, and the 2010 Ski Jumping World Cup overall title.
Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event during the 1983 season and was added to the official schedule of the World Championships in 1987 and the Winter Olympics in 1988.
Bjørn Erlend Dæhlie is a Norwegian businessman and retired cross-country skier. From 1992 to 1999, Dæhlie won the Nordic World Cup six times, finishing second in 1994 and 1998. Dæhlie won a total of 29 medals in the Olympics and World Championships between 1991 and 1999, making him the most successful male cross-country skier in history.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial Nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship events include Nordic skiing's three disciplines: cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. From 1924 to 1939, the World Championships were held every year, including the Winter Olympics. After World War II, the World Championships were held every four years from 1950 to 1982. Since 1985, the World Championships have been held in odd-numbered years.
Ricco Groß is a former German biathlete whose exploits made him one of the most successful biathletes of all time at the Winter Olympics and the World Championships.
Harri Tapani Kirvesniemi is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1980 to 2001. During his career he won six Olympic medals, and also the 50 km event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 2000. He retired after being caught doping at the 2001 World Championship in Lahti.
Felix Gottwald is an Austrian Nordic combined athlete who competed from 1994 to 2007 and then returned to compete in 2009. He is 5 ft 10 in , weighing 150 lb(10 st 10 lb; 68 kg).
Noriaki Kasai is a Japanese ski jumper. His career achievements include a gold medal at the 1992 Ski Flying World Championships, winning the 1999 Nordic Tournament, individual silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and two individual bronze medals at the 2003 Ski Jumping World Championships.
Giorgio Di Centa is an Italian former cross-country skier who won two gold medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics, including the individual 50 km freestyle race. He is the younger brother of Olympic gold medalist, cross-country skier Manuela Di Centa.
Bjarte Engen Vik is a Norwegian former nordic combined athlete. He won the FIS World Cup overall twice, in 1997/98 and 1998/99 with a total of 24 wins. He also has eight medals from the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with five golds, and three silvers. He also won a bronze medal in the Norwegian championship in ski jumping. His consecutive wins in the Individual Gundersen at the Nordic skiing World Championships in 1999 and 2001 were the first since Oddbjørn Hagen did it in 1934 and 1935.
Hannu Kalevi Manninen is a Finnish nordic combined athlete. Debuting at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer at the age of 15, he took his first medal three years later at the age of 18 when he won silver in the 4 × 5 km team event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, he won a gold medal in the 4 × 5 km team event at the age of 23. He has five other Nordic skiing World Championships medals, earning three golds and two bronzes. He has two other Olympic team medals as well.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007 took place 22 February – 4 March 2007 in Sapporo, Japan. It was the second time this city has hosted these championships, having previously done so in the 1972 Winter Olympics. Sapporo was selected as venue by vote at the 43rd FIS World Congress in Portorož, Slovenia, on 6 June 2002. It also marked the third time the championships were hosted outside Europe in a year that did not coincide with the Winter Olympics; it was the first championship held in Asia. The ski jumping team normal hill event was not held, as it had been in 2005.
Felix Neureuther is a German retired World Cup alpine ski racer and former World champion.
Andreas Wank is a German former ski jumper who competed at World Cup level from 2004 to 2019. He currently works in a supporting role as part of the German national ski jumping team.
Johan Clarey is a French World Cup alpine ski racer. He specializes in the speed events of downhill and super-G.
Andreas Wellinger is a German ski jumper. His career-best achievements include winning an individual gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics, individual silver at the 2018 Winter Olympics, mixed team gold at the 2017 Ski Jumping World Championships, and team silver at the 2016 Ski Flying World Championships. Wellinger's best finish in the World Cup overall standings is fourth, in the 2016/17 season.
Karl Geiger is a German ski jumper who has competed at World Cup level since 2012. He won gold medals in both the team and mixed team competitions at the 2021 Nordic World Ski Championships and an individual gold medal at the 2021 Ski Flying World Championships. Geiger represented Germany at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics. In the World Cup, he finished runner-up in the 2020 and 2022 seasons.
Stephan Leyhe is a German ski jumper and representative of the SC Willingen club. Team silver (2018) and bronze (2022) Olympic medalist, gold medalist of the 2019 Nordic Ski World Championships, silver medalist of the 2016 Ski Flying World Championships and the 2010 and 2011 Junior World Championships.
