The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The original team event, Team (time), was held for the last time in 1965, to be replaced in 1966 by the team event, Relay, which we know today. The number of events has grown significantly over the years. Beginning in 1984, women biathletes had their own World Championships, and finally, from 1989, both genders have been participating in joint Biathlon World Championships. In 1978 the development was enhanced by the change from the large army rifle calibre to a small bore rifle, while the range to the target was reduced from 150 to 50 meters.
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.
Sven Hannawald is a German former ski jumper. Having competed from 1992 to 2004, his career highlight was winning the 2002 Four Hills Tournament, on that occasion becoming the first athlete to win all four events of said tournament. He also finished runner-up twice in the World Cup season, winning four medals at the Ski Jumping World Championships, as well as three medals each at the Winter Olympics and Ski Flying World Championships.
Sven Fischer is a former German biathlete. He trained with the WSV Oberhof 05 club, and was coached by Frank Ullrich and Fritz Fischer and Klaus Siebert. After the 2006/07 biathlon season, he retired.
Ricco Groß is a former German biathlete. He is one of the most successful biathletes of all time at the Winter Olympics and the World Championships.
Frank-Peter Roetsch is a German former biathlete. He was the first biathlete to win a World Cup race using the skating technique when he won in Oberhof in 1985.
Peter Angerer is a former West German biathlete.
Antje Harvey is a former German cross-country skier and biathlete.
Michael Rösch is a German and Belgian former biathlete.
André Sehmisch is a former German biathlete.
Magdalena "Lena" Holzer is a retired German professional biathlete. She is the most successful woman of all time at Biathlon World Championships and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. At the age of 21, she became the youngest Overall World Cup winner in the history of the International Biathlon Union (IBU). With 34 World Cup wins, Holzer is ranked second all-time for career victories on the Biathlon World Cup tour. She has won the Overall World Cup title three times, in 2007–08, in 2009–10 and her final season in 2011–12. At only 25 years old, Holzer retired from the sport in March 2012, citing a lack of motivation and her desire for a normal life.
Dieter Speer is a former East German biathlete.
Günther Bartnik was an East German biathlete. He won a bronze medal in relay at the Biathlon World Championships 1973 and a silver medal in the first World Championship 10 km sprint for men in 1974. He started for the SG Dynamo Zinnwald / Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo.
Ralf Göthel is a former East German biathlete who won a silver medal at the Biathlon World Championships 1985 in Ruhpolding. He represented the sports club SG Dynamo Zinnwald / Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo.
Wilfried Bock is a retired East German biathlete who won a gold medal at the first world championship. He was awarded the Saxony biathlete of the century. Later he opened a skiing school. He began his career at the SG Dynamo Zinnwald / Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo.
Andreas Birnbacher is a former German biathlete. His biggest successes were the silver medal in the mass start event at the 2007 World Championships and the gold medal in the mixed relay at the 2008 World Championships. He also won the bronze medal at the 2012 world championships in Ruhpolding when he was part of the German teams that finished third in the mixed relay and the men's relay.
SG Dynamo Zinnwald is a sector of SV Dynamo founded on October 15, 1956 and located in Altenberg, Saxony. It was renamed on October 7, 1990 to Sächsischer Wintersportverein Altenberg. In October 1992 the club teamed up with SV Zinnerz Altenberg, the former BSG Stahl Altenberg to SSV Altenberg.
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.
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 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.
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.
East Germany 
