Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

Lars Berger

Lars Berger
Personal information
Full nameLars Berger
Born (1979-05-01) 1 May 1979 (age 45)
Levanger Municipality, Norway
Height1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Professional information
SportBiathlon
Cross-country skiing
ClubDombås IL
Byåsen IL
World Cup debut4 January 2001
22 November 2003
Retired27 April 2015
Olympic Games
Teams1 (2010)
1 (2010)
Medals0
1 (0 gold)
World Championships
Teams7 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012)
2 (2005, 2007)
Medals5 (1 gold)
3 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons14 (2000/01–2013/14)
Individual victories
  • 7 (biathlon)
  • 0 (cross-country skiing)
All victories
  • 11 (biathlon)
  • 1 (cross-country skiing)
Individual podiums
  • 16 (biathlon)
  • 1 (cross-country skiing)
All podiums
  • 27 (biathlon)
  • 2 (cross-country skiing)
Medal record
Men's biathlon
Representing  Norway
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2009 Pyeongchang 4 × 7.5 km relay
Silver medal – second place 2004 Oberhof 15 km mass start
Silver medal – second place 2004 Oberhof 4 × 7.5 km relay
Silver medal – second place 2007 Antholz-Anterselva 4 × 7.5 km relay
Silver medal – second place 2009 Pyeongchang 10 km sprint
Men's cross-country skiing
Representing  Norway
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2010 Vancouver 4 × 10 km relay
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2005 Oberstdorf 4 × 10 km relay
Gold medal – first place 2007 Sapporo 15 km
Gold medal – first place 2007 Sapporo 4 × 10 km relay

Lars Berger (born 1 May 1979) is a former Norwegian biathlete and cross-country skier.

Life and career

Fellow former biathlete Tora Berger is his sister.[1] Berger's family moved to Lesja Municipality in Oppland county in 1985. At the age of six, Berger started cross-country skiing, but during his teens he decided to try out biathlon.

Berger joined the national biathlon team in 2001. During the 2004 Biathlon World Championships in Oberhof, Germany, he won silver medals in the 15 km mass start and the 4 × 7.5 km relay. Berger also won two gold medals in the military world championships that same year (cross-country and patrol). Berger finished fifth in the 2004 overall World Cup, and won several gold medals from the Norwegian Biathlon Championships. At the 2007 Biathlon World Championships in Rasen-Antholz, Italy, Berger was part of the Norwegian team that won silver in the 4 × 7.5 km relay. After several disappointing races, mainly due to unstable shooting, Berger was thrown off the Norwegian national team ahead of the 2008/2009 season. He revenged this by retrieving two world cup victories in sprint events, a silver in the World Championship sprint, and contributed to the gold in the men's relay. He was regarded as perhaps the fastest skier on the biathlon tour, but his lack of shooting accuracy often prevented him from producing consistent and winning results.

Berger also competed in cross-country skiing from 2002. He won the 30 km and relay at the 2003 Norwegian cross-country skiing championships in Molde. Berger won a gold in the 4 × 10 km at the 2005 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf and finished 4th in the 15 km in those same championships. Berger won the gold medal in the 15 km at the Nordic Skiing World Championships in Sapporo in 2007.

Berger is the first person to win medals at the World Championships in biathlon and Nordic skiing in the same year. He is also the only athlete to win gold in relays in both World Championships (in Nordic skiing in 2005 and 2007, in biathlon in 2009).

In 2014, Berger won gold medal in the men's 15 km cross county skiing in the military world championship in Sodankylä, Finland.

On 27 April 2015, Berger announced his retirement from the sport. He cited a "chronic knee injury" as his reason for retiring.[2]

Though Berger only participated in the 2010 Olympics, in both cross-country skiing and biathlon, he did travel to the Olympic Games as a reserve athlete in biathlon in both 2002 and 2014.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.[3]

Olympic Games

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay
Canada 2010 Vancouver — 46th 23rd — —

World Championships

5 medals (1 gold, 4 silver)

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay
Germany 2004 Oberhof 24th 14th 11th Silver Silver —
Austria 2005 Hochfilzen — 44th 32nd — — —
Slovenia 2006 Pokljuka — — — — — 23rd
Italy 2007 Antholz-Anterselva 49th 14th 11th 17th Silver —
South Korea 2009 Pyeongchang 34th Silver 5th 29th Gold 4th
Russia 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 65th 14th 19th 14th — —
Germany 2012 Ruhpolding — 32nd 40th — — —
*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.
**The mixed relay was added as an event in 2005.

Overall record

Result Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay Total
1st place – 7 – – 4 – 11
2nd place – 2 2 1 5 – 10
3rd place – 3 1 – 2 – 6
4–10 2 14 9 1 3 1 30
11–20 – 14 16 9 1 1 41
21–40 7 24 25 12 – 1 69
41–60 10 21 7 – – – 38
Others 4 4 – – – – 8
DNF – – – – – – 0
DSQ – – – – 1 – 1
Starts 23 89 60 23 16 3 214
*Results in all UIPMB and IBU World Cup races.[3]

Junior/Youth World Championships

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Relay
Slovenia 1999 Pokljuka 11th 9th 5th —

Individual victories

7 victories (7 Sp)

Season Date Location Discipline Level
2003–04
3 victories
(3 Sp)		 11 December 2003 Austria Hochfilzen 10 km sprint Biathlon World Cup
27 February 2004 United States Lake Placid 10 km sprint Biathlon World Cup
11 March 2004 Norway Oslo Holmenkollen 10 km sprint Biathlon World Cup
2008–09
2 victories
(2 Sp)		 20 December 2008 Austria Hochfilzen 10 km sprint Biathlon World Cup
13 March 2009 Canada Vancouver 10 km sprint Biathlon World Cup
2010–11
1 victory
(1 Sp)		 14 January 2011 Germany Ruhpolding 10 km sprint Biathlon World Cup
2013–14
1 victory
(1 Sp)		 6 December 2013 Austria Hochfilzen 10 km sprint Biathlon World Cup
*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).[4]

Olympic Games

  • 1 medal – (1 silver)
 Year   Age   15 km 
 individual  		 30 km 
 skiathlon  		 50 km 
 mass start  		 Sprint   4 × 10 km 
 relay  		 Team 
 sprint 
2010 30 — — — — Silver —

World Championships

  • 3 medals – (3 gold)
 Year   Age   15 km 
 individual  		 30 km 
 skiathlon  		 50 km 
 mass start  		 Sprint   4 × 10 km 
 relay  		 Team 
 sprint 
2005 25 4 — — — Gold —
2007 27 Gold — — — Gold —

World Cup

Season standings

 Season   Age  Discipline standings Ski Tour standings
Overall Distance Sprint Nordic
Opening 		Tour de
Ski 		World Cup
Final
2004 24 81 54 — — — —
2005 25 93 59 — — — —
2006 26 NC NC — — — —
2007 27 78 46 — — — —
2008 28 144 85 — — — —
2010 30 130 84 — — — —
2012 32 107 67 — — — —

Team podiums

  • 1 victory – (1 RL)
  • 2 podiums – (2 RL)
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place Teammates
1 2003–04 23 November 2003 Norway Beitostølen, Norway 4 × 10 km Relay C/F World Cup 2nd Svartedal / Hjelmeset / Hofstad
2 2011–12 20 November 2011 Norway Sjusjøen, Norway 4 × 10 km Relay C/F World Cup 1st Rønning / Krogh / Northug

References

  1. ^ "Tora Berger wins biathlon sprint in Germany, day after brother Lars wins race". Winnipeg Free Press. Associated Press. 15 January 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  2. ^ Tingve, Pål Marius (27 April 2015). "Lars Berger legger opp". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Lars Berger". IBU Datacenter. International Biathlon Union. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  4. ^ "BERGER Lars". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
Awards
Preceded by Egebergs Ærespris
2006 		Succeeded by
Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Berger