Emil Hegle Svendsen

Emil Hegle Svendsen
Personal information
Full name	Emil Hegle Svendsen
Born	12 July 1985 (1985-07-12) Trondheim, Norway
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Professional information
Club	Strindheim IL
Skis	Madshus
World Cup
Seasons	2005-
Wins	25
Additional podiums	23
Total podiums	48
Updated on 10 December 2011.

Medal record
Men's biathlon
Competitor for Norway
Olympic Games
Gold	2010 Vancouver	20 km individual
Gold	2010 Vancouver	4x7.5 km relay
Silver	2010 Vancouver	10 km sprint
World Championships
Gold	2008 Östersund	20 km individual
Gold	2008 Östersund	15 km mass start
Gold	2009 Peyongchang	4×7.5 km relay
Gold	2011 Khanty-Mansiysk	4×7.5 km relay
Gold	2011 Khanty-Mansiysk	15 km Mass start
Silver	2008 Östersund	4×7.5 km relay
Silver	2010 Khanty-Mansiysk	mixed relay
Silver	2011 Khanty-Mansiysk	12.5 km Pursuit
Bronze	2007 Antholz-Anterselva	mixed relay
Youth & Junior World Championships
Gold	2004 Haute Maurienne	12.5 km pursuit
Gold	2005 Kontiolahti	10 km sprint
Silver	2005 Kontiolahti	12.5 km pursuit
Bronze	2003 Koscielisko	10 km sprint
Bronze	2003 Koscielisko	12.5 km pursuit

Emil Hegle Svendsen (born 12 July 1985) is a Norwegian biathlete. He skis with Strindheim IL, based in Trondheim. He is 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) tall, and weighs 170 lb (77 kg, 12 st 2 lb).

The 2005/06 season was Svendsen's first season on the World Cup tour, before then he competed as a junior in the European Cup. During his first season in the World Cup Svendsen finished fifth in three races, two of them in sprints (Brezno-Orsblie and Ruhpolding), and the other in a mass start (Holmenkollen). He also finished races in seventh, ninth, and four more within the top twenty (14th, 15th, 17th, 19th). He finished the overall season in 22nd place. He was 32nd in the pursuit, 21st in the sprint, and 7th in the mass start, only seven points behind Sven Fischer in fourth place.

Svendsen was selected for the Olympics, to compete in the mass start, in which he came sixth, after hitting 18/20 targets and finished 53.8 seconds behind winner Michael Greis of Germany. As a junior Svendsen won four gold medals in junior World Championships, his first and second gold was in the pursuit, and the relay in Haute Maurienne in 2004, and the third and fourth gold in the individual and the sprint in Kontiolahti in 2005. He also has two bronze medals from the individual and the pursuit in Kościelisko in 2003. During his three seasons in the European Cup, Svendsen won two races (individual and pursuit), one second place (sprint), and came third three times (all in the sprint).

For his first season in the World Cup Svendsen had a 82% shooting average, making him the 42nd best shot of the tour, but the same shooting percentage as Halvard Hanevold and Vincent Defrasne. He hit 243 out of 295 targets. He shot both 82% in his prone and standing shoot, he averaged 70% in the individual, 84% in the sprint, 81% in the pursuit, 87% in the mass start, and 76% in the relay.

On 13 December 2007, Svendsen took his first world cup victory, at the 20 km in Pokljuka. However, his big breakthrough came when he won two individual gold medals at the 2008 World Championships, winning both the individual and the mass start ahead of Ole Einar Bjørndalen. He went on winning more victories and podiums for the rest of the season, and eventually finished third overall.

The 2008/2009 season started of well for Svendsen. By placing on the podium in every of the five first races, he took the lead in the overall world cup. After the Christmas holiday however, Svendsen struggled to maintain the early seasons results, and when he fell ill during the world championships and did not compete in several races, he lost the overall lead. After a couple of middle placings, he returned with a third place at the mass start event in Trondheim, and a fourth place and a victory in Khanty Mansiysk the consecutive week.

He won a silver medal in the 10 km sprint at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver on the first day of men's biathlon competition and then followed it up with two gold medals in the 20 km individual and the relay event.

Career highlights

Winter Olympics

2006, Torino, 6th at mass start

2010, Vancouver, 2nd at 10km sprint

2010, Vancouver, 1st at 20km individual

2010, Vancouver, 1st in the men's relay (Hanevold / Bø / O. Bjørndalen)

IBU World Championships

2007, Antholz, 3rd at mixed relay (with Berger / Mørkve / Andresen)

2007, Antholz, 5th at pursuit

2007, Antholz, 7th at sprint

2008, Östersund, 1st at mass start

2008, Östersund, 1st at 20 km

2008, Östersund, 2nd at team relay (with Bratsveen / Hanevold / Bjørndalen)

2008, Östersund, 12th at sprint

2008, Östersund, 12th at pursuit

2009, Pyeongchang, 1st at team relay (with Berger / Hanevold / Bjørndalen)

2009, Pyeongchang, 12th at mass start

2010, Khanty-Mansiysk, 2nd at mixed relay (with Tora Berger / Ann Kristin Flatland / Bjørndalen)

2011, Khanty-Mansiysk, 5th at sprint

2011, Khanty-Mansiysk, 2nd at pursuit

IBU World Junior Championships

2003, Koscielisko, 3rd at individual race (youth)

2003, Koscielisko, 3rd at pursuit (youth)

2004, Haute Maurienne, 1st at pursuit (youth)

2004, Haute Maurienne, 1st at team relay (youth) (with Hafsås / Navik)

2005, Kontiolahti, 1st at individual race (junior)

2005, Kontiolahti, 2nd at pursuit (junior)

2005, Kontiolahti, 1st at sprint (junior)

World Cup

18 single wins

5 placings

11 placings

European Cup

2003, Geilo, 3rd at sprint

2004, Geilo, 1st at individual race

2004, Geilo, 3rd at sprint

2004, Geilo, 1st at pursuit

2004, Geilo, 2nd at sprint

2005, Obertilliach, 3rd at sprint

References

• Official IBU website
• Yahoo Sports

External links

• Svendsen's profil at IBU