Emil Hegle Svendsen

Emil Hegle Svendsen
Emil Hegle Svendsen
Born	12 July 1985 (age 39); Trondheim, Norway
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Ski club	Strindheim IL
World Cup career
Seasons	2005–present
Wins	28
Medal record
Men's biathlon
Representing Norway
Olympic Games
World Championships
Youth & Junior World Championships
	Updated on 6 February 2012.

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

Career

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 results

World Championships

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay	Mixed relay
2007 Antholz	—	7th	5th	—	—	Bronze
2008 Östersund	Gold	12th	12th	Gold	Silver	—
2009 Pyeongchang	DNS	—	—	1th	Gold	—
2010 Khanty-Mansiysk	—	—	—	—	—	Silver
2011 Khanty-Mansiysk	4th	5th	Silver	Gold	Gold	—
2012 Ruhpolding	8th	Silver	5th	18th	Gold	Gold

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); 2010, Vancouver, 8th at pursuit; 2010, Vancouver, 13th at mass start
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; 2009, Pyeongchang, DNS at individual race; 2010, Khanty-Mansiysk, 2nd at mixed relay (with Tora Berger / Ann Kristin Flatland / Bjørndalen); 2011, Khanty-Mansiysk, 5th at sprint; 2011, Khanty-Mansiysk, 4th at individual race; 2011, Khanty-Mansiysk, 2nd at pursuit; 2011, Khanty-Mansiysk, 1st at team relay (with Ole Einar Bjørndalen / Alexander Os / Tarjei Bø); 2011, Khanty-Mansiysk, 1st at mass start; 2012, Ruhpolding, 1st at mixed relay (with Tora Berger / Synnøve Solemdal / Ole Einar Bjørndalen); 2012, Ruhpolding, 2nd at sprint; 2012, Ruhpolding, 5th at pursuit; 2012, Ruhpolding, 8th at individual race; 2012, Ruhpolding, 18th at mass start; 2012, Ruhpolding, 1st at team relay (with Ole Einar Bjørndalen / Rune Brattsveen / Tarjei Bø)
IBU World Junior Championships: 2002, Ridnaun-Val Ridanna, 13th at sprint (youth); 2002, Ridnaun-Val Ridanna, 13th at pursuit (youth); 2002, Ridnaun-Val Ridanna, 18th at individual race (youth); 2002, Ridnaun-Val Ridanna, 11th at team relay (youth) (with Stian Navik / Tore Nordstad); 2003, Koscielisko, 7th at sprint (youth); 2003, Koscielisko, 3rd at individual race (youth); 2003, Koscielisko, 3rd at pursuit (youth); 2003, Koscielisko, 4th at team relay (junior) (with Magne Thorleiv Ronning / Rune Brattsveen / Frode Bukkvold); 2004, Haute Maurienne, 6th at sprint (youth); 2004, Haute Maurienne, 14th at individual (youth); 2004, Haute Maurienne, 1st at pursuit (youth); 2004, Haute Maurienne, 1st at team relay (youth) (with Ronny Hafsås / Stian Navik); 2005, Kontiolahti, 1st at individual race (junior); 2005, Kontiolahti, 2nd at pursuit (junior); 2005, Kontiolahti, 1st at sprint (junior); 2005, Kontiolahti, 10th at team relay (junior) (with Ronny Hafsas / Rune Brattsveen / Stian Navik)
World Cup: 28 single wins; 13 placings; 16 placings
European Cup: 2003, Geilo, 3rd at sprint; 2003, Geilo, 5th at pursuit; 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; 2005, Obertilliach, 10th at pursuit; 2005, Obertilliach, 53rd at individual race; 2005, Obertilliach, 13th at sprint

External links

Emil Hegle Svendsen at IBU BiathlonWorld.com
Emil Hegle Svendsen at IBU BiathlonResults.com
Yahoo Sports

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