1997–98 Biathlon World Cup

The 1997–98 Biathlon World Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of biathlon, organised by the International Biathlon Union. The season started on 6 December 1997 in Lillehammer, Norway, and ended on 15 March 1998 in Hochfilzen, Austria. It was the 21st season of the Biathlon World Cup.

1997–98 World Cup
Discipline	Men	Women
Overall	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Magdalena Forsberg
Nations Cup	Norway	Germany
Individual	Halvard Hanevold	Magdalena Forsberg
Sprint	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Magdalena Forsberg
Pursuit	Sven Fischer	Magdalena Forsberg
Relay	Norway Germany	Russia
Competition

Calendar

Below is the IBU World Cup calendar for the 1997–98 season.

Location	Date	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay
Lillehammer	6–7 December		●	●
Östersund	11–14 December	●	●			●
Kontiolahti	18–21 December		●	●		●
Ruhpolding	8–11 January		●●			●
Antholz	15–18 January	●	●			●
Nagano	11–21 February	●	●			●
Pokljuka	3–8 March	●	●●	●
Hochfilzen	12–15 March	●	●
Total		5	10	3	0	5

World Cup Podium

Men

Stage	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third	Yellow bib (After competition)	Det.
1	6 December 1997	Lillehammer	10 km Sprint	Frank Luck	Dag Bjørndalen	Raphaël Poirée	Frank Luck	Detail
1	7 December 1997	Lillehammer	12.5 km Pursuit	Alexei Aidarov	Halvard Hanevold	Pavel Mouslimov		Detail
2	11 December 1997	Östersund	20 km Individual	Sylfest Glimsdal	Alexei Kobelev	Viktor Maigourov	Dag Bjørndalen	Detail
2	13 December 1997	Östersund	10 km Sprint	Alexei Kobelev	Raphaël Poirée	Carsten Heymann	Pavel Mouslimov	Detail
3	18 December 1997	Kontiolahti	10 km Sprint	Jan Wüstenfeld	Ricco Groß	Sven Fischer	Frank Luck	Detail
3	20 December 1997	Kontiolahti	12.5 km Pursuit	Sven Fischer	Ludwig Gredler	Jan Wüstenfeld	Sven Fischer	Detail
4	8 January 1998	Ruhpolding	10 km Sprint	Raphaël Poirée	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Ricco Groß	Ricco Groß	Detail
4	10 January 1998	Ruhpolding	10 km Sprint	Frode Andresen	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Raphaël Poirée	Raphaël Poirée	Detail
5	15 January 1998	Antholz-Anterselva	20 km Individual	Halvard Hanevold	Ricco Groß	Alexei Aidarov	Ricco Groß	Detail
5	17 January 1998	Antholz-Anterselva	10 km Sprint	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Frode Andresen	Viktor Maigourov		Detail
OG	11 February 1998	Nagano	20 km Individual	Halvard Hanevold	Pieralberto Carrara	Alexei Aidarov		Detail
OG	18 February 1998	Nagano	10 km Sprint	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Frode Andresen	Ville Räikkönen		Detail
6	3 March 1998	Pokljuka	20 km Individual	Ricco Groß	Egil Gjelland	Ole Einar Bjørndalen		Detail
6	5 March 1998	Pokljuka	10 km Sprint	Frank Luck	Raphaël Poirée	Viktor Maigourov	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Detail
7	7 March 1998	Pokljuka	10 km Sprint	Vladimir Drachev	Sven Fischer	Ilmārs Bricis		Detail
WC	8 March 1998	Pokljuka	12.5 km Pursuit	Vladimir Drachev	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Raphaël Poirée		Detail
8	12 March 1998	Hochfilzen	20 km Individual	Vladimir Drachev	Halvard Hanevold	Viktor Maigourov		Detail
8	14 March 1998	Hochfilzen	10 km Sprint	Vladimir Drachev	Ilmārs Bricis	Sven Fischer		Detail

Women

Stage	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third	Yellow bib (After competition)	Det.
1	6 December 1997	Lillehammer	7.5 km Sprint	Galina Koukleva	Olga Melnik	Magdalena Forsberg	Galina Koukleva	Detail
1	7 December 1997	Lillehammer	10 km Pursuit	Galina Koukleva	Magdalena Forsberg	Uschi Disl		Detail
2	11 December 1997	Östersund	15 km Individual	Andreja Grašič	Magdalena Forsberg	Olena Petrova		Detail
2	13 December 1997	Östersund	7.5 km Sprint	Magdalena Forsberg	Olena Zubrilova	Galina Koukleva	Magdalena Forsberg	Detail
3	18 December 1997	Kontiolahti	7.5 km Sprint	Uschi Disl	Martina Zellner	Svetlana Ishmouratova		Detail
3	20 December 1997	Kontiolahti	10 km Pursuit	Magdalena Forsberg	Svetlana Ishmouratova	Martina Zellner		Detail
4	8 January 1998	Ruhpolding	7.5 km Sprint	Magdalena Forsberg	Petra Behle	Corinne Niogret		Detail
4	10 January 1998	Ruhpolding	7.5 km Sprint	Petra Behle	Martina Zellner	Corinne Niogret		Detail
5	15 January 1998	Antholz-Anterselva	15 km Individual	Olga Romasko	Liv Grete Skjelbreid	Magdalena Forsberg		Detail
5	17 January 1998	Antholz-Anterselva	7.5 km Sprint	Nina Lemesh	Svetlana Ishmouratova	Magdalena Forsberg		Detail
OG	9 February 1998	Nagano	15 km Individual	Ekaterina Dafovska	Olena Petrova	Uschi Disl		Detail
OG	15 February 1998	Nagano	7.5 km Sprint	Galina Koukleva	Uschi Disl	Katrin Apel		Detail
6	3 March 1998	Pokljuka	15 km Individual	Magdalena Forsberg	Florence Baverel	Uschi Disl		Detail
6	5 March 1998	Pokljuka	7.5 km Sprint	Corinne Niogret	Emmanuelle Claret	Annette Sikveland		Detail
7	7 March 1998	Pokljuka	7.5 km Sprint	Magdalena Forsberg	Ann-Elen Skjelbreid	Christelle Gros		Detail
WC	8 March 1998	Pokljuka	10 km Pursuit	Magdalena Forsberg	Corinne Niogret	Martina Zellner		Detail
8	12 March 1998	Hochfilzen	15 km Individual	Uschi Disl	Andreja Grašič	Martina Zellner		Detail
8	14 March 1998	Hochfilzen	7.5 km Sprint	Uschi Disl	Magdalena Forsberg	Liv Grete Skjelbreid		Detail

Men's team

Event	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third
2	14 December 1997	Östersund	4x7.5 km Relay	Norway Egil Gjelland Sylfest Glimsdal Halvard Hanevold Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Germany Jan Wüstenfeld Carsten Heymann Marco Morgenstern Sven Fischer	Italy Patrick Favre Wilfried Pallhuber Pieralberto Carrara Rene Cattarinussi
3	21 December 1997	Kontiolahti	4x7.5 km Relay	Russia Sergei Rozhkov Vladimir Drachev Sergei Tarasov Pavel Rostovtsev	Belarus Alexei Aidarov Oleg Ryzhenkov Vadim Sashurin Alexander Popov	Italy Patrick Favre Wilfried Pallhuber Pieralberto Carrara Rene Cattarinussi
4	11 January 1998	Ruhpolding	4x7.5 km Relay	Norway Egil Gjelland Frode Andresen Dag Bjørndalen Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Germany Ricco Gross Jan Wüstenfeld Sven Fischer Frank Luck	Russia Sergei Rozhkov Pavel Vavilov Pavel Rostovtsev Alexei Kobelev
5	18 January 1998	Antholz-Anterselva	4x7.5 km Relay	Germany Ricco Gross Peter Sendel Sven Fischer Frank Luck	Norway Egil Gjelland Halvard Hanevold Frode Andresen Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Belarus Alexei Aidarov Oleg Ryzhenkov Alexander Popov Vadim Sashurin
OG	21 February 1998	Nagano	4x7.5 km Relay	Germany Ricco Gross Peter Sendel Sven Fischer Frank Luck	Norway Egil Gjelland Halvard Hanevold Dag Bjørndalen Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Russia Pavel Mouslimov Vladimir Drachev Sergei Tarasov Viktor Maigourov
WC	15 March 1998	Hochfilzen	Team event	Norway Egil Gjelland Sylfest Glimsdal Halvard Hanevold Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Germany Ricco Gross Carsten Heymann Sven Fischer Frank Luck	Russia Vladimir Drachev Alexei Kobelev Sergei Rozhkov Viktor Maigourov

Women's team

Event	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third
2	14 December 1997	Östersund	4x7.5 km Relay	France Florence Baverel Emmanuelle Claret Christelle Gros Corinne Niogret	Germany Uschi Disl Martina Zellner Katrin Apel Petra Behle	Russia Olga Melnik Galina Kukleva Albina Akhatova Anna Volkova
3	21 December 1997	Kontiolahti	4x7.5 km Relay	Czech Republic Kateřina Losmanová Jiřina Pelcová Irena Česneková Eva Háková	France Florence Baverel Anne Briand Christelle Gros Corinne Niogret	Germany Uschi Disl Simone Greiner Katrin Apel Martina Zellner
4	11 January 1998	Ruhpolding	4x7.5 km Relay	Russia Olga Melnik Galina Kukleva Nadezhda Talanova Albina Akhatova	Germany Uschi Disl Martina Zellner Katrin Apel Petra Behle	Norway Ann-Elen Skjelbreid Annette Sikveland Gunn Margit Andreassen Liv Grete Skjelbreid
5	18 January 1998	Antholz-Anterselva	4x7.5 km Relay	Russia Anna Volkova Galina Kukleva Olga Romasko Albina Akhatova	Norway Ann-Elen Skjelbreid Annette Sikveland Gunn Margit Andreassen Liv Grete Skjelbreid	Germany Uschi Disl Martina Zellner Katrin Apel Katja Beer
OG	19 February 1998	Nagano	4x7.5 km Relay	Germany Uschi Disl Martina Zellner Katrin Apel Petra Behle	Russia Olga Melnik Galina Kukleva Albina Akhatova Olga Romasko	Norway Ann-Elen Skjelbreid Annette Sikveland Gunn Margit Andreassen Liv Grete Skjelbreid

Standings: Men

Overall

Pos.		Points
1.	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	289
2.	Ricco Groß	286
3.	Sven Fischer	270
4.	Halvard Hanevold	263
5.	Raphaël Poirée	249

• Final standings after 18 races.

Individual

Pos.		Points
1.	Halvard Hanevold	103
2.	Ricco Groß	94
3.	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	71
4.	Pieralberto Carrara	70
5.	Viktor Maigourov	68

• Final standings after 5 races.

Sprint

Pos.		Points
1.	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	185
2.	Raphaël Poirée	161
3.	Frode Andresen	147
4.	Sven Fischer	147
5.	Vladimir Drachev	145

• Final standings after 10 races.

Pursuit

Pos.		Points
1.	Sven Fischer	72
2.	Ricco Groß	59
3.	Sergei Rozhkov	54
4.	Vladimir Drachev	51
5.	Frank Luck	51

• Final standings after 3 races.

Relay

Pos.		Points
1.	Germany	112
1.	Norway	112
3.	Russia	98
4.	Belarus	90
5.	Italy	87

• Final standings after 5 races.

Nation

Pos.		Points
1.	Norway	5660
2.	Germany	5493
3.	Russia	5481
4.	Italy	4943
5.	Belarus	4522

• Final standings after 20 races.

Standings: Women

Overall

Pos.		Points
1.	Magdalena Forsberg	387
2.	Uschi Disl	325
3.	Martina Zellner	255
4.	Corinne Niogret	238
5.	Galina Kukleva	227

• Final standings after 18 races.

Individual

Pos.		Points
1.	Magdalena Forsberg	99
2.	Uschi Disl	97
3.	Andreja Grašič	83
4.	Martina Zellner	78
5.	Olena Petrova	77

• Final standings after 5 races.

Sprint

Pos.		Points
1.	Magdalena Forsberg	202
2.	Uschi Disl	171
3.	Corinne Niogret	152
4.	Galina Kukleva	141
5.	Martina Zellner	129

• Final standings after 10 races.

Pursuit

Pos.		Points
1.	Magdalena Forsberg	86
2.	Uschi Disl	57
3.	Corinne Niogret	53
4.	Galina Kukleva	49
5.	Martina Zellner	48

• Final standings after 3 races.

Relay

Pos.		Points
1.	Russia	110
2.	Germany	106
3.	France	100
4.	Norway	96
5.	Czech Republic	91

• Final standings after 5 races.

Nation

Pos.		Points
1.	Germany	5560
2.	Russia	5454
3.	France	5151
4.	Norway	5108
5.	Ukraine	4601

• Final standings after 20 races.

Medal table

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Germany	12	11	14	37
2	Russia	12	5	10	27
3	Norway	8	14	5	27
4	Sweden	6	3	3	12
5	France	3	6	6	15
6	Ukraine	1	2	1	4
7	Belarus	1	1	3	5
8	Slovenia	1	1	0	2
9	Bulgaria	1	0	0	1
	Czech Republic	1	0	0	1
11	Italy	0	1	2	3
12	Latvia	0	1	1	2
13	Austria	0	1	0	1
14	Finland	0	0	1	1
Totals (14 entries)		46	46	46	138

Achievements

Victory in this World Cup (all-time number of victories in parentheses)

Men

• Vladimir Drachev (RUS), 4 (10) first places
• Frank Luck (GER), 2 (6) first places
• Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR), 2 (6) first places
• Halvard Hanevold (NOR), 2 (2) first places
• Sven Fischer (GER), 1 (9) first place
• Sylfest Glimsdal (NOR), 1 (3) first place
• Ricco Groß (GER), 1 (3) first place
• Alexei Kobelev (RUS), 1 (2) first place
• Alexei Aidarov (BLR), 1 (1) first place
• Jan Wüstenfeld (GER), 1 (1) first place
• Raphaël Poirée (FRA), 1 (1) first place
• Frode Andresen (NOR), 1 (1) first place

Women

• Magdalena Forsberg (SWE), 6 (12) first places
• Uschi Disl (GER), 3 (14) first places
• Galina Kukleva (RUS), 3 (4) first places
• Petra Behle (GER), 1 (6) first place
• Olga Romasko (RUS), 1 (4) first place
• Andreja Grašič (SVN), 1 (3) first place
• Corinne Niogret (FRA), 1 (2) first place
• Nina Lemesh (UKR), 1 (1) first place
• Ekaterina Dafovska (BUL), 1 (1) first place

Retirements

Following notable biathletes retired after the 1997–98 season:

• Alexandr Popov (BLR)
• Patrice Bailly-Salins (FRA)
• Hubert Leitgeb (ITA)
• Jon Åge Tyldum (NOR)
• Sergei Tarasov (RUS)
• Mikael Löfgren (SWE)
• Myriam Bédard (CAN)
• Jiřina Pelcová (CZE)
• Petra Behle (GER)
• Hildegunn Mikkelsplass (NOR)
• Olga Melnik (RUS)
• Valentyna Tserbe-Nessina (UKR)

External links

• IBU official site