Emil Hegle Svendsen
| Emil Hegle Svendsen | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal information | |
| Born |
12 July 1985 Trondheim, Norway |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Professional information | |
| Club | Strindheim IL |
| Skis | Madshus |
| World Cup | |
| Seasons | 2005–present |
| Wins | 33 |
| Additional podiums | 34 |
| Total podiums | 67 |
| Overall titles | 1 (2009-10) |
Medal record
| |
| Updated on 8 March 2012. | |
Emil Hegle Svendsen (born 12 July 1985) is a Norwegian biathlete. He won two gold medals and one silver at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He has won five individual gold medals and five relay gold medals at World Championships.
He skis with Strindheim IL, based in Trondheim.
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 an 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 season's 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.
Svendsen is 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) tall, and weighs 170 lb (77 kg, 12 st 2 lb)
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 | DNS | DNS | 12th | Gold | — |
 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk |
— | — | — | — | — | Silver |
| 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk |
4th | 5th | Silver | Gold | Gold | — |
 2012 Ruhpolding |
8th | Silver | 5th | 18th | Gold | Gold |
 2013 Nové Město |
DNS | Gold | Gold | Bronze | 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)
- 2013, Nové Město, 1st at mixed relay (with Tora Berger / Synnøve Solemdal / Tarjei Bø)
- 2013, Nové Město, 1st at sprint
- 2013, Nové Město, 1st at pursuit
- 2013, Nové Město, 1st at team team relay (with Ole Einar Bjørndalen / Henrik L'Abee-Lund / Tarjei Bø)
- 2013, Nové Město, 3rd at mass start
- 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
- 29 single wins
- 14 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
References
- IBU profile for Emil Hegle Svendsen
- Yahoo! Sports profile for the 2006 Winter Olympics at the Wayback Machine (archived April 6, 2012)
| |||||
| |||||