Emil Hegle Svendsen

Emil Hegle Svendsen (born 12 July 1985) is a retired Norwegian biathlete. He has won eight medals at Winter Olympics (four gold) and five individual gold medals and seven relay gold medals at World Championships.

Emil Hegle Svendsen
Emil Hegle Svendsen in 2009
Personal information
Nickname(s)Super-Svendsen
Born (1985-07-12) 12 July 1985
Trondheim, Norway
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Professional information
SportBiathlon
ClubTrondhjems Skiskyttere
World Cup debut15 December 2005
Olympic Games
Teams4 (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018)
Medals8 (4 gold)
World Championships
Teams9 (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016)
Medals21 (12 gold)
World Cup
Seasons11 (2005/06–2017/18)
Individual victories37
All victories58
Individual podiums79
All podiums115
Overall titles1 (2009–10)
Discipline titles4:
2 Individual (2010–11, 2013–14);
1 Sprint (2009–10);
1 Mass start (2010–11)
Updated on 23 February 2018.

He skis with Trondhjems Skiskyttere, 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, now known as the IBU cup. During his first season in the World Cup Svendsen finished fifth in three races, two of them in sprints (Brezno-Osrblie 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 off 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.

Emil Hegle Svendsen Kontiolahti, 2010

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.

He won 2 gold medals in 2014 Winter Olympics: in mass-start and mixed relay (together with Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Tiril Eckhoff and Tora Berger).

Svendsen is 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) tall, and weighs 170 lb (77 kg, 12 st 2 lb)

On 9 April 2018, he announced his retirement from biathlon following the 2017–2018 season.[1][2]

Personal life

He is in a relationship with Samantha Skogrand, and in 2019 the couple became parents to a boy.[3]

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.[4]

Olympic Games

8 medals (4 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze)

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay
2006 Turin 6th N/A
2010 Vancouver Gold Silver 8th 13th Gold N/A
2014 Sochi 7th 9th 7th Gold 4th Gold
2018 Pyeongchang 10th 18th 20th Bronze Silver Silver
*The mixed relay was added as an event in 2014.

World Championships

21 medals (12 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze)

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay
2007 Antholz-Anterselva 7th 5th Bronze
2008 Östersund Gold 12th 12th Gold Silver
2009 Pyeongchang DNS 12th Gold
2010 Khanty-Mansiysk N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Silver
2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 4th 5th Silver Gold Gold
2012 Ruhpolding 8th Silver 5th 18th Gold Gold
2013 Nové Město Gold Gold Bronze Gold Gold
2015 Kontiolahti Silver 36th 19th 15th Silver
2016 Oslo Holmenkollen 32nd 17th Bronze 28th Gold
2017 Hochfilzen 27th 36th DNS 28th 8th 8th
*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

Junior/Youth World Championships

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Relay
2002 Ridnaun-Val Ridanna 18th 13th 13th 11th
2003 Kościelisko Bronze 7th Bronze 4th
2004 Haute Maurienne 14th 6th Gold Gold
2005 Kontiolahti Gold Gold Silver 10th

World Cup

Season Overall Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start
Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position
2005–0617/2628922nd0/30N/A7/1012021st5/85232nd5/51177th
2006–0719/2738117th0/40N/A8/1015814th6/815412th3/56918th
2007–0820/266873rd2/31002nd8/102533rd6/82106th4/51245th
2008–0919/268443rd2/47214th7/103183rd6/73082nd4/51467th
2009–1019/258281st2/41202nd8/103541st4/61738th5/51632nd
2010–1124/2611052nd4/41881st9/103692nd6/73043rd5/52441st
2011–1226/2610352nd3/31083rd10/103782nd8/83492nd5/52182nd
2012–1320/268272nd1/34325th8/103152nd7/82872nd4/51822nd
2013–1418/226422nd2/2841st7/92406th6/82177th3/31014th
2014–1521/256139th2/31143rd8/1019117th6/71996th5/510915th
2015–1619/2559510th3/36415th6/918314th6/82297th4/511915th

Individual victories

38 victories (8 In, 11 Sp, 12 Pu, 7 MS)

Season Date Location Discipline Level
2007–08
6 victories
(2 In, 2 Sp, 1 Pu, 1 MS)
13 December 2007 Pokljuka20 km individualBiathlon World Cup
14 February 2008 Östersund20 km individualBiathlon World Championships
17 February 2008 Östersund15 km mass startBiathlon World Championships
27 February 2008 Pyeongchang10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
8 March 2008 Khanty-Mansiysk12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
13 March 2008 Oslo Holmenkollen10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
2008–09
5 victories
(3 Sp, 2 Pu)
6 December 2008 Östersund10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
12 December 2008 Hochfilzen10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
13 December 2008 Hochfilzen12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
23 January 2009 Antholz-Anterselva10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
28 March 2009 Khanty-Mansiysk12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
2009–10
5 victories
(2 In, 1 Sp, 1 Pu, 1 MS)
3 December 2009 Östersund20 km individualBiathlon World Cup
12 December 2009 Hochfilzen12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
14 January 2010 Ruhpolding10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
16 January 2010 Ruhpolding15 km mass startBiathlon World Cup
18 February 2010 Vancouver20 km individualWinter Olympic Games
2010–11
8 victories
(2 In, 2 Sp, 2 Pu, 2 MS)
2 December 2010 Östersund20 km individualBiathlon World Cup
4 December 2010 Östersund10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
12 January 2011 Ruhpolding20 km individualBiathlon World Cup
10 February 2011 Fort Kent10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
12 February 2011 Fort Kent12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
12 March 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk15 km mass startBiathlon World Championships
19 March 2011 Oslo Holmenkollen12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
20 March 2011 Oslo Holmenkollen15 km mass startBiathlon World Cup
2011–12
4 victories
(1 Sp, 1 Pu, 2 MS)
10 December 2011 Hochfilzen12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
14 January 2012 Nové Město10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
5 February 2012 Oslo Holmenkollen15 km mass startBiathlon World Cup
18 March 2012 Khanty-Mansiysk15 km mass startBiathlon World Cup
2012–13
3 victories
(1 Sp, 2 Pu)
15 December 2012 Pokljuka12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
9 February 2013 Nové Město10 km sprintBiathlon World Championships
10 February 2013 Nové Město12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Championships
2013–14
5 victories
(1 In, 1 Sp, 2 Pu, 1 MS)
3 January 2014 Oberhof10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
4 January 2014 Oberhof12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
11 January 2014 Ruhpolding20 km individualBiathlon World Cup
12 January 2014 Ruhpolding12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
18 February 2014 Sochi15 km mass startWinter Olympic Games
2014–15
2 victories
(1 In, 1 Pu)
3 December 2014 Östersund20 km individualBiathlon World Cup
20 December 2014 Pokljuka12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

References

  1. "4-time Olympic biathlon gold medalist Svendsen retires". USA Today. 9 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  2. Nick Zaccardi (9 April 2018). "Emil Hegle Svendsen joins list of Norway Olympic star retirements". NBC Sports. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  3. Eilertsen, Kaja Hoff Henriette (January 29, 2019). "Nå er de blitt foreldre". Dagbladet.no. Retrieved 31 August 2019
  4. "Emil Hegle Svendsen". IBU Datacenter. International Biathlon Union. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Aksel Lund Svindal
Flagbearer for  Norway
2018 Pyeongchang
Succeeded by
Incumbent
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