Frank Ullrich (, ; born 24 January 1958) is a German politician of the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

and former

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and shooting sports, rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into sh ...

and trainer of the German national team. Since

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, he has been a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

Career

Biathlon was in Ullrich's family as his father was a biathlon referee. His first appearance was in 1967 at the

GDR East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Children Championships. In 1972, he placed second over 5 km at the

Spartakiad The Spartakiad (or Spartakiade) was an international sports event that was sponsored by the Soviet Union. Five international Spartakiades were held from 1928 to 1937. Later Spartakiads were organized as national sport events of the Eastern Bloc ...

, in 1975 he became Youth World Champion in

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

. He won a bronze medal at the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

with the 4 × 7.5 km relay team. At the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

he won 3 medals with silvers in the 20 km individual and the 4 × 7.5 km relay and a gold medal in the 10 km sprint, an event he dominated at world level between 1978 and 1981. In 1982 his wife fell ill and died, soon after which he switched to training. He undertook a period of study at the National Academy for Body Culture and then, in 1987, became the trainer of the East Germany national team, and, following

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

, national trainer for the sprint. Speaking to Ullrich's dominance in the World Cup, even though he retired in the mid-80s, only five male biathletes have surpassed him in terms of World Cup victories.

Sven Fischer Sven Fischer (born 16 April 1971) is a former German biathlete. He trained with the WSV Oberhof 05 club, and was coached by Frank Ullrich and Fritz Fischer (national coaches) and Klaus Siebert (club coach). After the 2006/07 biathlon season, he ...

won his 17th World Cup victory on 18 March 2000,

Ole Einar Bjørndalen Ole Einar Bjørndalen () (born 27 January 1974) is a retired Norwegian professional Biathlon, biathlete and coach, often referred to by the nickname, the "King of Biathlon". With 13 Winter Olympic Games medals, he is second on the List of multip ...

won his on 12 January 2001,

Raphaël Poirée Raphaël Poirée (born 9 August 1974) is a retired French biathlete who was active from 1995 to 2007. With his 44 World Cup victories and several World Championship medals he ranks among the most successful biathletes ever. Sports career Poi ...

won on 18 January 2002, whilst

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. He skis with Trondhjems Skiskytte ...

won on 2 December 2010 and

Martin Fourcade Martin Fourcade (; born 14 September 1988) is a French biathlete and sous-lieutenant. He is a five-time Olympic champion, a thirteen-time World Champion and a seven-time winner of the Overall World Cup. As of February 2018, he is the most succes ...

won on 12 January 2013.

Politics

Ullrich, who has a working class background and whose grandfather was a "passionate social democrat", was a direct candidate for the

in the

2021 German federal election Federal elections in Germany, Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the List of members of the 20th Bundestag, 20th Bundestag. States of Germany, State elections in 2021 Berlin state election, Berli ...

. He won his electoral constituency (

Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg is an electoral constituency (German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering syste ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

) with 33.5 %, making him a member of the 20th

. The local election was observed closely by the German public because Ullrich ran against

Hans-Georg Maaßen Hans-Georg Maaßen (born 24 November 1962) is a German civil servant and lawyer. From 1 August 2012 to 8 November 2018, he served as the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic security agency ...

, the controversial former head of the German domestic intelligence service.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; german: Internationale Biathlon-Union) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the ...

Olympic Games

''4 medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)'' :''*Sprint was added as an event in 1980.''

World Championships

''14 medals (9 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze)'' :''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.''

Individual victories

''17 victories (6 In, 11 Sp)'' :''*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the

Biathlon World Cup The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 Biathlon World Cup, 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 Biathlon World Cup, 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons ...

Biathlon World Championships The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The number of events has grown significantly over the years. Beginning in 1984, women biathletes had their own World Championships, and fina ...

and the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ullrich, Frank 1958 births Living people People from Schmalkalden-Meiningen Sportspeople from Thuringia German male biathletes Biathletes at the 1976 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1980 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1984 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes of East Germany Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Olympic silver medalists for East Germany Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Biathlon World Championships medalists Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag for Thuringia Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany