Lars Berger (born 1 May 1979) is a former

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

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 cross-country skier.

Life and career

Fellow former biathlete

Tora Berger Tora or TORA may refer to: People * Tora (given name), female given name * Tora (surname) * Tora people of Arabia and northern Africa * Torá language, an extinct language once spoken in Brazil Places * Tora, Benin, in Borgou Department * T ...

is his sister. Berger's family moved to

Lesja Lesja is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is village of Lesja. Other villages in the municipality include Bjorli, Lesjaskog, L ...

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The co ...

, in 1985. At the age of six, Berger started cross-country skiing, but during his teens he decided to try out biathlon. Berger joined the national biathlon team in 2001. During the 2004

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 ...

Oberhof, Germany Oberhof is a town in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district of Thuringia, Germany. Located in the Thuringian Forest mountain range, it is a winter sports center and health resort. With 1,625 inhabitants (December 2016), it is visited by 144,000 touri ...

, he won silver medals in the 15 km mass start and the 4 × 7.5 km relay. Berger also won two gold medals in the military world championships that same year (cross-country and patrol). Berger finished fifth in the 2004 overall World Cup, and won several gold medals from the Norwegian Biathlon Championships. At the 2007 Biathlon World Championships in

Rasen-Antholz Rasen-Antholz (; it, Rasun-Anterselva ) is a municipality in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Geography The municipal area stretches along the Antholz valley, a northern side valley of the larger Puster Valley. In the northeast, the Staller Sadd ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, Berger was part of the Norwegian team that won silver in the 4 × 7.5 km relay. After several disappointing races, mainly due to unstable shooting, Berger was thrown off the Norwegian national team ahead of the 2008/2009 season. He revenged this by retrieving two world cup victories in sprint events, a silver in the World Championship sprint, and contributed to the gold in the men's relay. He was regarded as perhaps the fastest skier on the biathlon tour, but his lack of shooting accuracy often prevented him from producing consistent and winning results. Berger also competed in cross-country skiing from 2002. He won the 30 km and relay at the 2003 Norwegian cross-country skiing championships in

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

. Berger won a gold in the 4 × 10 km at the

2005 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2005 took place 16–27 February 2005 in Oberstdorf, Germany, for the second time after hosting it previously in 1987. The ski jumping team normal hill event returned after not being held in 2003. The dou ...

Oberstdorf Oberstdorf ( Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns. At the&nb ...

and finished 4th in the 15 km in those same championships. Berger won the gold medal in the 15 km at the

Nordic Skiing World Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship e ...

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

in 2007. Berger is the first person to win medals at the World Championships in

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not tim ...

and

Nordic skiing Nordic skiing encompasses the various types of skiing in which the toe of the ski boot is fixed to the Ski binding, binding in a manner that allows the heel to rise off the ski, unlike alpine skiing, where the boot is attached to the ski from toe ...

in the same year. He is also the only athlete to win gold in relays in both World Championships (in Nordic skiing in 2005 and 2007, in biathlon in 2009). In 2014, Berger won gold medal in the men's 15 km cross county skiing in the military world championship in

Sodankylä Sodankylä (; sme, Soađegilli ; smn, Suáđigil; sms, Suäʹđjel) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the region of Lapland, and lies at the northern end of Highway 5 ( E63) and along Highway 4 ( E75). The Kitinen River flows ne ...

, Finland. On 27 April 2015, Berger announced his retirement from the sport. He cited a "chronic knee injury" as his reason for retiring. Though Berger only participated in the 2010 Olympics, in both cross-country skiing and biathlon, he did travel to the Olympic Games as a reserve athlete in biathlon in both 2002 and 2014.

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

World Championships

''5 medals (1 gold, 4 silver)'' :''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.'' :''**The mixed relay was added as an event in 2005.''

Overall record

:''*Results in all UIPMB and IBU World Cup races.''

Junior/Youth World Championships

Individual victories

''7 victories (7 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 ...

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 ...

.''

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 1 medal – (1 silver)

World Championships

* 3 medals – (3 gold)

World Cup

Season standings

Team podiums

* 1 victory – (1 ) * 2 podiums – (2 )

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Lars 1979 births Living people Norwegian male biathletes Norwegian male cross-country skiers Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes of Norway Olympic cross-country skiers of Norway Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing Olympic silver medalists for Norway Biathlon World Championships medalists FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners People from Lesja Sportspeople from Innlandet