Michael Greis (; born 18 August 1976) is a German former biathlete.

Career

Greis first competed at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

, finishing 15th and 16th in the 10 km sprint and 12.5 km pursuit events in the biathlon. Greis won the World Cup in the individual category in 2004/05, and was a member of the winning 4 × 7.5 km relay team in the 2004

Biathlon World Championships The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The original team event, Team (time), was held for the last time in 1965, to be replaced in 1966 by the team event, Relay (4 × 7.5 km) ...

, and took silver in the individual 20 km category at the 2005 World Championships. At the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

, Greis came into the games heading the World Cup standings and took the first Olympic gold of the games with victory in the individual 20 km ahead of the defending Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjørndalen. He was also a member of the German team that won the 4 × 7.5 km relay. On 25 February 2006 Greis won the men's 15 km event and became the first person to capture three gold medals at the Turin Olympic Games. ( Koreans Jin Sun-Yu and Ahn Hyun Soo became the second and third later on the same day with victories in

short track speed skating Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

.) Greis was named German sportsman of the year, along with fellow biathlete

Kati Wilhelm Kati Wilhelm (; born 2 August 1976 in Schmalkalden) is a German former professional Biathlon, biathlete. Like most German biathletes she is also a member of the German Armed Forces (''Bundeswehr'') with the rank of master sergeant (''Feldwebel#B ...

, by journalists. In the 2006/07 World Cup season, Greis won the Overall and the Sprint competition. In the 2007/08 World Cup season Greis managed onto the podium on a regular basis, attaining three victories, three 2nd places as well as three 3rds. At the season's World Champs in Östersund Greis did not participate in the sprint and in the pursuit but being anchor both in the men's Relay and the mixed Relay, helped to secure a gold and a bronze for his team. Prior to the 2008/09 World Cup season Greis had had a serious disagreement with the Germans' head coach

Frank Ullrich Frank Ullrich (, ; born 24 January 1958) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD and former biathlete and athletic trainer, trainer of the German national team. Since 2021 German federal election, 2021, he has bee ...

the reason being Ullrich's authoritative management of the team, which resulted in Greis' departure from Ullrich's jurisdiction to train on his own. This yielded him quite a solid performance throughout the year, with another two World Cup victories and the relay bronze at the Biathlon World Championships 2009 in South Korea. Greis participated in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada which turned to be a disappointing performance for his fans as he finished in the mediocre 10th place twice, in the Individual and the Mass Start, along with coming 5th in the relay and the pursuit, adding to a streak of unsuccessful Olympic performances by the German biathlon male team when not a single German won any medal in biathlon for the first time in the Olympic history. After the first round of the 2012–13 World Cup, Greis announced his retirement on 5 December 2012 citing a lack of motivation, making the 20 km in

Östersund Östersund (; ) is an Urban areas in Sweden, urban area (Stad (Sweden), city) in Jämtland in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-larg ...

on 28 November his last competition as he had dropped the sprint and pursuit. After retiring, Greis studied International Management at Ansbach University of Applied Sciences. He also worked as a pundit for

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

. Subsequently in 2016 he was appointed as head coach at the national biathlon training centre for east Switzerland at

Lenzerheide Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village lies in the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein. Th ...

, where he coached youth biathletes. After two years in this post, in April 2018 he was announced as head coach of the United States men's biathlon team. After one season in this role, in May 2019 he was named as head coach for the Polish women's biathlon team.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; ) 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 city. It was rocked by a corruption ...

Olympic Games

''3 medals (3 gold)'' :''*Mass start was added as an event in 2006.''

World Championships

''12 medals (3 gold, 3 silver, 6 bronze)'' :''*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.''

Individual victories

''11 victories (3 In, 4 Sp, 2 Pu, 2 MS)'' :''*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 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...

and the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held in ...

.''

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Greis, Michael 1976 births Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics Living people Sportspeople from Füssen German male biathletes Olympic biathletes for Germany Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic gold medalists for Germany Biathlon World Championships medalists Holmenkollen medalists German cross-country skiing coaches 21st-century German sportsmen