Lars Berger

Lars Berger (born 1 May 1979) is a former Norwegian biathlete and cross-country skier.

Life and career Fellow former biathlete Tora Berger is his sister. Berger's family moved to Lesja Municipality in Oppland county 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 in Oberhof, Germany, 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, Italy, 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 Municipality. Berger won a gold in the 4 × 10 km at the 2005 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf 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 in Sapporo in 2007.

Berger is the first person to win medals at the World Championships in biathlon and Nordic skiing 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, 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.

Olympic Games EventIndividualSprintPursuitRelay 2010 Vancouver — 46th 23rd — —

World Championships 5 medals (1 gold, 4 silver) EventIndividualSprintPursuitRelay 2004 Oberhof 24th 14th 11th Silver Silver 2005 Hochfilzen — 44th 32nd — — — 2006 Pokljuka 23rd 2007 Antholz-Anterselva 49th 14th 11th 17th Silver — 2009 Pyeongchang 34th Silver 5th 29th Gold 4th 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 65th 14th 19th 14th — — 2012 Ruhpolding — 32nd 40th — — — 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 Result Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay Total 1st place – 7 – – 4 – 11 2nd place – 2 2 1 5 – 10 3rd place – 3 1 – 2 – 6 4–10 2 14 9 1 3 1 30 11–20 – 14 16 9 1 1 41 21–40 7 24 25 12 – 1 69 41–60 10 21 7 – – – 38 Others 4 4 – – – – 8 DNF – – – – – – 0 DSQ – – – – 1 – 1 Starts 23 89 60 23 16 3 214 ''*Results in all UIPMB and IBU World Cup races.

Olympic Games 1 medal – (1 silver) Year Age 15 km individual 30 km skiathlon 50 km mass start Sprint 4 × 10 km relay Team sprint 2010 30 — — — — Silver —

World Championships 3 medals – (3 gold) Year Age 15 km individual 30 km skiathlon 50 km mass start Sprint 4 × 10 km relay Team sprint 2005 25 4 — — — Gold — 2007 27 Gold — — — Gold —

World Cup Season standings Season Age Discipline standings Ski Tour standingsOverallDistanceSprintNordicOpeningTour deSkiWorld CupFinal 2004 24 81 54 — 2005 25 93 59 — 2006 26 — 2007 27 78 46 — — 2008 28 144 85 — — — 2010 30 130 84 — — — 2012 32 107 67 — — — —

Team podiums 1 victory – (1 ) 2 podiums – (2 )