Laura Dahlmeier

Laura Dahlmeier (; 22 August 1993 – 28 July 2025) was a German biathlete. Dahlmeier started in her first World Cup races in the 2012–13 season. In 2014, she participated in the Winter Olympics in Sochi. She won a record of five gold medals at the World Championships of 2017. In 2018, she became the first woman to win the biathlon sprint and pursuit in the same Olympics. During her career she won a total of two golds and one bronze at the Olympics, seven gold medals, three silver medals and five bronze medals at World Championships, one overall World Cup and two discipline World Cup titles.

Dahlmeier announced her retirement from competition in May 2019, at the age of 25. She died on 28 July 2025 in a mountaineering accident in northern Pakistan. She began skiing at a young age, took up biathlon by the age of 7, excelled as a teenaged biathlete at the age of 17 and won gold in all three races (10 km individual, 6 km sprint, and the mixed relay) at the 2011 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Liberec. In this year she also passed her high school diploma at the St. Irmengard-Gymnasium with an average of 1.9 (very good) and became a member of "Zoll-Ski-Team Germany", where she could combine a professional education with a biathlon career. Her father runs a furniture store and is also a passionate climber, skier and mountain-rescue volunteer. Her mother and her aunt were both professional downhill mountain bikers, winning titles. After their retirement, they opened shops, Lauras mother as a goldsmith, her aunt as a hairstylist.

Career Biathlon career At the 2013 Biathlon Junior World Championships in Obertilliach, Austria, Dahlmeier took three gold medals in the individual, sprint and relay, as well as a silver in the pursuit. Following this, she was selected for the German team in the women's relay at the 2013 Biathlon World Championships: racing in the third leg, she shot clean and overcame a 38-second deficit to hand over with Germany in the lead. Dahlmeier completed her first full World Cup campaign the following season: she enjoyed further success in World Cup relays, however she was unable to secure a solo podium finish, and did not make an impact at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

The following season Dahlmeier's focus was on the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang: At the Games she became the second German woman to take the Olympic gold in the sprint, shooting clean as one of only three competitors to hit all targets in windy conditions, before doubling up with a second title in the pursuit and additionally taking a bronze in the individual.

Dahlmeier's 2018–19 season was postponed by a mountain bike accident, where a cut wound had to be stitched, a tooth removal and a subsequent infection. However, she took a World Cup race win at Antholz in January 2019 before going on to take two bronzes at the 2019 World Championships in Östersund in the sprint and the pursuit. In May 2019, after the end of the season, she announced her retirement from competition, stating that she no longer felt the 100% passion necessary for professional biathlon. She had her last biathlon competition after six months of retirement the 29th of December 2019 at the "Arena of Schalke" in Gelsenkirchen. She achieved a very good result with only one shot of forty missing the target and a very good lap time.

Post-biathlon career On 18 October 2019, Dahlmeier released the children's book Die Klima Gang: Laura Dahlmeier und Freunde im Einsatz für die Natur, which she co-authored (The Climate Gang: Laura Dahlmeier and Friends in Action for Nature).

For the 2019–20 Biathlon World Cup season, she served as an expert commentator for the German broadcaster ZDF and as a winter sport brand ambassador for BMW. In 2019, she started studying sport science at the Technical University of Munich.

After retiring from competitive biathlon, Dahlmeier competed in mountain running. In June 2019 she won the 39-kilometer Basetrail XL race of the Zugspitz Ultratrail in Grainau, Germany. In September 2019 she won and set a new women's course record in the 52-kilometer Karwendelmarsch race from Scharnitz to Pertisau in Austria. In November of that year she placed 27th at the 2019 World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships in Argentina.

In April 2023 Dahlmeier passed the exam "state-certified ski and mountain guide". From then she leads occasionally groups through the mountains around Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The same year she released her second book, Wenn ich was mach, mach ich's gscheidt. From 2011 until her death, she was a volunteer for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen mountain rescue team. Two hundred meters below the summit, they realized that air humidity and temperature had increased rapidly, and they decided to turn back before reaching the summit to avoid the dangers of rockfall and icefall. On their way down, a rockfall occurred. Dahlmeier was hit on the head by a large rock and thrown against the face of the mountain, leaving her unresponsive and in a position where Krauss could not reach her.

It was initially believed that Dahlmeier may have survived, so a rescue operation was launched, but crews were unable to get to her location due to danger of rockfall. They could only spot Laura from the helicopter and saw no signs of life. they also said Dahlmeier had expressly wished that no-one risk their life to recover her in case of an accident, and that her body should remain on the mountain.

On several mountains in the region, the remains of a number of climbers who perished in accidents have been left behind, where recovery was particularly challenging due to the difficult terrain or bad weather conditions. The ongoing border conflict with India further complicated recovery efforts, as only the Pakistani military was permitted to operate helicopters in the area.

An unnamed park in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was officially named Laura Dahlmeier Park on 27 February 2026, according to the decision of the municipal council on 24 September 2025 in coordination with the family of the deceased biathlon Olympic champion. A memorial already commemorates the honorary citizen there. A final recovery attempt failed, because the body was untraceable, although Thomas Huber and Andreas Dahlmeier searched parts of the mountain with a camera drone and a telescope with 30x magnification. It is suspected that her body has fallen into a glacier crevasse and is now covered with rock rubble. Laura’s father said, "We would have liked to bring Laura home to avoid that people try to make photos of her. But it wasn’t possible to recover her. It was too dangerous directly after the accident."

Biathlon results All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union. On 17 May 2019, she announced her retirement from biathlon.

Olympic Games 3 medals (2 gold, 1 bronze)

The mixed relay was added as an event in 2014.

World Championships 15 medals (7 gold, 3 silver, 5 bronze)

During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program. The single mixed relay was added as an event in 2019.

Junior World Championships Year Age Sprint Pursuit Relay Mixed relay 2011 Nové Město 17 12th 14thBronzeBronze 2012 Kontiolahti 18 16th 37th 34th 6th 2013 Obertilliach 19GoldGoldSilverGold

European Youth Olympic Winter Festival Year Age Individual Sprint Mixed relay 2011 Liberec 17GoldGoldGold

World Cup

Shooting statistics SeasonOverallIndividualSprintPursuitMass StartRelay2012–1390.0 (117/130)0 (0/0)96.7 (29/30)82.5 (33/40)87.5 (35/40)99.9 (20/20)2013–1490.8 (336/370)93.3 (56/60)87.1 (61/70)90.7 (127/140)86.7 (52/60)99.9(40/40)2014–1592.7 (290/313)95.0 (38/40)90.0 (63/70)92.0 (92/100)95.0 (57/60)93.0 (40/43)2015–1691.6 (294/321)90.0 (36/40)85.0 (51/60)95.0 (95/100)92.0 (92/100)95.2 (20/21)2016–1788.6 (444/501)91.7 (55/60)91.3 (73/80)90.6 (145/160)91.0 (91/100)79.2 (80/101)2017–1890.6 (396/437)87.5 (35/40)90.0 (72/80)94.3 (132/140)89.2 (107/120)87.7 (50/57)2018–1987.2 (251/288)92.5 (37/40)94.0 (47/50)91.3 (73/80)81.3 (65/80)76.3 (29/38) Key:Hits/shots, percentage. Results in all IBU World Cup races including relay events.

Individual victories 22 victories – (4 , 11 , 3 , 4 ) No. Season Date Location Race Level 1 2014–15 7 February 2015 Nové Město, Czech Republic 7.5 km Sprint World Cup 2 17 March 2015 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia 12.5 km Mass startWorld Cup 3 2015–16 12 December 2015 Hochfilzen, Austria 10 km Pursuit World Cup 4 19 December 2015 Pokljuka, Slovenia 10 km Pursuit World Cup 5 9 January 2016 Ruhpolding, Germany 10 km Pursuit World Cup 6 10 January 2016 Ruhpolding, Germany 12.5 km Mass Start World Cup 7 6 March 2016 Holmenkollen, Norway 10 km Pursuit World Championships 8 2016–17 30 November 2016 Östersund, Sweden 15 km Individual World Cup 9 9 December 2016 Pokljuka, Slovenia 7.5 km Sprint World Cup 10 10 December 2016 Pokljuka, Slovenia 10 km Pursuit World Cup 11 19 January 2017 Antholz, Italy 15 km Individual World Cup 12 12 February 2017 Hochfilzen, Austria 10 km Pursuit World Championships 13 15 February 2017 Hochfilzen, Austria 15 km Individual World Championships 14 19 February 2017 Hochfilzen, Austria 12.5 km Mass Start World Championships 15 2 March 2017 Pyeongchang, South Korea 7.5 km Sprint World Cup 16 4 March 2017 Pyeongchang, South Korea 10 km Pursuit World Cup 17 11 March 2017 Kontiolahti, Finland 10 km Pursuit World Cup 18 2017–18 16 December 2017 Annecy, France 10 km Pursuit World Cup 19 20 January 2018 Antholz, Italy 10 km Pursuit World Cup 20 10 February 2018 Pyeongchang, South Korea 7.5 km Sprint Winter Olympic Games 21 12 February 2018 Pyeongchang, South Korea 10 km Pursuit Winter Olympic Games 22 2018–19 27 January 2019 Antholz-Anterselva, Italy 12.5 km Mass Start World Cup Results are from IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

Relay victories No. Season Date Location Level Teammate 1 2012–13 10 March 2013 Sochi, Russia World Cup Henkel, Sachenbacher-Stehle, Neureuther 2 2013–1412 December 2013 Le Grand-Bornand, France Henkel, Preuss, Hildebrand 3 8 January 2014 Ruhpolding, Germany Sachenbacher-Stehle, Preuss, Hildebrand 4 2014–15 25 January 2015 Antholz, Italy Kummer, Preuss, Hildebrand 5 13 March 2015 Kontiolahti, Finland World Championships Hinz, Preuss, Hildebrand 6 2016–17 11 December 2016 Pokljuka, Slovenia World Cup Hinz, Hammerschmidt, Hildebrand 7 12 January 2017 Ruhpolding, Germany Hinz, Hammerschmidt, Preuss 8 22 January 2017 Antholz, Italy Hinz, Hammerschmidt, Hildebrand 9 9 February 2017 Hochfilzen, Austria World Championships Hinz, Peiffer, Schempp 10 17 February 2017 Hochfilzen, Austria Hinz, Hammerschmidt, Hildebrand) 11 2017–18 10 December 2017 Hochfilzen, Austria World Cup Hinz, Hildebrand, Hammerschmidt 12 13 January 2018 Ruhpolding, Germany Preuss, Herrmann-Wick, Hildebrand13 2018–198 February 2019 Canmore, Canada Hildebrand, Hinz, Herrmann-Wick

Overall record ResultIndividualSprintPursuitMass startRelayMixedrelayTotalIndividual eventsTeam eventsAll events 1st place 3 4 11 4 12 1 22 13 35 2nd place – 9 4 5 3 1 18 4 22 3rd place 2 4 3 2 3 – 11 3 14 Podiums 5 17 18 11 18 2 51 20 71 4–10 5 13 13 9 4 1 40 5 45 11–20 3 6 6 4 1 – 19 1 20 21–40 – 7 2 3 – – 12 - 12 41–60 1 1 1 – – – 3 - 3 Others – – – – – – - - 0 DNS 1 – – – – – 1 - 1 DNF – – – – – – - - 0 DSQ – – – – – 1 - 1 1 Starts 15 44 40 27 23 4 126 27 153 Results in IBU World Cup races, Olympics and World Championships.