1997–98 Biathlon World Cup

The 1997–98 Biathlon World Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of biathlon, organised by the International Biathlon Union. The season started on 6 December 1997 in Lillehammer, Norway, and ended on 15 March 1998 in Hochfilzen, Austria. It was the twenty-first season of the Biathlon World Cup.

Calendar

Below is the IBU World Cup calendar for the 1997–98 season.^[1]

Location	Date	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay
Lillehammer	6–7 December		●	●
Östersund	11–14 December	●	●			●
Kontiolahti	18–21 December		●	●		●
Ruhpolding	8–11 January		●●			●
Antholz	15–18 January	●	●			●
Nagano	11–21 February	●	●			●
Pokljuka	3–8 March	●	●●	●
Hochfilzen	12–15 March	●	●
Total		5	10	3	0	5

World Cup Podium

Men

Stage	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third
1	6 December 1997	Lillehammer	10 km Sprint	Frank Luck	Dag Bjørndalen	Raphael Poiree
1	7 December 1997	Lillehammer	12.5 km Pursuit	Alexei Aidarov	Halvard Hanevold	Pavel Muslimov
2	11 December 1997	Östersund	20 km Individual	Sylfest Glimsdal	Alexei Kobelev	Viktor Maigourov
2	13 December 1997	Östersund	10 km Sprint	Alexei Kobelev	Raphael Poiree	Carsten Heymann
3	18 December 1997	Kontiolahti	10 km Sprint	Jan Wüstenfeld	Ricco Gross	Sven Fischer
3	20 December 1997	Kontiolahti	12.5 km Pursuit	Sven Fischer	Ludwig Gredler	Jan Wüstenfeld
4	8 January 1998	Ruhpolding	10 km Sprint	Raphael Poiree	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Ricco Gross
4	10 January 1998	Ruhpolding	10 km Sprint	Frode Andresen	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Raphael Poiree
5	15 January 1998	Antholz	20 km Individual	Halvard Hanevold	Ricco Gross	Alexei Aidarov
5	17 January 1998	Antholz	10 km Sprint	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Frode Andresen	Viktor Maigourov
OG	11 February 1998	Nagano	20 km Individual	Halvard Hanevold	Pieralberto Carrara	Alexei Aidarov
OG	18 February 1998	Nagano	10 km Sprint	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Frode Andresen	Ville Räikkönen
6	3 March 1998	Pokljuka	20 km Individual	Ricco Gross	Egil Gjelland	Ole Einar Bjørndalen
6	5 March 1998	Pokljuka	10 km Sprint	Frank Luck	Raphael Poiree	Viktor Maigourov
6	7 March 1998	Pokljuka	10 km Sprint	Vladimir Drachev	Sven Fischer	Ilmars Bricis
6	8 March 1998	Pokljuka	12.5 km Pursuit	Vladimir Drachev	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Raphael Poiree
7	12 March 1998	Hochfilzen	20 km Individual	Vladimir Drachev	Halvard Hanevold	Viktor Maigourov
7	14 March 1998	Hochfilzen	10 km Sprint	Vladimir Drachev	Ilmars Bricis	Sven Fischer

Women

Stage	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third
1	6 December 1997	Lillehammer	7.5 km Sprint	Galina Kukleva	Olga Melnik	Magdalena Forsberg
1	7 December 1997	Lillehammer	10 km Pursuit	Galina Kukleva	Magdalena Forsberg	Uschi Disl
2	11 December 1997	Östersund	15 km Individual	Andreja Grašič	Magdalena Forsberg	Olena Petrova
2	13 December 1997	Östersund	7.5 km Sprint	Magdalena Forsberg	Galina Kukleva	Anna Volkova
3	18 December 1997	Kontiolahti	7.5 km Sprint	Uschi Disl	Martina Zellner	Svetlana Ishmouratova
3	20 December 1997	Kontiolahti	10 km Pursuit	Magdalena Forsberg	Svetlana Ishmouratova	Martina Zellner
4	8 January 1998	Ruhpolding	7.5 km Sprint	Magdalena Forsberg	Petra Behle	Corinne Niogret
4	10 January 1998	Ruhpolding	7.5 km Sprint	Petra Behle	Martina Zellner	Corinne Niogret
5	15 January 1998	Antholz	15 km Individual	Olga Romasko	Liv Grete Skjelbreid	Magdalena Forsberg
5	17 January 1998	Antholz	7.5 km Sprint	Nina Lemesh	Svetlana Ishmouratova	Magdalena Forsberg
OG	9 February 1998	Nagano	15 km Individual	Ekaterina Dafovska	Olena Petrova	Uschi Disl
OG	15 February 1998	Nagano	7.5 km Sprint	Galina Kukleva	Uschi Disl	Katrin Apel
6	3 March 1998	Pokljuka	15 km Individual	Magdalena Forsberg	Florence Baverel	Uschi Disl
6	5 March 1998	Pokljuka	7.5 km Sprint	Corinne Niogret	Emmanuelle Claret	Annette Sikveland
6	7 March 1998	Pokljuka	7.5 km Sprint	Magdalena Forsberg	Ann-Elen Skjelbreid	Christelle Gros
6	8 March 1998	Pokljuka	10 km Pursuit	Magdalena Forsberg	Corinne Niogret	Martina Zellner
7	12 March 1998	Hochfilzen	15 km Individual	Uschi Disl	Andreja Grašič	Martina Zellner
7	14 March 1998	Hochfilzen	7.5 km Sprint	Uschi Disl	Magdalena Forsberg	Liv Grete Skjelbreid

Men's team

Event	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third
2	14 December 1997	Östersund	4x7.5 km Relay	Norway Egil Gjelland Sylfest Glimsdal Halvard Hanevold Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Germany Jan Wüstenfeld Carsten Heymann Marco Morgenstern Sven Fischer	Italy Patrick Favre Wilfried Pallhuber Pieralberto Carrara Rene Cattarinussi
3	21 December 1997	Kontiolahti	4x7.5 km Relay	Russia Sergei Rozhkov Vladimir Drachev Sergei Tarasov Pavel Rostovtsev	Belarus Alexei Aidarov Oleg Ryzhenkov Vadim Sashurin Alexander Popov	Italy Patrick Favre Wilfried Pallhuber Pieralberto Carrara Rene Cattarinussi
4	11 January 1998	Ruhpolding	4x7.5 km Relay	Norway Egil Gjelland Frode Andresen Dag Bjørndalen Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Germany Ricco Gross Jan Wüstenfeld Sven Fischer Frank Luck	Russia Sergei Rozhkov Pavel Vavilov Pavel Rostovtsev Alexei Kobelev
5	18 January 1998	Antholz-Anterselva	4x7.5 km Relay	Germany Ricco Gross Peter Sendel Sven Fischer Frank Luck	Norway Egil Gjelland Halvard Hanevold Frode Andresen Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Belarus Alexei Aidarov Oleg Ryzhenkov Alexander Popov Vadim Sashurin
OG	21 February 1998	Nagano	4x7.5 km Relay	Germany Ricco Gross Peter Sendel Sven Fischer Frank Luck	Norway Egil Gjelland Halvard Hanevold Dag Bjørndalen Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Russia Pavel Muslimov Vladimir Drachev Sergei Tarasov Viktor Maigourov

Women's team

Event	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third
2	14 December 1997	Östersund	4x6 km Relay	France Florence Baverel Emmanuelle Claret Christelle Gros Corinne Niogret	Germany Uschi Disl Martina Zellner Katrin Apel Petra Behle	Russia Olga Melnik Galina Kukleva Albina Akhatova Anna Volkova
3	21 December 1997	Kontiolahti	4x6 km Relay	Czech Republic Kateřina Losmanová Jiřina Pelcová Irena Česneková Eva Háková	France Florence Baverel Anne Briand Christelle Gros Corinne Niogret	Germany Uschi Disl Simone Greiner Katrin Apel Martina Zellner
4	11 January 1998	Ruhpolding	4x6 km Relay	Russia Olga Melnik Galina Kukleva Nadezhda Talanova Albina Akhatova	Germany Uschi Disl Martina Zellner Katrin Apel Petra Behle	Norway Ann-Elen Skjelbreid Annette Sikveland Gunn Margit Andreassen Liv Grete Skjelbreid
5	18 January 1998	Antholz-Anterselva	4x6 km Relay	Russia Anna Volkova Galina Kukleva Olga Romasko Albina Akhatova	Norway Ann-Elen Skjelbreid Annette Sikveland Gunn Margit Andreassen Liv Grete Skjelbreid	Germany Uschi Disl Martina Zellner Katrin Apel Katja Beer
OG	19 February 1998	Nagano	4x6 km Relay	Germany Uschi Disl Martina Zellner Katrin Apel Petra Behle	Russia Olga Melnik Galina Kukleva Albina Akhatova Olga Romasko	Norway Ann-Elen Skjelbreid Annette Sikveland Gunn Margit Andreassen Liv Grete Skjelbreid

Standings: Men

Overall

Pos.		Points
	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	289
2.	Ricco Gross	286
3.	Sven Fischer	270
4.	Halvard Hanevold	263
5.	Raphael Poiree	249

• Final standings after 18 races.

Individual Pos. Points    Halvard Hanevold 103 2. Ricco Gross 94 3. Ole Einar Bjørndalen 71 4. Pieralberto Carrara 70 5. Viktor Maigourov 68 Final standings after 5 races.

Sprint Pos. Points    Ole Einar Bjørndalen 185 2. Raphael Poiree 161 3. Frode Andresen 147 4. Sven Fischer 147 5. Vladimir Drachev 145 Final standings after 10 races.

Pursuit Pos. Points    Sven Fischer 72 2. Ricco Gross 59 3. Sergei Rozhkov 54 4. Vladimir Drachev 51 5. Frank Luck 51 Final standings after 3 races.

Relay Pos. Points    Germany 112    Norway 112 3. Russia 98 4. Belarus 90 5. Italy 87 Final standings after 5 races.

Nation Pos. Points 1.  Norway 5660 2.  Germany 5493 3.  Russia 5481 4.  Italy 4943 5.  Belarus 4522 Final standings after 20 races.

Standings: Women

Overall

Pos.		Points
	Magdalena Forsberg	387
2.	Uschi Disl	325
3.	Martina Zellner	255
4.	Corinne Niogret	238
5.	Galina Kukleva	227

• Final standings after 18 races.

Individual Pos. Points    Magdalena Forsberg 99 2. Uschi Disl 97 3. Andreja Grašič 83 4. Martina Zellner 78 5. Olena Petrova 77 Final standings after 5 races.

Sprint Pos. Points    Magdalena Forsberg 202 2. Uschi Disl 171 3. Corinne Niogret 152 4. Galina Kukleva 141 5. Martina Zellner 129 Final standings after 10 races.

Pursuit Pos. Points    Magdalena Forsberg 86 2. Uschi Disl 57 3. Corinne Niogret 53 4. Galina Kukleva 49 5. Martina Zellner 48 Final standings after 3 races.

Relay Pos. Points    Russia 110 2. Germany 106 3. France 100 4. Norway 96 5. Czech Republic 91 Final standings after 5 races.

Nation Pos. Points 1.  Germany 5560 2.  Russia 5454 3.  France 5151 4.  Norway 5108 5.  Ukraine 4601 Final standings after 20 races.

Retirements

Following notable biathletes retired after the 1997–98 season:

•  Alexandr Popov (BLR)
•  Patrice Bailly-Salins (FRA)
•  Hubert Leitgeb (ITA)
•  Jon Age Tyldum (NOR)
•  Sergei Tarasov (RUS)
•  Mikael Löfgren (SWE)

•  Myriam Bédard (CAN)
•  Jiřina Pelcová (CZE)
•  Petra Behle (GER)
•  Hildegunn Mikkelsplass (NOR)
•  Olga Melnik (RUS)
•  Valentyna Tserbe-Nessina (UKR)

External links

• IBU official site

References