1977–78 Biathlon World Cup

The 1977–78 Biathlon World Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of biathlon, organised by the UIPMB (Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon). The season started on 13 January 1978 in Ruhpolding, West Germany, and ended in April 1978 in Sodankylä, Finland. It was the first ever season of the Biathlon World Cup, and it was only held for men.

1977–78 World Cup
Discipline Men Women
Overall East Germany Frank Ullrich
Competition
Frank Ullrich and Klaus Siebert at the East German Championships in 1978

Calendar

edit

Below is the World Cup calendar for the 1977–78 season.[1][2][3]

Location Date Individual Sprint Relay
  Ruhpolding 13–15 January
  Antholz-Anterselva 21–25 February
  Hochfilzen 2–5 March
  Murmansk 24–29 March
  Sodankylä 1–? April
Total 5 5 5

*The relays were technically unofficial races as they did not count towards anything in the World Cup.

World Cup podium

edit
Stage Date Place Discipline Winner Second Third Yellow bib
(After competition)
Det.
1 14 January 1978   Ruhpolding 20 km Individual   Klaus Siebert   Eberhard Rösch   Andreas Schweiger   Klaus Siebert Detail
1 15 January 1978   Ruhpolding 10 km Sprint   Sigleif Johansen   Eberhard Rösch   Frank Ullrich   Eberhard Rösch Detail
2 23 February 1978   Antholz-Anterselva 20 km Individual   Frank Ullrich   Alexander Ushakov   Nikolay Kruglov   Frank Ullrich Detail
2 25 February 1978   Antholz-Anterselva 10 km Sprint   Klaus Siebert   Eberhard Rösch   Vladimir Barnashov Detail
WC 2 March 1978   Hochfilzen 20 km Individual   Odd Lirhus   Frank Ullrich   Eberhard Rösch Detail
WC 4 March 1978   Hochfilzen 10 km Sprint   Frank Ullrich   Eberhard Rösch   Klaus Siebert Detail
3 25 March 1978   Murmansk 20 km Individual   Nikolay Kruglov   Anatoly Alyabyev   Vladimir Artemyev Detail
3 27 March 1978   Murmansk 10 km Sprint   Frank Ullrich   Nikolay Kruglov   Sigleif Johansen Detail
4 1 April 1978   Sodankylä 20 km Individual   Klaus Siebert   Vladimir Otchnev   Svein Engen Detail
4 2 April 1978   Sodankylä 10 km Sprint   Vladimir Barnashov   Heikki Ikola   Alexander Tikhonov Detail

Standings

edit

Overall

edit
Pos. Points
1.   Frank Ullrich 144
2.   Klaus Siebert 137
3.   Eberhard Rösch 133
4.   Vladimir Barnashov 125
5.   Nikolay Kruglov 119
  • Final standings after 10 races.

Achievements

edit
First World Cup career victory
  •   Klaus Siebert (GDR), 22, in his 1st season — the WC 1 Individual in Ruhpolding; it also was his first podium and the first podium for an East German biathlete
  •   Sigleif Johansen (NOR), 29, in his 1st season — the WC 1 Sprint in Ruhpolding; it also was his first podium and the first podium for a Norwegian biathlete
  •   Frank Ullrich (GDR), 20, in his 1st season — the WC 2 Individual in Ruhpolding; first podium was 1977–78 Sprint in Ruhpolding
  •   Odd Lirhus (NOR), 21, in his 1st season — the World Championships Individual in Hochfilzen; it also was his first podium
  •   Nikolay Kruglov (URS), 28, in his 1st season — the WC 3 Individual in Murmansk; first podium was 1977–78 Individual in Antholz-Anterselva
  •   Vladimir Barnashov (URS), 27, in his 1st season — the WC 4 Sprint in Sodankylä; first podium was 1977–78 Sprint in Antholz-Anterselva
First World Cup podium
  •   Eberhard Rösch (GDR), 27, in his 1st season — no. 2 in the WC 1 Individual in Ruhpolding
  •   Andreas Schweiger (FRG), 24, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 1 Individual in Ruhpolding; it also was the first podium for a West German biathlete
  •   Frank Ullrich (GDR), 19, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 1 Sprint in Ruhpolding
  •   Alexander Ushakov (URS), 29, in his 1st season — no. 2 in the WC 2 Individual in Antholz-Anterselva; it also was the first podium for a Soviet biathlete
  •   Nikolay Kruglov (URS), 28, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 2 Individual in Antholz-Anterselva
  •   Anatoly Alyabyev (URS), 26, in his 1st season — no. 2 in the WC 3 Individual in Murmansk
  •   Vladimir Artemiev (URS), in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 3 Individual in Murmansk
  •   Vladimir Barnashov (URS), 26, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 2 Sprint in Antholz-Anterselva
  •   Vladimir Otchnev (URS), in his 1st season — no. 2 in the WC 4 Individual in Sodankylä
  •   Svein Engen (NOR), 25, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 4 Individual in Sodankylä
  •   Heikki Ikola (FIN), 30, in his 1st season — no. 2 in the WC 4 Sprint in Sodankylä; it also was the first podium for a Finnish biathlete
  •   Alexander Tikhonov (URS), 31, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 4 Sprint in Sodankylä
Victory in this World Cup (all-time number of victories in parentheses)

Retirements

edit

Following notable biathletes retired after the 1977–78 season:

References

edit
  1. ^ Sportsboken 78-79 [The Sports Book 78-79] (in Norwegian). Stavanger: Dreyer Bok. ISBN 82-7096-063-2. (in Norwegian)
  2. ^ "Wintersport Charts Weltcup World Cup Biathlon 1978". Wintersport Charts. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  3. ^ "Statistiche Biathlon" [Statistics Biathlon]. Neve Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 22 October 2015. (in Italian) (registration required)