1978–79 Biathlon World Cup Explained

The 1978–79 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 10 January 1979 in Jáchymov, Czechoslovakia, and ended on 8 April 1979 in Bardufoss, Norway. It was the second season of the Biathlon World Cup, and it was only held for men.

Calendar

Below is the World Cup calendar for the 1978–79 season.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Location	Date	Individual	Sprint	Relay
Jáchymov	10–12 January	●	●	●
Antholz-Anterselva	21–24 January	●	●	●
Ruhpolding	28 February–2 March	●	●	●
Sodankylä	30 March–1 April	●	●	●
Bardufoss	6–8 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

Men

Stage	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third	Yellow bib	Det.
1	10 January 1979	Jáchymov	20 km Individual	Roar Nilsen	Eberhard Rösch	Terje Krokstad	Roar Nilsen	Detail
1	11 January 1979	Jáchymov	10 km Sprint	Rudolf Horn	Frank Ullrich	Terje Krokstad	Terje Krokstad	Detail
2	21 January 1979	Antholz-Anterselva	20 km Individual	Vladimir Barnashov	Heinz Böttcher	Klaus Siebert		Detail
2	23 January 1979	Antholz-Anterselva	10 km Sprint	Alexander Tikhonov	Vladimir Barnashov	Klaus Siebert	Vladimir Barnashov	Detail
WC	28 January 1979	Ruhpolding	20 km Individual			Sigleif Johansen	Klaus Siebert	Detail
WC	31 January 1979	Ruhpolding	10 km Sprint			Luigi Weiss		Detail
3	30 March 1979	Sodankylä	20 km Individual					Detail
3	31 March 1979	Sodankylä	10 km Sprint					Detail
4	6 April 1979	Bardufoss	20 km Individual					Detail
4	7 April 1979	Bardufoss	10 km Sprint					Detail

Standings: Men

Overall

Pos.		Points
1.	Klaus Siebert	143
2.		136
3.		128
4.		114
5.		114

• Final standings after 10 races.

Achievements

First World Cup career victory:

• , 26, in his 2nd season — the WC 1 Individual in Jáchymov; it also was his first podium
• , 24, in his 2nd season — the WC 1 Sprint in Jáchymov; it also was his first podium and the first podium for an Austrian biathlete
• , 32, in his 2nd season — the WC 2 Sprint in Antholz-Anterselva; first podium was 1977–78 Sprint in Sodankylä
• , 27, in his 2nd season — the WC 3 Individual in Sodankylä; first podium was 1977–78 Individual in Murmansk

First World Cup podium:

• , 22, in his 2nd season — no. 3 in the WC 1 Individual in Jáchymov
• , 27, in his 2nd season — no. 3 in the World Championships Sprint in Ruhpolding; it also was the first podium for an Italian biathlete
• , 21, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 3 Individual in Sodankylä
• , 21, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 4 Individual in Bardufoss

Victory in this World Cup (all-time number of victories in parentheses):

• , 2 (5) first places
• , 2 (2) first places
• , 1 (4) first place
• , 1 (2) first place
• , 1 (2) first place
• , 1 (1) first place
• , 1 (1) first place
• , 1 (1) first place

Notes

1. In the individual races in Jáchymov some non-World Cup racers participated. In the 20 km individual Jürgen Grundler, Thomas Klinger and Wolfgang Schütze, among others, were non-World Cup racers, and so for World Cup purposes Roar Nilsen won the race, with Rösch and Krokstad coming 2nd and 3rd. Pavlíček, Hess, Avdejev, Engen, Tor Svendsberget, Mathias Jung and Heinz Böttcher came 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th respectively and received the appropriate World Cup points.^{[4] [5]} In the 10 km sprint, some of the non-World Cup racers were Sigvart Bjøntegaard, Stig Kvistad and Gerold Eichhorn, and so they did not receive any World Cup points, and for World Cup purposes Terje Krokstad came 3rd in that race and received the appropriate World Cup points, with Rösch, Hess, Grundler and Mitev coming 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, respectively, and receiving the appropriate World Cup points.^[6]

Retirements

Following notable biathletes retired after the 1978–79 season:

• • ^[7]

Notes and References

1. Book: . Sportsboken 79-80 . The Sports Book 79-80 . Norwegian . Stavanger . Dreyer Bok . 82-7096-076-4.
2. Web site: Wintersport Charts Weltcup World Cup Biathlon 1979 . . Wintersport Charts . 15 September 2014.
3. Web site: Statistiche Biathlon . . 22 October 2015 . Neve Italia . Italian . Statistics Biathlon.
4. News: . 11 January 1979 . World Cup-resultater . World Cup results . Norwegian . Aftenposten . 14 September 2014.
5. News: . 11 January 1979 . Til topps tross tap . To the top despite loss . Norwegian . Aftenposten . 14 September 2014.
6. News: . 12 January 1979 . Terje Krokstad leder World Cup . Terje Krokstad leads the World Cup . Norwegian . Aftenposten . 14 September 2014.
7. News: Stenberg . Nils Petter . 6 December 1979 . - Jobber gjerne med eliten, sier Tor S. . - Works gladly with the elite, says Tor S. . Norwegian . Aftenposten . 1 August 2015.