Katrin Apel

Katrin Apel
nation	Germany
birthday	4th May 1973 (age 47)
place of birth	Erfurt ,  German Democratic Republic
Career
discipline	Biathlon cross-country skiing
society	WSV Oberhof, SV Eintracht Frankenhain
Trainer	Harald Böse
National squad	since 1994 (biathlon)
status	resigned
End of career	2007
Medal table
Olympic medals 2 × 1 × 1 × Biathlon World Cup 4 × 5 × 1 × Biathlon EM 0 × 0 × 1 × Cross-country JWM 0 × 1 × 1 ×
Participants in cross-country skiing  Nordic Junior Ski World Championships silver 1990 Les Saisies Season bronze 1993 Harrachov 5 km classic Participant in biathlon  winter Olympics gold 1998 Nagano Season bronze 1998 Nagano sprint gold 2002 Salt Lake City Season silver 2006 Turin Season  Biathlon world championships gold 1996 Ruhpolding Season gold 1996 Ruhpolding team gold 1997 Osrblie Season gold 1999 Kontiolahti Season silver 2000 Oslo sprint silver 2000 Oslo Season silver 2001 Pokljuka Season silver 2004 Oberhof Mass start bronze 2004 Oberhof Season silver 2005 Hochfilzen Season  European biathlon championships bronze 1995 Le Grand-Bornand sprint
Placements in the biathlon world cup Debut in the World Cup 1995 World Cup victories 23 (4 individual wins) Overall World Cup 5. ( 2001/2002 ) Individual World Cup 13. ( 2001/2002 ) Sprint World Cup 4. ( 2001/2002 ) Pursuit World Cup 4. ( 2001/2002 ) Mass start world cup 6. ( 2003/2004 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  sprint 3 3 4th  persecution 1 1 3  singles 0 0 1  Mass start 0 1 1  Season 18th 17th 4th  team 1 1 0
Placements in the cross-country skiing world cup Debut in the World Cup January 16, 1993

Katrin Apel (born May 4, 1973 in Erfurt ) is a former German biathlete and cross-country skier . She started cross-country skiing at the age of six, finished second in the relay at the 1990 Nordic Junior World Ski Championships and in 1993 won the classic bronze medal over 5 km. From 1994 to 2007 she was active as a biathlete, during which time she won six gold, six silver and two bronze medals at major events. In the World Cup she won 18 times in the relay, was three times sprint and one pursuit winner.

Career

Beginnings

Apel came to skiing through her parents and was already on a board at the age of one and a half. At age six she began training center Graefenroda with the cross-country and had been district champion with seven. Between the ages of ten and twelve, she trained two to three times a week and competed. In addition to skiing, she practiced athletics like her parents . In 1979 she came to the Polytechnische Oberschule in Graefenroda and in 1985, together with her brother Jens, moved to the Children's and Youth Sports School (KJS) in Oberhof . At 1.45 m tall and 33 kg in weight, Apel was not prepared for success. She only came to the children's and youth sports school because she was good at cross-country skiing and did ten pull-ups . In eighth grade she was already third in the GDR championship and two years later she was the Spartakiade winner.

After the 10th grade, she began training as an educator at the pedagogical college in Schmalkalden in 1989 , which she successfully completed in 1993. Then she joined the sports promotion group of the Bundeswehr , currently she has the rank of chief sergeant . In the newly founded WSV Oberhof she was supported by Ullrich Schneider, Kurt Albrecht and Gerold Köhler.

1990 to 1994

In her time as a cross-country skier, Apel won 13 national titles, was three times junior and junior champion and in 1991 she was also the title holder in the active class over 5 km classic. At the Junior World Championships in 1990 in Les Saisies , she took second place with the German relay and a year later fourth place over 5 km freestyle and with the DSV relay. At the German championships she reached over 10 km and third place in the relay race, and at the Junior World Championships in 1993 she was third over 5 km classic, fourth with the relay and sixth over 15 km freestyle. This is how she made her breakthrough in cross-country skiing. She celebrated the national relay championship with her club at the time, WSV Oberhof.

1994 to 1998

After unsuccessful qualification for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer , Apel made a spontaneous move to the biathlete camp. Reasons were also lack of clarity about their role and disputes in the association. Because she was still in the cross-country team, she secretly took part in shooting training. In her first season in 1994/95 she got into the European Cup . At the end of the season, Apel convinced with third place overall. At the 1995 European Biathlon Championships in Le Grand-Bornand , she was third in the sprint, and in the German championship she finished second with the Thuringia relay. A year later she rose to the biathlon world cup . In the first season in the World Cup, she regularly failed at the shooting range, but in the relay she impressed with good performances. In Oslo she had to do two penalties in the season, but the season of the DSV quartet was first.

The national coach Müßiggang and assistant coach Böse trusted her, so that she was used in the team and relay at the 1996 Biathlon World Championships in Ruhpolding and won two gold medals. She won her first national title over 15 km, and came second in the sprint. In the 1995/96 World Cup season in Pokljuka she was third in the individual and 33rd in the overall standings. At the 1997 World Cup in Osrblie , she won the gold medal again with the relay. In the 1996/97 World Cup she finished 26th at the end of the season. Thus, she qualified for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano . In the 1997/98 season , she improved to twelfth place overall. At the 1998 Winter Olympics, she and her teammates Uschi Disl , Martina Zellner and Petra Behle won the gold medal in the relay and the bronze medal in the sprint.

1999 to 2003

The 1998-99 season concluded Apel from in eighth. At the end of the season she was able to achieve a third place in the pursuit in Val Cartier and a second place in Oberhof. She won the gold medal again with the relay at the 1999 World Cup in Kontiolahti . In the 2000 World Cup in Ruhpolding , she was second with just 1.8 seconds ahead of Santer and tenth in the overall standings. At the 2000 World Cup in Oslo she was able to convince again. She won the silver medal in the sprint and with the relay. In the 2000/01 season she came in third place in the sprint in Osrblie and Ruhpolding. With the German relay she won the silver medal at the 2001 World Cup . At the end of the 2001/02 season, she finished fifth overall and celebrated her first victory in the sprint and pursuit of Lahti . At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City , she again won the gold medal with the relay. As a starting runner, she had to go to the penalty loop, which hadn't happened to her in two years. In the 2002/03 season she moved from WSV Oberhof to SV Eintracht Frankenhain . In the overall standings she landed in 20th place, at the 2003 World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk , 18th place in the sprint was her best result, she was not used in the relay.

2004 to 2006

The 2003/04 season went better for Apel than the previous season, and it came in seventh overall. At the 2004 home World Cup in Oberhof , she won the silver medal in the mass start and the bronze medal in the relay. In the 2004/05 winter season she took her fourth individual victory in the sprint in Khanty-Mansiysk, and she finished eighth in the overall standings. A season later, she managed seven top ten placements in the World Cup. At her last Winter Olympics in 2006 , she won the silver medal only in the relay. In the World Cup, she came eighth at the end of the season.

After a 2006/07 season with average performance, which was characterized by shoulder problems, Apel failed to make a nomination for the 2007 Biathlon World Championships in Antholz for the first time in eleven years, and on February 26, 2007, she announced her retirement from biathlon at the end of the season. After 22 years of competitive sport, she contested her last World Cup race in Khanty-Mansiysk on March 18, 2007 and achieved 19th place overall.

End of career

After the end of her career, in addition to representative tasks for sponsors and equipment suppliers, she also aims for additional training as an occupational therapist in order to “definitely work with children again”.

successes

Biathlon World Cup placements

The table shows all placements (depending on the year, including the Olympic Games and World Championships).

• 1st - 3rd Place: Number of podium placements
• Top 10: Number of placements in the top ten (including podium)
• Points ranks: Number of placements within the point ranks (including podium and top 10)
• Starts: Number of races run in the respective discipline

placement	singles	sprint	persecution	Mass start	team	Season	total
1st place		3	1		1	18th	23
2nd place		3	1	1	1	17th	23
3rd place	1	4th	3	1		4th	13
Top 10	7th	39	31	10	2	46	135
Scoring	17th	90	74	32	2	46	261
Starts	40	104	77	32	2	46	301
Status : end of the 2006/07 season, career completion

World Cup victories

Relay race

Single race

No. date place discipline 1. Dec 17, 1995  Oslo Season 2. 0Feb 6, 1996  Ruhpolding (ws1) team 3. 0Feb 8, 1996  Ruhpolding (ws1) Season 4th Feb 19, 1998  Nagano (ws2) Season 5. Dec 17, 1998  Osrblie Season 6th Feb 14, 1999  Kontiolahti (ws3) Season 7th Jan. 14, 2000  Ruhpolding Season 8th. Jan. 23, 2000  Antholz Season 9. 10 Mar 2000  Lahti Season 10. Dec 10, 2000  Pokljuka Season 11. 0Dec 7, 2001  Hochfilzen Season 12. Dec 14, 2001  Pokljuka Season 13. Jan. 17, 2002  Ruhpolding Season 14th Feb. 18, 2002  Salt Lake City (ws4) Season 15th 0Dec 6, 2002  Ostersund Season 16. Jan. 10, 2003  Oberhof Season 17th Jan. 14, 2004  Ruhpolding Season 18th 0Jan. 6, 2005  Oberhof Season

No. date place discipline 1. 14 Mar 2002  Lahti sprint 2. 17th Mar 2002  Lahti persecution 3. 21 Mar 2002  Oslo sprint 4th 16. Mar. 2005  Khanty-Mansiysk sprint

^(ws1) Biathlon World Championships 1996

^(ws2) 1998 Winter Olympics

^(ws3) Biathlon World Championships 1999

^(ws4) 2002 Winter Olympics

Honorary citizen

Apel's home community of Graefenroda made her an honorary citizen in 2002.

Web links

• Katrin Apel in the IBU database (English)
• Katrin Apel in the database of the International Ski Association (English)
• Katrin Apel in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Katrin Apel . In: Internationales Sportarchiv 44/2007 Munzinger Archive . dated November 3, 2007.
2. ↑ Katrin Apel breaks up
3. ↑ Biathlon Olympic champion Apel stops
4. ↑ Honorary Citizen ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.