Torah Berger

Torah Berger
Full name	Torah Berger
Association	Norway
birthday	18th March 1981 (age 39)
place of birth	Ringerike , Norway
size	165 cm
Weight	60 kg
Career
society	Dombås IL
Admission to the national team	1999
Debut in the World Cup	2001
status	resigned
End of career	2014
Medal table
Olympic medals 2 × 1 × 1 × World Cup medals 8 × 5 × 5 × EM medals 0 × 1 × 0 × JWM medals 0 × 0 × 1 × NM medals 20 × 14 × 5 ×
winter Olympics gold 2010 Vancouver singles gold 2014 Sochi Mixed relay silver 2014 Sochi persecution bronze 2014 Sochi Season  Biathlon world championships silver 2006 Pokljuka Mixed relay bronze 2007 Antholz Season bronze 2007 Antholz Mixed relay silver 2008 Östersund Mass start bronze 2009 Pyeongchang singles silver 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk Mixed relay gold 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk Mixed relay bronze 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk Mass start gold 2012 Ruhpolding Mixed relay gold 2012 Ruhpolding singles gold 2012 Ruhpolding Mass start bronze 2012 Ruhpolding Season gold 2013 Nové Město na Moravě Mixed relay gold 2013 Nové Město na Moravě persecution gold 2013 Nové Město na Moravě singles gold 2013 Nové Město na Moravě Season silver 2013 Nové Město na Moravě sprint silver 2013 Nové Město na Moravě Mass start  European biathlon championships silver 2000 Kościelisko singles  Biathlon Junior World Championships bronze 2000 Hochfilzen sprint
World Cup balance
Overall World Cup	1st  ( 2012/13 ) 2nd ( 2013/14 ) 3rd ( 2008/09 , 2011/12 )
Individual World Cup	1.  ( 2012/13 )
Sprint World Cup	1.  ( 2012/13 )
Pursuit World Cup	1.  ( 2012/13 )
Mass start world cup	1.  ( 2012/13 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3. singles 5 0 2 sprint 7th 11 6th persecution 9 6th 4th Mass start 7th 4th 2 Season 10 7th 11
last change: end of career

Tora Berger (born March 18, 1981 in Ringerike ) is a former Norwegian biathlete who became Olympic champion in Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014 and won eight world titles.

Career

Beginnings (2001 to 2004)

Tora Berger competed in her first World Cup race in the 2001/02 season in the sprint in Hochfilzen , which she finished with seven shooting errors in 93rd place, over eight minutes behind the winner. In the whole season she reached the points in no race.

She won her first point in the World Cup a year later when she finished the sprint in Östersund in 30th place. This was also the only point placement she achieved throughout the winter. Also in Östersund, she stood on the podium for the first time with Linda Grubben , Gro Marit Istad-Kristiansen and Gunn Margit Andreassen when the Norwegian women's relay came in second.

In the following season , Berger started exclusively in the second-rate European Cup , a 9th place in the pursuit in Brusson , Italy , remained her only top 10 placement of the winter in an individual race, in Méribel she was in the relay race together with Anne Ingstadbjørg , Ann Kristin Flatland and Ann Helen Grande Third.

First successes in the World Cup (2004 to 2009)

From the 2004/05 World Cup season , she started exclusively in the Biathlon World Cup . This season she also achieved her first podium finish in an individual race when she finished the sprint in Antholz in second place. She confirmed this placement in the pursuit race that followed when she finished second again. That winter she also took part in the World Championships in Hochfilzen , but could not win a medal.

At the 2nd Mixed Relay World Championships in Pokljuka in 2006 , Tora Berger won the silver medal together with Linda Grubben , Halvard Hanevold and Ole Einar Bjørndalen, and with it her first medal at the Biathlon World Championships . This 2nd place was her only podium finish in winter 2005/06 .

At the 2007 World Championships in Antholz she was able to win bronze in the same competition and with the women's relay. In the first pursuit race of the 2007/2008 World Cup season , she won a World Cup race for the first time in Kontiolahti .

Berger at the World Championships in Östersund

At the 2008 World Championships in Östersund, Sweden, Berger took fourth place three times in the first three individual races (sprint, pursuit, individual), and in some cases narrowly missed a medal. In the last individual race, the mass start, she was in a promising position for the entire race. With the German Magdalena Neuner , the Russian Jekaterina Jurjewa and the Ukrainian Wita Semerenko , Berger went to the final round almost at the same time after the last shooting. Up to the finish she fought a duel with Magdalena Neuner for the win, to whom Berger was only narrowly defeated in the end. The silver medal in the mass start race was the first individual medal for the Norwegian.

At the 2009 World Championships in Pyeongchang , South Korea , she took third place behind Kati Wilhelm and Teja Gregorin in the individual race over 15 km.

Olympic gold (2009 to 2012)

Tora Berger celebrated her greatest sporting success to date with her Olympic victory in the individual race in Vancouver 2010 . At the end of the season Berger won the sprint title at the Norwegian Championships . Tora Berger achieved further great successes in her career at the Biathlon World Championships 2012 in Ruhpolding with the world championship titles in individual and mass start, her first two World Championship titles in individual races. In addition, she won gold in the mixed relay and was ranked 3rd with the Norwegian women's relay. Tora Berger won four medals at the 2012 Biathlon World Championships and became the most successful athlete in the championships. She was then voted Norway's Sportswoman of the Year for the first time .

Overall World Cup win (2012 to 2014)

As third in the overall World Cup last year, Tora Berger made a perfect start to the 2012/2013 season . In Östersund , Sweden , she won the individual race, the sprint and the pursuit. Later in the season she won more races and was regularly on the podium. The basis for her good results were safe and above all very fast shooting positions, with which she, as the final runner, also ensured two victories in the Norwegian women's relay. Although Berger is not one of the fastest runners in the field due to her running style, among other things, thanks to her consistently good performance she retained the lead in the overall World Cup until the 2013 Biathlon World Championships . In the first race of the world championships, the mixed relay, she was the first runner to lay the foundation for winning the gold medal with Synnøve Solemdal , Tarjei Bø and Emil Hegle Svendsen with a faultless shooting . After finishing second in the sprint, she won the pursuit, the individual competition and, together with Hilde Fenne , Ann Kristin Flatland and Synnøve Solemdal, the women's relay, before taking silver in the mass start at the end of the world championships. With a medal in every race (4 × gold, 2 × silver), she finished an almost perfect world championship as the best athlete. At the home World Cup in Oslo on Holmenkollen , she won all competitions and thus secured both the overall World Cup and the Pursuit World Cup early.

At the end of the season, in addition to the overall World Cup, she also led all individual World Cups and thus won these ratings - for the first and only time in her career. Since the introduction of the mass start for the 1998/99 season , this has only been achieved by the Swede Magdalena Forsberg , apart from Berger , who won all five ratings in both 2000/01 and 2001/02 . Magdalena Neuner , Gabriela Koukalová and Kaisa Mäkäräinen have won all ratings at least once in the course of their careers, but never all in the same year. Berger also won the Women's Relay World Cup, the Mixed Relay World Cup and the Nations Cup in the World Cup with Norway in the 2012/13 season.

Tora Berger, Kaisa Mäkäräinen and Dorothea Wierer after the persecution in Pokljuka

After their most successful season to date, the summer preparation for the 2013/14 winter did not go as planned, because Berger had to make a lot of public appearances during this time. The start of the World Cup was not nearly as successful as last year. Until the Christmas break, third place in the sprint in Östersund was the only place on the podium; of six individual races, she only finished two within the top 10 and one outside the points. In the new year, the races up to the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi were much more successful with a first, a second, a third and a total of five fourth, fifth or sixth places, and she led the World Cup standings again before the Olympic Games. Berger won three medals in Sochi: gold with the mixed relay, silver in the pursuit and bronze with the women's relay. Just like her fiercest competitor for the overall World Cup, Kaisa Mäkäräinen , Tora Berger finished every race with one exception in the top 10 after the Olympic Games until the end of the season. Berger achieved four second places during this time, but Mäkäräinen won one race on the Pokljuka plateau and all three races in her Finnish homeland in Kontiolahti and secured just four points ahead of Berger in the last race of the season, the mass start in Oslo winning the overall World Cup. Norway again won the women's national championship this winter and tied with the Czech team in the Mixed Relay World Cup.

After the 2013/2014 season, Tora Berger ended her career at the age of 33.

Norwegian championships

Between 2002 and 2014, Tora Berger won 39 medals at Norwegian biathlon championships . In individual races she won 17 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze medals, in relay races she won another 3 gold and 7 silver medals and 1 bronze medal.

Private

Tora Berger is the sister of the biathlete and cross-country world champion Lars Berger . In June 2010 she married her longtime boyfriend.

statistics

World Cup victories

Single race

Relay race

No. date place discipline 1. 0Dec 2, 2007  Kontiolahti persecution 2. 0Jan. 5, 2008  Oberhof sprint 3. Jan. 22, 2009  Antholz sprint 4th 22 Mar 2009  Trondheim Mass start 5. 0Dec 5, 2009  Ostersund sprint 6th Feb. 18, 2010  Vancouver (OWS) singles 7th Dec 16, 2010  Pokljuka singles 8th. Jan 15, 2011  Ruhpolding sprint 9. Jan. 16, 2011  Ruhpolding persecution 10. Jan. 21, 2011  Antholz sprint 11. Jan. 23, 2011  Antholz Mass start 12. 0Feb 6, 2011  Presque Isle persecution 13. 0Dec 4, 2011  Ostersund persecution 14th Jan 15, 2012  Nové Město na Moravě persecution 15th 07th Mar 2012  Ruhpolding (WM) singles 16. 11th Mar 2012  Ruhpolding (WM) Mass start 17th Nov 29, 2012  Ostersund singles 18th 0Dec 1, 2012  Ostersund sprint 19th 0Dec 2, 2012  Ostersund persecution 20th Dec 16, 2012  Pokljuka Mass start 21st Jan. 13, 2013  Ruhpolding Mass start 22nd Jan. 19, 2013  Antholz persecution 23. Feb 10, 2013  Nové Město na Moravě (World Cup) persecution 24. Feb 13, 2013  Nové Město na Moravě (World Cup) singles 25th 01st Mar 2013  Oslo sprint 26th 02nd Mar 2013  Oslo persecution 27. 03rd Mar 2013  Oslo Mass start 28. 0Jan. 5, 2014  Oberhof Mass start

No. date place discipline 1. Dec 14, 2008  Hochfilzen Season 1 2. March 12 2010  Kontiolahti Mixed season 2 3. 03rd Mar 2011  Khanty-Mansiysk (WM) Mixed season 3 4th Dec 11, 2011  Hochfilzen Season 4 5. 01st Mar 2012  Ruhpolding (WM) Mixed season 5 6th 0Dec 9, 2012  Hochfilzen Season 6 7th 0Jan. 9, 2013  Ruhpolding Season 7 8th. 0Feb 7, 2013  Nové Město na Moravě (World Cup) Mixed season 8 9. Feb 15, 2013  Nové Město na Moravě (World Cup) Season 7 1with Solveig Rogstad , Julie Bonnevie-Svendsen and Ann Kristin Flatland 2with Ann Kristin Flatland, Halvard Hanevold and Tarjei Bø 3with Ann Kristin Flatland, Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Tarjei Bø 4thwith Fanny Welle-Strand Horn , Elise Ringen and Synnøve Solemdal 5with Synnøve Solemdal, Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Emil Hegle Svendsen 6thwith Fanny Welle-Strand Horn, Synnøve Solemdal and Hilde Fenne 7th with Hilde Fenne, Ann Kristin Flatland and Synnøve Solemdal 8th with Synnøve Solemdal, Tarjei Bø and Emil Hegle Svendsen

winter Olympics

Results at Olympic Winter Games:

winter Olympics		singles	sprint	persecution	Mass start	Season	Mixed relay
year	place
2006	Turin	13.	23.	18th	25th	5.
2010	Vancouver	1.	33.	5.	18th	4th
2014	Sochi	16.	10.	2.	14th	3.	1.

World championships

Results at biathlon world championships

World Championship		singles	sprint	persecution	Mass start	Season	Mixed relay
year	place
2005	Hochfilzen	21st	11.	19th	13.	5.	10.
2006	Pokljuka (Mixed Relay World Cup)						2.
2007	Antholz	4th	10.	19th	25th	3.	3.
2008	Ostersund	4th	4th	4th	2.	6th
2009	Pyeongchang	3.	19th	9.	15th	11.	4th
2010	Chanty-M. (Mixed Relay World Championship)						2.
2011	Khanty-Mansiysk	10.	7th	5.	3.	5.	1.
2012	Ruhpolding	1.	6th	4th	1.	3.	1.
2013	Nové Město	1.	2.	1.	2.	1.	1.

Placements in the biathlon world cup

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
• Relay: including mixed relays

placement	singles	sprint	persecution	Mass start	Season	total
1st place	5	7th	9	7th	9	37
2nd place		11	5	4th	8th	28
3rd place	2	6th	4th	2	9	23
Top 10	17th	50	46	20th	52	185
Scoring	26th	85	67	44	53	275
Starts	31	101	78	44	53	307
Status: end of career

World Cup ratings

Results at biathlon world cups (discipline and overall world cup) according to the point system

season	singles		sprint		persecution		Mass start		total
	space	Points	space	Points	space	Points	space	Points	space	Points
2002/03			65.	1					68.	1
2004/05	14th	64	13.	160	21st	102	21st	47	17th	389
2005/06	33.	20th	22nd	104	26th	75	23.	54	22nd	253
2006/07	5.	92	12.	175	16.	124	24.	53	14th	450
2007/08	15th	40	6th	269	4th	238	12.	102	7th	661
2008/09	3.	122	3.	352	2.	246	6th	146	3.	894
2009/10	13.	87	15th	215	24.	101	9.	139	12.	564
2010/11	4th	133	3.	356	4th	268	3.	206	4th	963
2011/12	5.	108	4th	373	3.	361	2.	241	3.	1054
2012/13	1.	168	1.	428	1.	417	1.	262	1.	1234
2013/14	10.	59	2.	361	2.	319	4th	121	2.	857

Web links

Commons : Tora Berger  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Tora Berger in the IBU database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Torah Berger. Eurosport , accessed February 23, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Tora Berger on Biathlon Live ( Memento of the original from February 28, 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.