Biathlon World Cup 1977/78

World Cup 1977/78
winner
Overall World Cup	Frank Ullrich
Relay World Cup	no official rating
Nations ranking	no official rating
Competitions
Venues	5
Individual competitions	10
Relay competitions	5
← (no competition)	1978/79 →

The Biathlon World Cup 1977/78 was the first official series of events of this type in biathlon. The best of the racing series were determined in ten individual competitions and five relays at five venues. The first overall winner was Frank Ullrich , the winner of the first ever World Cup race was Klaus Siebert in the 20 km individual in Ruhpolding . The results of the relay competitions were not included in the overall ranking.

background

Responsible for biathlon competitions was that time the UIPMB . The World Cup established itself from the regular races in Ruhpolding, Antholz , Hochfilzen and Lahti in the 1970s .

The unofficial World Cup 1977

1977 was the first unofficial round of competition across the stage winner overall was Alexander Tikhonov , giving him in the USSR the name "Mr. Biathlon ”. It was the last year in which large-bore rifles were fired at distances between 100 m and 250 m.

The 1st world cup in biathlon

With the conversion of biathlon rifles to small-caliber weapons in the winter of 1978, the World Cup was established with four stations and the 1978 biathlon world championships in Hochfilzen. The history of the World Cup began on January 13, 1978 with the individual competition in Ruhpolding, with a victory for GDR athlete Klaus Siebert. At that time a purely amateur sport , the winners were given rifles and snowmobiles as prizes. The GDR had advocated the introduction of small-caliber weapons and the GDR athletes were accordingly well prepared for it. The athletes from the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR had a technical lead thanks to the development of synthetic skis, while the Soviet Union lagged behind in this area. For these reasons, the Soviets did not dominate the first stations of the World Cup and the World Championships as it had been the case in previous years, only at the end of the season they won two seasons and two singles through Vladimir Barnaschow .

Venues

Ruhpolding

There was still no Chiemgau Arena , the spectators stood along the route. The competition organization was housed in a military tent - there was no functional building yet - and the Bundeswehr was both the organizer and the sole sponsor at the time. The mayor of Ruhpolding at that time, Franz Schneider, had organized the competition in Ruhpolding since 1974, always at the same time in the second half of January as the "Jäger Cup". The first World Cup competition was so successful that the decision was made to host the World Cup next year as well , thus establishing the town's reputation as the Mecca of biathlon. Because the trails there were considered difficult in the 1970s, a victory in Ruhpolding was always prestigious. In addition, the warm winter of 1978 with wet snow made material preparation difficult. The first winner in an official World Cup race was Klaus Siebert, ahead of another GDR athlete, Eberhard Rösch and the West German Andreas Schweiger . Sigleif Johansen won the sprint race over 10 km and the relay victory went to the GDR.

Antholz

In Antholz, the eventual overall winner Frank Ullrich won the first race ahead of the USSR athletes Uschakow and Kruglow , the sprint saw Klaus Siebert ahead of Eberhard Rösch and Wladimir Barnaschow , the relay win again went to the GDR.

Hochfilzen

→ Main articles : 1978 World Biathlon Championships  and World Biathlon Championships

In Hochfilzen, the races of the world championships became part of the world cup classification, a regulation that has existed in biathlon ever since. In the individual, the Norwegian Odd Lirhus prevailed ahead of Frank Ullrich and Eberhard Rösch, the sprint ended with a triple triumph of the GDR athletes in the order Ullrich ahead of Rösch and Siebert. The victory in the relay also went to the GDR, ahead of Norway and the team from the Federal Republic of Germany.

Murmansk

The competitions in Murmansk were dominated by the athletes of the Soviet Union, the individual won Nikolai Kruglow ahead of Anatoli Aljabjew Vladimir Artemjew , the sprint victory was secured by Frank Ullrich ahead of Nikolai Kruglow and Sigleif Johansen, according to other information, the winner was Anatoli Aljabjew ahead of Frank Ullrich and Nikolai Kruglow . The Soviet dominance at the fourth World Cup station underlined the relay result: two USSR relays crossed the finish line before the GDR.

Sodankylä

The final Kilpailuja in Sodankylä also brought the Finnish four-time world champion Heikki Ikola his first World Cup podium when he came in the sprint behind Vladimir Barnaschow and in front of Alexander Tichonow (both USSR). Klaus Siebert won the individual ahead of Vladimir Otschnew and Svein Engen , the last season of the racing series saw the USSR again in front.

Results

Podium placements in the individual races

1st World Cup in Ruhpolding , 14. – 17. January 1978
date	discipline	First place	Second place	third place
January 14, 1978 (Sat.)	Single (20 km)	Klaus Siebert	Eberhard Rösch	Andreas Schweiger
January 15, 1978 (Sun.)	Sprint (10 km)	Sigleif Johansen	Eberhard Rösch	Frank Ullrich
January 17, 1978 (Tue.)	Relay (4 × 7.5 km)	German Democratic Republic Manfred Beer Klaus Siebert Frank Ullrich Eberhard Rösch	Norway Odd Lirhus Terje Krokstad Svein Engen Sigleif Johansen	Finland Erkki Antila Juhani Suutarinen Raimo Seppänen Heikki Ikola

2nd World Cup in Antholz , 23.-26. February 1978
date	discipline	First place	Second place	third place
February 23, 1978 (Thu.)	Single (20 km)	Frank Ullrich	Alexander Ushakov	Nikolai Kruglow
February 25, 1978 (Sat.)	Sprint (10 km)	Klaus Siebert	Eberhard Rösch	Vladimir Barnashov
February 26, 1978 (Sun.)	Relay (4 × 7.5 km)	DDR-1	Soviet Union Alexander Ushakow Alexander Tichonow Vladimir Barnaschow Nikolai Kruglow	DDR-2

Biathlon World Championships in Hochfilzen , 2nd – 5th March 1978
date	discipline	First place	Second place	third place
March 2, 1978 (Thu.)	Single (20 km)	Odd Lirhus	Frank Ullrich	Eberhard Rösch
March 4, 1978 (Sat.)	Sprint (10 km)	Frank Ullrich	Eberhard Rösch	Klaus Siebert
March 5, 1978 (Sun.)	Relay (4 × 7.5 km)	German Democratic Republic Manfred Beer Klaus Siebert Frank Ullrich Eberhard Rösch	Norway Gate Svendsberget Roar Nilsen Odd Lirhus Sigleif Johansen	BR Germany Heinrich Mehringer Hans Estner Andreas Schweiger Gerhard Winkler

4th World Cup in Murmansk , 25. – 28. March 1978
date	discipline	First place	Second place	third place
March 25, 1978 (Sat.)	Single (20 km)	Nikolai Kruglow	Anatoly Alyabev	Vladimir Artemyev
March 27, 1978 (Mon.)	Sprint (10 km)	Frank Ullrich	Nikolai Kruglow	Sigleif Johansen
According to other information	Sprint (10 km)	Anatoly Alyabev	Frank Ullrich	Nikolai Kruglow
March 28, 1978 (Tue.)	Relay (4 × 7.5 km)	Soviet Union -II Vladimir Barnaschow Alexander Ushakow Nikolai Kruglow Anatoly Aljabjew	Soviet Union -I Vyacheslav Tolkachev Alexander Yelisarow Alexander Tichonow Vladimir Vedensky	German Democratic Republic Manfred Beer Klaus Siebert Frank Ullrich Eberhard Rösch

5th World Cup in Sodankylä , 1st – 4th April 1978
date	discipline	First place	Second place	third place
April 1, 1978 (Sat.)	Single (20 km)	Klaus Siebert	Vladimir Ochnev	Svein Engen
April 2, 1978 (Sun.)	Sprint (10 km)	Vladimir Barnashov	Heikki Ikola	Alexander Tikhonov
April 4, 1978 (Tue.)	Relay (4 × 7.5 km)	Soviet Union Alexander Elizarov Alexander Tikhonov Vladimir Barnaschow Vladimir Otschnew	German Democratic Republic	Finland

Overall rating

Stand after 10 out of 10 races
rank Surname Points Victories 01  Frank Ullrich 144 3 02  Klaus Siebert 137 3 03  Eberhard Rösch 133 0 04th  Vladimir Barnashov 125 1 05  Nikolai Kruglow 119 1 06th  Alexander Ushakov 113 0 07th  Alexander Tikhonov 108 0 08th  Sigleif Johansen 104 1 09  Vladimir Ochnev 100 0 10  Alexander Yelisarov 96 0 11  Svein Engen 94 0 12  Luigi Weiss 86 0 13  Gerhard Winkler 77 0 14th  Terje Krokstad 73 0 15th  Per Andersson 70 0 16  Heikki Ikola 67 0 17th  Erkki Antila 63 0 17th  Heinrich Mehringer 63 0 19th  Manfred Beer 62 0 19th  Odd Lirhus 62 1 21st  Yvon Mougel 58 0 22nd  Arduino Tiraboschi 57 0 23  Willy Bertin 55 0 23  Andreas Schweiger 55 0 25th  Roar Nilsen 53 0

Web links

• Обзор первых кубков мира по биатлону (1978-1981) The first biathlon World Cup competitions (1978-1981), on rusbiathlon.ru (Russian)
• 50 эстафетных побед в Кубке мира 50 relay victories in the World Cup, on rusbiathlon.ru (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} «Зрители стояли стеной». Как проходил первый КМ по биатлону (Russian, accessed January 15, 2020)
2. ↑ ^{a b} 1977-78 Ampumahiihdon maailmancup ( Memento from February 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (Finnish, accessed January 15, 2020)
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} WELTCUP (WORLD CUP) BIATHLON 1978 at www.wintersport-charts.info (German / English, accessed on January 15, 2020)
4. ↑ ^{a b} Statistiche Biathlon - World Cup All Races NEVEITALIA® IceMedia Srls, (Italian, accessed January 15, 2020)