Michael Greis

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Michael Greis biathlon
Michael Greis at the World Cup in Trondheim (2009)
Association GermanyGermany Germany
birthday 18th August 1976 (age 44)
place of birth Fuessen, Germany
Career
job Biathlon coach
society SK Nesselwang
Trainer Fritz Fischer
Admission to the
national team 		Germany
Debut in the World Cup February 28, 2001
World Cup victories 21 (11 individual wins)
status resigned
End of career 5th December 2012
Medal table
Olympic medals 3 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
World Cup medals 3 × gold 3 × silver 6 × bronze
Olympic rings winter Olympics
gold 2006 Turin singles
gold 2006 Turin Mass start
gold 2006 Turin Season
IBU Biathlon world championships
gold 2004 Oberhof Season
silver 2005 Hochfilzen singles
bronze 2005 Khanty-Mansiysk Mixed relay
gold 2007 Antholz Mass start
silver 2007 Antholz singles
bronze 2007 Antholz Season
gold 2008 Östersund Mixed relay
bronze 2008 Östersund Season
bronze 2009 Pyeongchang Mixed relay
bronze 2009 Pyeongchang Season
silver 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk Mixed relay
bronze 2012 Ruhpolding Season
World Cup balance
Overall World Cup 1.  ( 2006/2007 )
Individual World Cup 1.  ( 2004/2005 , 2005/2006 ,
     2008/2009 )
Sprint World Cup 1.  ( 2006/2007 )
 Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
singles 3 3 2
sprint 4th 7th 4th
persecution 2 1 3
Mass start 2 1 2
Season 10 8th 12
 

Michael "Michi" Greis (born August 18, 1976 in Füssen ) is a former German biathlete and today's biathlon trainer.

Greis won three gold medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics and three gold medals at world championships . He was also able to win the overall World Cup in the 2006/07 season . The Hauptfeldwebel was a member of the sports promotion groups of the Bundeswehr . On December 5, 2012, Greis announced his retirement from competitive sports.

childhood and education

The son of a funeral director grew up in Nesselwang in the Allgäu . Michael Greis has a sister who is one year older and who ran biathlon herself. After leaving school, he completed an apprenticeship as a communications electrician (specializing in information technology), which was followed by a technical diploma at a tele-college .

Greis did not complete a degree in International Management at the Ansbach University of Applied Sciences because of the large amount of time required.

Athletic career

Beginnings and establishment in the World Cup team

Michael Greis started as an alpine skier before switching to cross-country skiing at SK Nesselwang at the age of eleven . Together with older athletes, he later got to know the sport of biathlon under the guidance of the former world-class athlete Andreas Schweiger , which he stayed with. At the age of 20, Greis received a battalion position in the German Armed Forces and began in 1996 in Ruhpolding to train under Fritz Fischer . Just one year later, Greis took third place at the German championships.

After good results in the European Cup and victory with the relay and second place in the pursuit at the 2001 European Championships in Haute-Maurienne , Michael Greis was used for the first time in the Biathlon World Cup at the end of the 2000/01 season. At the Olympic dress rehearsal in the US Soldier Hollow , he ran his first World Cup race. After a 66th place in his very first race, the Allgäu surprised with two sixth places in the sprint and the pursuit. In the following weeks Greis came to sporadic missions, but did not achieve any significant placements. Greis first drew more attention to himself in January 2002 in Oberhof when he finished 7th and 5th in sprint and pursuit. A week later he achieved his first podium finish behind the French Raphaël Poirée with second place in the Ruhpolding sprint.

From then on, Greis was part of the permanent World Cup team and was also used at the 2002 Winter Olympics . There he reached places 15 and 16 in sprint and pursuit. After the Olympic Games in Östersund, like in Ruhpolding , Greis was again second in the sprint, this time behind his teammate Sven Fischer . Greis finished his second World Cup season 17th in the overall World Cup. In the 2002/03 season, Greis competed at every World Cup station for the first time from the start of the season. Although he competed in significantly more races than in the previous season, he only achieved two top 10 placements, including a 5th place at the last World Cup station in Östersund. At the 2003 World Championships , Greis only started in the sprint, where he was also unable to convince with a 29th place. As 26th of the overall World Cup, it deteriorated compared to the previous year. A success this season for Greis, however, together with Martina Glagow, was winning the World Team Challenge, which was held for the first time in the Arena Auf Schalke in Gelsenkirchen .

First successes at world championships

The 2003/04 season, however, was much more successful for the Allgäu. At the World Cup in Pokljuka in January 2004, Greis came third in the mass start and only had to admit defeat to the two Norwegians Halvard Hanevold and Ole Einar Bjørndalen . Greis achieved two further placements among the top ten athletes at the World Cup in Antholz before the world championships. Due to the 5th place in the sprint and 9th in the pursuit at the 2004 World Championships in Oberhof , Greis, who had previously only been used three times in a German relay in the World Cup, recommended himself for the relay race. Together with Frank Luck , Ricco Groß and Sven Fischer , Michael Greis became the final runner world champion with the German biathlon relay, which only needed two spare rounds for 40 shots. The races after the World Championships were also quite successful for Greis, in Fort Kent , USA , he took second place in a World Cup race for the third time in his career. Greis finished the season 13th of the overall World Cup, he achieved more than twice as many World Cup points as in the previous season.

Greis was able to improve further in the 2004/05 season. At the beginning of December he managed to finish all three races held at one World Cup location in the top 10 in Oslo with places 6, 5 and 9 for the first time in his career. Greis also regularly managed to place himself in the top 30 this season and thus gain World Cup points. In February 2005 Greis won his first World Cup race at the Olympic dress rehearsal in San Sicario near Cesana Torinese (Italy): In the individual, he won with a faultless shooting performance in front of the three Russians Sergei Tschepikow , Sergei Roschkow and Iwan Tscheresow . At the World Championships in March 2005 in Hochfilzen , Greis won silver in the individual race over 20 kilometers, just under ten seconds behind the Czech Roman Dostál , his first individual medal at major events. The other World Championship races were also successful for him with 6th place in the sprint, 5 in the pursuit and 10 in the mass start. Although Greis also showed a good individual performance in the relay, it was only enough to a 6th place due to the weaker results of the other three athletes. Greis was able to finish the season in ninth place overall and thus for the first time among the top ten athletes in the overall standings. With the individual discipline world cup he also won his first world cup standings. In addition, Greis won the bronze medal in the mixed relay at the end of this season together with Uschi Disl , Kati Wilhelm and Ricco Groß . In summer 2005 he also won the first city ​​biathlon in Püttlingen.

Triumph at the 2006 Olympics

After the German athletes skipped the first World Cup station in preparation, the 2005/06 season began extremely successfully for Michael Greis. In his first race of the season he reached third place in the individual at the beginning of December in Hochfilzen, and a week later he reached fourth place three times in Osrblie. At the beginning of 2006 he achieved further good results with 4th place in Oberhof, 3rd place in Ruhpolding and 6th place in Antholz, so that he was now in second place in the overall World Cup.

The greatest success of his career up to this point was achieved by Michael Greis on February 11, 2006 at the start of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , when he became the first individual Olympic champion of the Games over 20 km. With only one shooting error in the first standing stage and the third fastest time, he was able to assert himself in front of the Norwegian Ole Einar Bjørndalen . This was the second victory in Michael Greis' career, in the same place where he celebrated his first in 2005. After an unsatisfactory 33rd place in the sprint race that took place three days later, Greis was able to fight his way up to 8th place in the pursuit.

After winning three of four races of the season, the German relay team was also the favorite at the Olympic Games. Together with his teammates Ricco Groß , Michael Rösch and Sven Fischer , Michael Greis secured victory with the German relay on February 21, 2006, ahead of Russia and France, thus winning his second Olympic gold. Greis was the eighth biathlete who managed to achieve both Olympic individual and relay gold. On February 25, 2006, Michael Greis won his third gold medal at these games in the first ever Olympic mass start race over 15 km in front of Poland's Tomasz Sikora and Norwegian favorite Ole Einar Bjørndalen. This makes Greis the first German Olympic participant to win three gold medals in the same Olympic Winter Games. At the 2006 Olympics, only the South Korean short track runner Ahn Hyun-soo was more successful, winning three gold and one bronze. Since Greis only competed in the sprint in Pokljuka after the Olympic Games and did not compete in the last eight races of the season due to dental problems, he dropped from 3rd place in the overall World Cup, which he took after the Olympics, to 10th place . In this World Cup phase, however, no more individual races were held, so that Greis was already the winner of the individual discipline World Cup, as in the previous season.

Overall World Cup winner of the 2006/07 season

Old man in February 2007

The 2006/07 season began very successfully for Michael Greis with two third places at the start in Östersund and second place in the Hochfilzen sprint. Nevertheless, he was overshadowed by Ole Einar Bjørndalen, who won all of the first five races of the season, but did not take part in the World Cups that were held again in Hochfilzen a week later as a replacement for Osrblie. Michael Greis achieved his first World Cup victory of the 2006/07 season in the sprint race in Hochfilzen on December 14, 2006, and with a 9th place in the second sprint race, Greis took over the World Cup leader's yellow jersey for the first time in his career. In December, Greis was the first biathlete to be voted Sportsman of the Year 2006 by German sports journalists .

The first race in 2007 in Oberhof was also the first race in his career in which Michael Greis competed in the yellow jersey. In the sprint he reached 2nd place behind the Russian Nikolai Kruglow . Greis lost the yellow jersey in Ruhpolding to Bjørndalen due to some slightly weaker results, but was able to recapture it in Pokljuka, as the Norwegian also skipped this World Cup station.

The 2007 Biathlon World Championships in Antholz started unsatisfactory for Michael Greis with 19th place in the sprint and 12th in the pursuit. In the other races of the World Cup, however, Greis was able to improve. In the individual race over 20 kilometers he took silver behind the French Raphaël Poirée , with the relay he won the bronze medal. In the final mass start race he won gold in front of his teammate Andreas Birnbacher with the best running time despite two shooting errors in the first standing stage , with which he was able to complete his set of medals from Antholz. With this individual gold medal, Michael Greis is the sixth biathlete, after the two Germans Mark Kirchner and Sven Fischer , the two Norwegians Halvard Hanevold and Ole Einar Bjørndalen, and the Russian Nikolai Kruglow , to win individual and relay gold at both the World Championships and the Winter Olympics.

At the first World Cup weekend after the World Cup in Lahti, Finland, Bjørndalen was again not at the start, so that Greis was able to extend his lead over the Norwegian in the overall World Cup. At the penultimate World Cup station in Oslo, the podium places in the three races went almost without exception to Greis, Poirée and Bjørndalen, who were therefore close together at the top of the overall standings before the last World Cup races in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia . However, Poirée ended his World Cup career at this point. After Bjørndalen who finished only 48th in the sprint race in Khanty-Mansiysk, handed old man in pursuit of a 16th place to prematurely to winning the overall World Cup to secure, in the last race of the season, he finished in the mass start behind the Russians Ivan Tscheresow second place .

After Sven Fischer's overall World Cup victory in 1999, Greis' success was the first overall World Cup victory in eight years that did not go to Raphaël Poirée or Ole Einar Bjørndalen. Two days earlier, Greis was presented with the smaller crystal ball for winning the Sprint Discipline World Cup. However, Greis benefited from the fact that his competitor Ole Einar Bjørndalen had missed almost a third of the season's races. While Bjørndalen won eleven races, Greis only won two races of the season during the season. Even so, Greis, who had run all of the season's races, was 58 points ahead of the Norwegian with 794 points.

From the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver to retirement

Michal Greis could not achieve a podium place in any of the four individual competitions of the 2010 Winter Olympics (fifth in the pursuit and relay, tenth in individual and mass start and 21st in the sprint), but was three times the best German starter in the men's biathlon team. The 2011/12 season started with mixed performances, after about a third of the season Greis dropped out for the rest of the season for health reasons. For the following season he tried to fight his way up again, but did not make it into the top 60 of the individual at the season opener in Östersund. During the race the decision to retire matured and he did not contest the two following races. On December 5, 2012, Greis resigned from biathlon. After his resignation, Greis wanted to devote himself more intensively to his studies.

After competitive sport

From mid-2016 to the beginning of 2018, Michael Greis was the trainer for the young Swiss biathletes on Lenzerheide . In the 2018/19 season he was the head coach of the US men's biathlon team. One of his tasks was to build a young team in Lake Placid . After only a year he switched to the Polish women's team as head coach.

Occasionally he commented on the World Cup races for Eurosport .

statistics

winter Olympics

winter Olympics singles sprint persecution Mass start Season
year place
2002 United StatesUnited States Salt Lake City - 15th 16. - -
2006 ItalyItaly Turin gold (1.) 33. 8th. gold (1.) gold (1.)
2010 CanadaCanada Vancouver 10. 21st 5. 10. 5.

World championships

World Championship singles sprint persecution Mass start Season Mixed relay
year place
2003 RussiaRussia Khanty-Mansiysk - 29 DNS - - Not carried out
2004 GermanyGermany Oberhof - 5. 9. 21st 1.
2005 AustriaAustria Hochfilzen 2. 6th 5. 10. 6th
2005 RussiaRussia Khanty-Mansiysk Held in Hochfilzen 3.
2006 SloveniaSlovenia Pokljuka Olympic Winter Games in Turin -
2007 ItalyItaly Antholz 2. 19th 12. 1. 3. 5.
2008 SwedenSweden Ostersund 36. - - 13. 3. 1.
2009 Korea SouthSouth Korea Pyeongchang 19th 7th 13. DNF 3. 3.
2010 RussiaRussia Khanty-Mansiysk Vancouver Winter Olympics -
2011 RussiaRussia Khanty-Mansiysk 7th 9. 11. 20th 7th 2.
2012 GermanyGermany Ruhpolding 11. 26th 23. 22nd 3. -

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
Points space Points space Points space Points space Points space
2000/01 - - 34 46. 34 33. - - 68 46.
2001/02 - - 165 8th. 123 15th 17th 34. 305 17th
2002/03 21st 31. 73 26th 63 24. 38 23. 195 26th
2003/04 42 18th 175 11. 127 15th 79 11. 433 13.
2004/05 130 1. 204 9. 182 12. 61 14th 594 9.
2005/06 133 1. 172 13. 85 21st 80 19th 470 10.
2006/07 135 2. 299 1. 191 5. 135 7th 794 1.
2007/08 6th 51. 233 4th 220 4th 125 4th 596 4th
2008/09 146 1. 306 4th 231 4th 72 26th 804 4th
2009/10 83 11. 251 10. 76 28. 111 18th 537 13.
2010/11 113 5. 293 5. 172 10. 129 11. 707 6th
2011/12 39 27. 85 38. 71 35. 19th 43. 214 40.
2012/13 0 - End of career: No longer started 0 -

World Cup victories

All victories at biathlon world cups, listed separately according to individual and relay races. The columns can be sorted by clicking the symbol in the table header.

Single race Relay race
No. date place discipline
1. 0Feb 9, 2005 ItalyItaly Cesana San Sicario singles
2. Feb 11, 2006 ItalyItaly Cesana San Sicario (ws1) singles
3. Feb 25, 2006 ItalyItaly Cesana San Sicario (ws1) Mass start
4th Dec 14, 2006 AustriaAustria Hochfilzen sprint
5. Feb 11, 2007 ItalyItaly Antholz (ws3) Mass start
6th Jan. 12, 2008 GermanyGermany Ruhpolding sprint
7th Jan. 13, 2008 GermanyGermany Ruhpolding persecution
8th. Jan. 18, 2008 ItalyItaly Antholz sprint
9. Feb 29, 2008 Korea SouthSouth Korea Pyeongchang persecution
10. 0Dec 3, 2008 SwedenSweden Ostersund singles
11. 19 Mar 2009 NorwayNorway Trondheim sprint
No. date place discipline
1. 0Dec 8, 2001 AustriaAustria Hochfilzen Season
2. 16. Mar. 2002 FinlandFinland Lahti Season
3. Feb 13, 2004 GermanyGermany Oberhof (ws2) Season
4th Dec 11, 2005 AustriaAustria Hochfilzen Season
5. 0Jan. 4, 2006 GermanyGermany Oberhof Season
6th Jan. 12, 2006 GermanyGermany Ruhpolding Season
7th Feb 21, 2006 ItalyItaly Cesana San Sicario (ws1) Season
8th. Feb 12, 2008 SwedenSweden Östersund (ws4) Mixed relay
9. 0Jan. 5, 2011 GermanyGermany Oberhof Season
10. Jan. 23, 2011 ItalyItaly Antholz Season
(ws1) 2006 Winter Olympics
(ws2) Biathlon World Championships 2004
(ws3) Biathlon World Championships 2007
(ws4) Biathlon World Championships 2008

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
  • Relay: including mixed relays
placement singles sprint persecution Mass start Season total
1st place 3 4th 2 2 10 21st
2nd place 3 7th 1 1 8th 20th
3rd place 2 4th 3 2 12 23
Top 10 18th 48 31 15th 41 153
Scoring 29 82 59 37 41 248
Starts 33 99 68 39 41 280

Awards

Others

Michael Greis always wore contact lenses at the competitions, but had the astigmatism surgically corrected in autumn 2008. From mid-2008 to 2010 he was in a relationship with his sports colleague Kathrin Hitzer .

Web links

Commons : Michael Greis  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Michael Greis . In: Internationales Sportarchiv 40/2011 from October 4th, 2011, supplemented by news from MA-Journal up to week 11/2012 (accessed via Munzinger Online ).
  2. ↑ a b c Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated February 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  4. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from July 11, 2006 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  5. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  6. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  7. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  8. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 25, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  9. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  10. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 6, 2007 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  11. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 6, 2007 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  12. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 6, 2007 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  13. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  14. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  15. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  16. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / data.biathlonworld.com
  17. ↑ stern.de : Olympia in Vancouver: Norwegians dupe old men and co.
  18. ↑ eurosport.de: Vancouver 2010 - Ferry in the lead, old man in good shape ( Memento from February 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ 15km Mass Start Results
  20. ↑ Biathlon Olympic champion Greis resigns ( Memento of the original from March 29, 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. zeit.de, accessed on December 5, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zeit.de
  21. ↑ Michael Greis becomes the US biathlon head coach on spiegel.de, accessed on May 1, 2018
  22. ↑ German biathlon legend becomes Poland coach on t-online.de, accessed on July 18, 2019
  23. ↑ Holmenkollen medals for Henkel and Greis. Retrieved March 28, 2014 .
  24. ↑ Colorful exclusive: Michael Greis freshly in love. June 10, 2008, accessed December 1, 2010 .
personal data
SURNAME Old man, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Old man, Michi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German biathlete
DATE OF BIRTH 18th August 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Feet