Synnøve Solemdal

Synnøve Solemdal
Association	Norway
birthday	15th May 1989 (age 31)
place of birth	Kristiansund , Norway
Career
job	Student
society	Tingvoll IL
Admission to the national team	2008
Debut in the European Cup / IBU Cup	2008
Debut in the World Cup	2009
World Cup victories	12 (2 individual wins)
status	resigned
End of career	2020
Medal table
World Cup medals 6 × 0 × 1 × JWM medals 0 × 2 × 2 × JEM medals 1 × 1 × 1 ×
Biathlon world championships gold 2012 Ruhpolding Mixed relay bronze 2012 Ruhpolding Season gold 2013 Nové Město Mixed relay gold 2013 Nové Město Season gold 2016 Oslo Season gold 2019 Östersund Season gold 2020 Antholz Season  Biathlon Junior World Championships silver 2008 Ruhpolding Season silver 2010 Torsby Season bronze 2010 Torsby sprint bronze 2010 Torsby persecution  Biathlon Junior European Championships silver 2009 Ufa singles gold 2010 Otepää persecution bronze 2010 Otepää sprint
World Cup balance
Overall World Cup	13th ( 2011/12 )
Individual World Cup	8. ( 2017/18 )
Sprint World Cup	11. (2011/12)
Pursuit World Cup	15th (2011/12)
Mass start world cup	12. (2011/12)
Podium placements 1. 2. 3. singles 0 1 0 persecution 2 0 1 Mass start 0 1 0 Season 10 7th 5
last change: end of career

Synnøve Solemdal (born May 15, 1989 in Kristiansund ) is a former Norwegian biathlete . She won five gold medals and one bronze medal with the Norwegian relay at world championships, as well as five other individual and relay races in the biathlon world cup.

Private

Synnøve Solemdal comes from Tingvoll and was born in Kristiansund , about 50 kilometers away . She started for her home club Tingvoll IL and lived and trained for a long time in Lillehammer , where she was also enrolled as a student at the Lillehammer University of Applied Sciences .

Career

Beginnings (2008 to 2010)

Synnøve Solemdal has been involved in biathlon since 2002, and from 2008 she was part of the Norwegian national team. Her first international competitions were at the Junior World Championships in 2008 in Ruhpolding . With the twins Ada and Elise Ringen she won the silver medal in the relay competition, the German team won gold with Nicole Wötzel and the twins Janin and Maren Hammerschmidt .

In the winter of 2008/09 she took part in a race in Idre for the first time as part of the IBU Cup and achieved fifth place in the sprint. At the 2009 European Junior Championships in Ufa , she was on the podium for the first time in an international individual race when she won the silver medal behind Olga Wiluchina in the individual competition . Shortly afterwards she contested her first race in the Biathlon World Cup in Trondheim and Khanty-Mansiysk . In Trondheim she just missed qualifying for the pursuit race in 61st place, in Khanty-Mansiysk she won her first World Cup points in both the sprint and the pursuit.

At the 2010 Biathlon Junior World Championships in Torsby she won the bronze medal in the sprint behind Maren Hammerschmidt and Sophie Boilley and in the pursuit behind Boilley and Nastassja Kalina and the silver medal in the relay race with Kaia Wøien Nicolaisen and Marie Hov . In the same year she took part in the 2010 European Biathlon Championships in Otepää , where she finished fifth in the individual, won bronze in the sprint behind Tiril Eckhoff and Nastassja Kalina and the gold medal in the pursuit. At the end of the 2009/10 season she was nominated again for two World Cups, in Oslo and Khanty-Mansiysk she reached the points in every race.

First victories in the World Cup (2010 to 2014)

From the beginning of the 2010/11 season , Solemdal was an integral part of the Norwegian World Cup team. She reached her first podium in the Biathlon World Cup in December 2010 together with Ann Kristin Flatland , Fanny Welle-Strand Horn and Tora Berger , the Norwegian team came third in the relay race in Hochfilzen . In her first season she mostly reached the points, but she could neither qualify in Pokljuka nor in Oberhof for the pursuit race. She was also unable to qualify for a mass start race this winter. She took part in the 2011 Biathlon World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk , and a fifth place in the women's relay was her best result in the championships.

The following season , she narrowly missed her first podium in a single race in the World Cup with fourth place in the first sprint of the winter in Östersund . Shortly afterwards she won the women's relay in Hochfilzen together with Fanny Welle-Strand Horn , Elise Ringen and Tora Berger, and thus her first race in the World Cup. With the same line-up, the Norwegian women's relay achieved second place in Oberhof . At the Biathlon World Championships 2012 in Ruhpolding , she won the mixed relay together with Tora Berger, Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Emil Hegle Svendsen and, again with Horn, Ringen and Berger, bronze in the relay race.

In winter 2012/13 Synnøve Solemdal won her first individual race in the World Cup in the pursuit race in Hochfilzen . After starting the race in fourth, she improved by three places with just one shooting error and crossed the finish line with a lead of over 30 seconds over Tora Berger and Kaisa Mäkäräinen . At the Biathlon World Championships in 2013 in Nové Město , Czech Republic , she won again - with Tora Berger, Tarjei Bø and Emil Hegle Svendsen - gold with the mixed relay and with Hilde Fenne , Ann Kristin Flatland and Tora Berger gold with the women's relay. During the winter she was on the podium three more times in relay and mixed relay races, the races in Hochfilzen and Ruhpolding were won by the Norwegian women.

In the Biathlon World Cup 2013/14 she was on the podium in three individual races. As in the previous year, she won the pursuit race in Hochfilzen, in Oberhof she was third in the pursuit race and second in the mass start. With the Norwegian seasons, she reached second place twice and third place once. However, at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi , her health deteriorated, she only took part in the sprint and pursuit races and then ended the season prematurely.

Pfeiffer glandular fever disease (2014 to 2016)

After synnøve solemdal even during the 2014 Winter Olympics , the World Cup 2013/14 season ended prematurely, was with her mononucleosis detected.

In the 2014/15 season , she started again, but could not build on her previous successes. She only reached the points in two races, she did not take part in the World Cups in Antholz and Nové Město , during which time she competed in two races as part of the IBU Cup in Brezno . In addition to physical performance, Solemdal's hit rate also deteriorated by 13 percentage points compared to the previous season.

Synnøve Solemdal was able to train again as planned for the winter of 2015/16 . Her race results improved slightly this season, with three exceptions she finished all races in the points. Their hit rate had also increased back to the value from before the 2013/14 season. She did not take part in the World Cups in Antholz and Presque Isle . At her home World Championships at Holmenkollen in Oslo , she won gold in the relay race together with Fanny Horn Birkeland , Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu . Solemdal remained flawless as the starting runner at the shooting range and handed over to her teammate Birkeland, a good 13 seconds behind Kaisa Mäkäräinen, who was leading at the time .

Another break from illness and return to the World Cup (since 2016)

Solemdal in Oberhof , January 2018

In preparation for the 2016/17 season , Solemdal suffered another serious setback. During the training, she was unable to properly load her body; during this time, she was only able to train a few and short units. When there was no improvement in early July, she stopped training. Until November, there was no conclusive explanation for her physical condition. During this time she consulted not only doctors but also psychologists and physiotherapists, but without success. It wasn't until the end of November that a doctor made the correct diagnosis. After a tick bite , which she probably got while visiting her family in Tingvoll , she fell ill with Lyme borreliosis . Before this visit to the doctor, she had already thought about ending her sporting career. However, after treatment with antibiotics, she was able to start training again after three and a half weeks. After a long build-up phase, she contested her first international race at the IBU Cup in Brezno after a break of almost a year. After taking part in the IBU Cup in Kontiolahti , she returned to the World Cup a week later - also in Kontiolahti. She finished the sprint and pursuit just outside of the points. Solemdal stated that he was now completely healthy and wanted to prepare extensively for the 2018 Winter Olympics .

At the beginning of the new season , Solemdal was able to build on old successes in the first race, the individual over 15 km in Östersund , Sweden . She finished the race with no mistakes on the shooting range and achieved her first podium finish in this discipline with a second place. In the sprint race she finished fourth, also without a shooting error, and thus took the lead in the overall World Cup and was allowed to start in the pursuit race for the first time in her career in the yellow jersey. In the pursuit race in Hochfilzen, he finished eighth and finished in the top 10. She skipped the World Cup in Annecy , France , due to illness. After the Christmas break, she was unable to build on the good performance from the beginning of the season, and at the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang , she clearly missed the medal ranks, a 40th place in the individual race over 15 km remained her best placement. In the relay race she started together with Tiril Eckhoff , Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Marte Olsbu , after one penalty loop through Eckhoff and two through Tandrevold, the Norwegian team missed the bronze medal by just a few seconds. In the further course of the World Cup she missed the points several times, at the end of the season she finished 33rd overall.

After preparation in the summer without injuries or illnesses, Solemdal started again with only mixed performances in the winter of 2018/19 . She failed to qualify for the pursuit race several times, and she did not take part in the World Cups in Hochfilzen and Oberhof . Nevertheless, she was nominated for the women's relay at the Biathlon World Championships 2019 in Östersund, Sweden , the Norwegian relay started with the same line-up as in the previous year at the Olympic Games and won the gold medal.

After the end of the 2019/20 season, she ended her career.

statistics

winter Olympics

winter Olympics		singles	sprint	persecution	Mass start	Season	Mixed relay
year	place
2014	Sochi	-	35.	36.	-	-	-
2018	Pyeongchang	40.	50.	41.	-	4th	-

World championships

World championships		singles	sprint	persecution	Mass start	Season	Mixed relay	Single mixed relay
year	place
2011	Khanty-Mansiysk	62.	42.	LAP	-	5.	-
2012	Ruhpolding	39.	32.	24.	18th	3.	1.
2013	Nové Město	53.	19th	19th	16.	1.	1.
2015	Kontiolahti	46.	-	-	-	4th	-
2016	Oslo	-	34.	24.	-	1.	-
2019	Ostersund	29	62.	-	-	1.	-	-
2020	Antholz	60.	-	-	-	1.	-	-

World Cup victories

Single race

Relay race

No. date place discipline 1. 0Dec 8, 2012  Hochfilzen persecution 2. 0Dec 8, 2013  Hochfilzen persecution

No. date place discipline 1. Dec 11, 2011  Hochfilzen Season 1 2. 01st Mar 2012  Ruhpolding Mixed relay (WM) 2 3. 0Dec 9, 2012  Hochfilzen Season 3 4th 0Jan. 9, 2013  Ruhpolding Season 4 5. 0Feb 7, 2013  Nové Město Mixed relay (WM) 5 6th Feb 15, 2013  Nové Město Relay (WM) 6 7th 11th Mar 2016  Oslo Relay (WM) 7 8th. 16. Mar. 2019  Ostersund Relay (WM) 8 9. Jan. 11, 2020  Oberhof Season 8 10. Feb 22, 2020  Antholz Relay (WM) 8 1with Fanny Welle-Strand Horn , Elise Ringen and Tora Berger 2with Tora Berger, Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Emil Hegle Svendsen 3with Fanny Welle-Strand Horn, Hilde Fenne and Tora Berger 4thwith Hilde Fenne, Ann Kristin Flatland and Tora Berger 5with Tora Berger, Tarjei Bø and Emil Hegle Svendsen 6th with Hilde Fenne, Ann Kristin Flatland and Tora Berger 7thwith Fanny Horn Birkeland , Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu 8thwith Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold , Tiril Eckhoff and Marte Olsbu Røiseland

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			2		10	12
2nd place	1			1	7th	9
3rd place			1		5	6th
Top 10	2	8th	5	2	39	56
Scoring	11	43	36	15th	40	145
Starts	20th	68	45	15th	40	188
Status: end of career

Norwegian championships

Tiril Eckhoff , Fanny Horn Birkeland and Solemdal at the Norwegian Roller Ski Championships

year	place	singles	sprint	persecution	Mass start	Season	Mixed relay
2010	Simostranda	7th	3.		5.	6th
2011	Bardufoss	-	2.	9.		-
2012	Trondheim	2.	2.		2.	13.
2013	Dombås	6th	2.	6th		-
2016	Dombås		1.	1.	2.	10.
2017	Mo i Rana		3.	2.	3.	-
2018	Lillehammer		8th.	DNS	2.	15th
2019	Ål	DNS		-		-

Web links

Commons : Synnøve Solemdal  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Synnøve solemdal in the database of the IBU (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Synnøve Solemdal and her doubts about a further career on biathlon-news.de, accessed on April 20, 2017
2. ↑ Solemdal fikk sesongen ødelagt av flåttbitt on vg.no, accessed on April 20, 2017