Vasja Rupnik

Vasja Rupnik
Full name	Vasja Rupnik
nation	Slovenia
birthday	June 6, 1977
place of birth	Ljubljana ,  Yugoslavia
Career
discipline	Cross-country skiing biathlon
society	TSK Valkarton Logatec
National squad	since 1995
Debut in the biathlon EC	2004
Debut in the biathlon toilet	2005
status	resigned
End of career	October 2012
last change: January 13, 2012

Vasja Rupnik (born June 6, 1977 in Ljubljana ) is a former Slovenian biathlete and former cross-country skier . He started at five world championships in both sports.

Life

Vasja Rupnik lives in Logatec . He starts for TSK Valkarton Logatec .

Cross-country skier

He started his career as a cross-country skier. In 1995 he started at the Junior World Championships in Gällivare and achieved 23rd place in the 30-kilometer race as the best result. In December of that year he made his debut in the senior division as part of an FIS race on the Tauplitzalm . In 1996 he again took part in a Junior World Championship and achieved 13th place over 10 kilometers as the best result in Asiago . A year later he started in Canmore at his last Junior World Championship and achieved his best result in 15th over 30 kilometers. At the beginning of the 2007/08 season Rupnik made his debut in Beitostølen in the cross-country skiing world cup and finished 106th over 10 kilometers. Until his first participation in a Nordic World Ski Championships in 2001 in Lahti , he was never able to place in the points of the World Cup. The best result so far was 10th place in a 15-kilometer race in Candanchú as part of the Continental Cup. He also started on this route in Finland and reached 55th place. Two years later at the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2003 in Val di Fiemme , Rupnik was used in three races. In the pursuit race he came in 33rd place, which was very good for him, 51st over 15 kilometers and 50 over 30 kilometers. Rupnik's best season in cross-country skiing was 2003/04. He not only achieved his best World Cup result in the team sprint with Matej Soklic in 23rd place, he also achieved his best individual results with fifth places in the 15-kilometer Continental Cup race in Dobbiaco and the FIS race over the same distance in Bad Gastein . Nevertheless, he decided to switch to biathlon due to continued unsuccessfulness in cross-country skiing.

Biathlete

In the Slovenian biathlon squad, Rupnik was immediately promoted to the national team. In the same year he made his debut in the Biathlon European Cup in Obertilliach as 57th in an individual . In his second race, a sprint in the same place, he was already 18th. In the same season , the Slovene started in Ruhpolding for the first time in the biathlon World Cup and finished 77th in the sprint. In Hochfilzen , he joined shortly thereafter equal to the first time at Biathlon World Championships , but reached only 94th in the sprint. Rupnik started the next season quite well and finished fourth in the European Cup sprint in Obertilliach. During the season he was mostly used in the European Cup and only rarely started in the World Cup. The highlight of the season was the European Championship in Langdorf , where Rupnik only achieved 33rd place in the sprint as the best result. At the 2006 Summer Biathlon World Championships in Ufa , eleventh place was the best result in the pursuit. The 2006/07 season was Rupnik's best so far in biathlon. He finished second in a European Cup sprint in Bansko behind Roland Zwahlen and finished 45th in the sprint and 51st in the pursuit at the 2007 Biathlon World Championships in Antholz. They are also Rupnik's best World Cup results so far. At the Biathlon World Championships in 2008 in Östersund , he could not improve these results with 59th place in the individual, 70th in the sprint and 19 with the relay. Vasja Rupnik won world cup points in biathlon for the first time at the home world cup in Pokljuka in the 2009/2010 season . In the sprint race, he finished 37th. Vasja Rupnik took part in the 2010 Winter Olympics. His best result was 49th place in the individual. With the relay he finished 17th. He took part in the 2010 Winter Olympics. His best result was 49th place in the individual. With the relay he finished 17th. The 2011 Biathlon World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk brought 86th place in the individual, 57th in the sprint, 53rd in the pursuit and eighth in the relay race. In the 2011/2012 season Rupnik ran with a 15th place in a sprint in Nové Město na Moravě on his best World Cup result. At the Biathlon World Championships 2012 in Ruhpolding, Rupnik started in the sprint and reached 71st place.

In October 2012 Rupnik announced his resignation because he feared that he would miss the connection due to a protracted viral illness.

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	Season	total
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
Top 10					6th	6th
Scoring	1	6th	1		23	31
Starts	13	46	10		23	92

Web links

• Vasja Rupnik in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Vasja Rupnik in the IBU database (English)
• Vasja Rupnik in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )