Biathlon World Championships
Season Winner Runner-up Third
1974 Juhani Suutarinen ( FIN ) Günther Bartnick ( GDR ) Torsten Wadman ( SWE )
1975 Nikolay Kruglov ( USSR ) Aleksandr Elizarov ( USSR ) Klaus Siebert ( GDR )
1976 Alexander Tikhonov ( USSR ) Aleksandr Elizarov ( USSR ) Nikolay Kruglov ( USSR )
1977 Alexander Tikhonov ( USSR ) Nikolay Kruglov ( USSR ) Alexander Ushakov ( USSR )
1978 Frank Ullrich ( GDR ) Eberhard Rösch ( GDR ) Klaus Siebert ( GDR )
1979 Frank Ullrich ( GDR ) Odd Lirhus ( NOR ) Luigi Weiss ( ITA )
1981 Frank Ullrich ( GDR ) Erkki Antila ( FIN ) Yvon Mougel ( FRA )
1982 Eirik Kvalfoss ( NOR ) Frank Ullrich ( GDR ) Vladimir Alikin ( USSR )
1983 Eirik Kvalfoss ( NOR ) Peter Angerer ( FRG ) Alfred Eder ( AUT )
1985 Frank-Peter Roetsch ( GDR ) Eirik Kvalfoss ( NOR ) Johann Passler ( ITA )
1986 Valeriy Medvedtsev ( USSR ) Franz Schuler ( AUT ) André Sehmisch ( GDR )
1987 Frank-Peter Roetsch ( GDR ) Matthias Jacob ( GDR ) André Sehmisch ( GDR )
1989 Frank Luck ( GDR ) Eirik Kvalfoss ( NOR ) Juri Kashkarov ( USSR )
1990 Mark Kirchner ( GDR ) Eirik Kvalfoss ( NOR ) Sergei Tchepikov ( USSR )
1991 Mark Kirchner ( GER ) Frank Luck ( GER ) Eirik Kvalfoss ( NOR )
1993 Mark Kirchner ( GER ) Jon Åge Tyldum ( NOR ) Sergei Tarasov ( RUS )
1995 Patrice Bailly-Salins ( FRA ) Pavel Mouslimov ( RUS ) Ricco Groß ( GER )
1996 Vladimir Drachev ( RUS ) Viktor Maigourov ( RUS ) René Cattarinussi ( ITA )
1997 Wilfried Pallhuber ( ITA ) René Cattarinussi ( ITA ) Oleg Ryzhenkov ( BLR )
1999 Frank Luck ( GER ) Patrick Favre ( ITA ) Frode Andresen ( NOR )
Men -- Sprint ( 10 km )
This event was first held in 1974 .
The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The number of events has grown significantly over the years. Beginning in 1984, women biathletes had their own World Championships, and finally, from 1989, both genders have been participating in joint BWCHs. In 1978 the development was enhanced by the change from the large army rifle calibre to a small bore rifle, while the range to the target was reduced from 150 to 50 meters.