Michael Greis

Michael Greis

Greis at the World Championships in Antholz-Anterselva.
Personal information
Full name Michael Greis
Nickname(s) Michi
Born (1976-08-18) 18 August 1976
Füssen, West Germany
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Professional information
Sport Biathlon
Club SK Nesselwang
World Cup debut 28 February 2001
Retired 5 December 2012
Olympic Games
Teams 3 (2002, 2006, 2010)
Medals 3 (3 gold)
World Championships
Teams 9 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012)
Medals 12 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons 13 (2000/01–2012/13)
Individual victories 11
All victories 21
Individual podiums 34
All podiums 64
Overall titles 1 (2006–07)
Discipline titles 4:
3 Individual (2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09);
1 Sprint (2006–07)

Michael Greis (born 18 August 1976) is a former German biathlete.

Career

Greis first competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, finishing 15th and 16th in the 10 km sprint and 12.5 km pursuit events in the biathlon.

Greis won the World Cup in the individual category in 2004/05, and was a member of the winning 4 × 7.5 km relay team in the 2004 Biathlon World Championships, and took silver in the individual 20 km category at the 2005 World Championships.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Greis came into the games heading the World Cup standings and took the first Olympic gold of the games with victory in the individual 20 km ahead of the defending Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjørndalen. He was also a member of the German team that won the 4 × 7.5 km relay.

On 25 February 2006 Greis won the men's 15 km event and became the first person to capture three gold medals at the Turin Olympic Games. (Koreans Jin Sun-Yu and Ahn Hyun Soo became the second and third later on the same day with victories in short track speed skating.)

Greis was named German sportsman of the year, along with fellow biathlete Kati Wilhelm, by journalists.[1]

In the 2006/07 World Cup season, Greis won the Overall and the Sprint competition.

In the 2007/08 World Cup season Greis managed onto the podium on a regular basis, attaining three victories, three 2nd places as well as three 3rds. At the season's World Champs in Östersund Greis did not participate in the sprint and in the pursuit but being anchor both in the men's Relay and the mixed Relay, helped to secure a gold and a bronze for his team.

Prior to the 2008/09 World Cup season Greis had had a serious disagreement with the Germans' head coach Frank Ullrich the reason being Ullrich's authoritative management of the team, which resulted in Greis' departure from Ullrich's jurisdiction to train on his own. This yielded him quite a solid performance throughout the year, with another two World Cup victories and the relay bronze at the Biathlon World Championships 2009 in South Korea.

Greis participated in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada which turned to be a disappointing performance for his fans as he finished in the mediocre 10th place twice, in the Individual and the Mass Start, along with coming 5th in the relay and the pursuit, adding to a streak of unsuccessful Olympic performances by the German biathlon male team when not a single German managed to win any medal in biathlon for the first time in the Olympic history.

After the first round of the 2012–13 World Cup, Greis announced his retirement on 5 December 2012 citing a lack of motivation, making the 20 km in Östersund on 28 November his last competition as he had dropped the sprint and pursuit.[2]

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.[3]

Olympic Games

3 medals (3 gold)

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay
United States 2002 Salt Lake City — 15th 16th N/A —
Italy 2006 Turin Gold 33rd 8th Gold Gold
Canada 2010 Vancouver 10th 21st 5th 10th 5th
*Mass start was added as an event in 2006.

World Championships

12 medals (3 gold, 3 silver, 6 bronze)

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay
Norway 2002 Oslo Holmenkollen N/A N/A N/A 19th N/A N/A
Russia 2003 Khanty-Mansiysk — 29th DNS — — N/A
Germany 2004 Oberhof — 5th 9th 21st Gold N/A
Austria 2005 Hochfilzen Silver 6th 5th 10th 6th Bronze
Italy 2007 Antholz-Anterselva Silver 19th 12th Gold Bronze 5th
Sweden 2008 Östersund 36th — — 13th Bronze Gold
South Korea 2009 Pyeongchang 19th 7th 13th DNF Bronze Bronze
Russia 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 7th 9th 11th 20th 7th Silver
Germany 2012 Ruhpolding 11th 26th 23rd 22nd Bronze —
*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.
**The mixed relay was added as an event in 2005.

Individual victories

11 victories (3 In, 4 Sp, 2 Pu, 2 MS)

Season Date Location Discipline Level
2004–05
1 victory
(1 In) 		9 February 2005 Italy Turin20 km individualBiathlon World Cup
2005–06
2 victories
(1 In, 1 MS) 		11 February 2006 Italy Turin20 km individualWinter Olympic Games
25 February 2006 Italy Turin15 km mass startWinter Olympic Games
2006–07
2 victories
(1 Sp, 1 MS) 		14 December 2006 Austria Hochfilzen10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
11 February 2007 Italy Antholz-Anterselva15 km mass startBiathlon World Championships
2007–08
4 victories
(2 Sp, 2 Pu) 		12 January 2008 Germany Ruhpolding10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
13 January 2008 Germany Ruhpolding12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
18 January 2008 Italy Antholz-Anterselva10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
29 February 2008 South Korea Pyeongchang12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup
2008–09
2 victories
(1 In, 1 Sp) 		3 December 2008 Sweden Östersund20 km individualBiathlon World Cup
19 March 2009 Norway Trondheim10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Vancouver 2010 - profile
  2. ↑ Kokesh, Jerry (5 December 2012). "Germany's Michael Greis Retires from Biathlon". Biathlonworld. International Biathlon Union. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  3. ↑ "Michael Greis". IBU Datacenter. International Biathlon Union. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
Awards
Preceded by
Germany Ronny Ackermann		 German Sportsman of the Year
2006 		Succeeded by
Germany Fabian Hambüchen
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