1977–78 Biathlon World Cup

The 1977–78 Biathlon World Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of biathlon, organised by the UIPMB (Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon). The season started on 13 January 1978 in Ruhpolding, West Germany, and ended in April 1978 in Sodankylä, Finland. It was the first ever season of the Biathlon World Cup, and it was only held for men.

Frank Ullrich and Klaus Siebert at the East German Championships in 1978

1977–78 World Cup
Discipline	Men	Women
Overall	Frank Ullrich
Competition

Calendar

Below is the World Cup calendar for the 1977–78 season.[1][2][3]

Location	Date	Individual	Sprint	Relay
Ruhpolding	13–15 January	●	●	●
Antholz-Anterselva	21–25 February	●	●	●
Hochfilzen	2–5 March	●	●	●
Murmansk	24–29 March	●	●	●
Sodankylä	1–? April	●	●	●
Total		5	5	5

*The relays were technically unofficial races as they did not count towards anything in the World Cup.

World Cup Podium

Men

Stage	Date	Place	Discipline	Winner	Second	Third	Yellow bib (After competition)	Det.
1	14 January 1978	Ruhpolding	20 km Individual	Klaus Siebert	Eberhard Rösch	Andreas Schweiger	Klaus Siebert	Detail
1	15 January 1978	Ruhpolding	10 km Sprint	Sigleif Johansen	Eberhard Rösch	Frank Ullrich	Eberhard Rösch	Detail
2	23 February 1978	Antholz-Anterselva	20 km Individual	Frank Ullrich	Alexander Ushakov	Nikolay Kruglov	Frank Ullrich	Detail
2	25 February 1978	Antholz-Anterselva	10 km Sprint	Klaus Siebert	Eberhard Rösch	Vladimir Barnashov		Detail
WC	2 March 1978	Hochfilzen	20 km Individual	Odd Lirhus	Frank Ullrich	Eberhard Rösch		Detail
WC	4 March 1978	Hochfilzen	10 km Sprint	Frank Ullrich	Eberhard Rösch	Klaus Siebert		Detail
3	25 March 1978	Murmansk	20 km Individual	Nikolay Kruglov	Anatoly Alyabyev	Vladimir Artemyev		Detail
3	27 March 1978	Murmansk	10 km Sprint	Frank Ullrich	Nikolay Kruglov	Sigleif Johansen		Detail
4	1 April 1978	Sodankylä	20 km Individual	Klaus Siebert	Vladimir Otchnev	Svein Engen		Detail
4	2 April 1978	Sodankylä	10 km Sprint	Vladimir Barnashov	Heikki Ikola	Alexander Tikhonov		Detail

Standings: Men

Overall

Pos.		Points
	Frank Ullrich	144
2.	Klaus Siebert	137
3.	Eberhard Rösch	133
4.	Vladimir Barnashov	125
5.	Nikolay Kruglov	119

• Final standings after 10 races.

Achievements

First World Cup career victory

•  Klaus Siebert (GDR), 22, in his 1st season — the WC 1 Individual in Ruhpolding; it also was his first podium and the first podium for an East German biathlete
•  Sigleif Johansen (NOR), 29, in his 1st season — the WC 1 Sprint in Ruhpolding; it also was his first podium and the first podium for a Norwegian biathlete
•  Frank Ullrich (GDR), 20, in his 1st season — the WC 2 Individual in Ruhpolding; first podium was 1977–78 Sprint in Ruhpolding
•  Odd Lirhus (NOR), 21, in his 1st season — the World Championships Individual in Hochfilzen; it also was his first podium
•  Nikolay Kruglov (URS), 28, in his 1st season — the WC 3 Individual in Murmansk; first podium was 1977–78 Individual in Antholz-Anterselva
•  Vladimir Barnashov (URS), 27, in his 1st season — the WC 4 Sprint in Sodankylä; first podium was 1977–78 Sprint in Antholz-Anterselva

First World Cup podium

•  Eberhard Rösch (GDR), 27, in his 1st season — no. 2 in the WC 1 Individual in Ruhpolding
•  Andreas Schweiger (FRG), 24, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 1 Individual in Ruhpolding; it also was the first podium for a West German biathlete
•  Frank Ullrich (GDR), 19, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 1 Sprint in Ruhpolding
•  Alexander Ushakov (URS), 29, in his 1st season — no. 2 in the WC 2 Individual in Antholz-Anterselva; it also was the first podium for a Soviet biathlete
•  Nikolay Kruglov (URS), 28, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 2 Individual in Antholz-Anterselva
•  Anatoly Alyabyev (URS), 26, in his 1st season — no. 2 in the WC 3 Individual in Murmansk
•  Vladimir Artemiev (URS), in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 3 Individual in Murmansk
•  Vladimir Barnashov (URS), 26, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 2 Sprint in Antholz-Anterselva
•  Vladimir Otchnev (URS), in his 1st season — no. 2 in the WC 4 Individual in Sodankylä
•  Svein Engen (NOR), 25, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 4 Individual in Sodankylä
•  Heikki Ikola (FIN), 30, in his 1st season — no. 2 in the WC 4 Sprint in Sodankylä; it also was the first podium for a Finnish biathlete
•  Alexander Tikhonov (URS), 31, in his 1st season — no. 3 in the WC 4 Sprint in Sodankylä

Victory in this World Cup (all-time number of victories in parentheses)

•  Klaus Siebert (GDR), 3 (3) first places
•  Frank Ullrich (GDR), 3 (3) first places
•  Sigleif Johansen (NOR), 1 (1) first place
•  Odd Lirhus (NOR), 1 (1) first place
•  Nikolay Kruglov (URS), 1 (1) first place
•  Vladimir Barnashov (URS), 1 (1) first place

Retirements

Following notable biathletes retired after the 1977–78 season:

•  Juhani Suutarinen (FIN)
•  Aleksandr Elizarov (URS)

References

1. Sportsboken 78-79 [The Sports Book 78-79] (in Norwegian). Stavanger: Dreyer Bok. ISBN 82-7096-063-2. (in Norwegian)
2. "Wintersport Charts Weltcup World Cup Biathlon 1978". Wintersport Charts. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
3. "Statistiche Biathlon" [Statistics Biathlon]. Neve Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 22 October 2015. (in Italian) (registration required)