The Right Way To Finish A Biathlon Career | Erik Lesser

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0:00 Intro
A biathlon hero of the past Erik Lesser was the last man standing of the 2010 biathlon greats. Among the oldest athletes on the Biathlon World Cup, Erik seemingly prolonged his stay on the world cup and struggled to keep up even with his up-and-coming countrymen. Hitting rock bottom at the Beijing Olympics Erik's 67th place in the only non-team event he participated in was among the worst results of his career. Already having announced his retirement at the conclusion of the season, March 2022 was looking like it was going to be a limp to the finish line for the beloved German biathlete.

1:25 First Medal in a long Time

Erik Lesser made his World Cup debut in 2010 and has been a staple of the German biathlon team ever since. Erik has 13 world cup podiums, is a 7 time World Championship medalist including his World Championship victory in 2015 and three time Olympic medalist including a silver medal in the Sochi Individual. Alongside biathlon heroes such as Arnd Pieffer, Simon Schempp and Laura Dahlmier, Erik Lesser has been a household name in Germany for the past decade.

However due to the heightened level of competition in the world cup Erik has struggled to reach the podium in recent years. His silver medal in the Kontiholati pursuit was his first World Cup podium in two seasons and his first pursuit medal since 2016.

Erik would earn the Athlete Of The Week status from Biathlon World due to his unexpected podium result but Erik didn’t want too much attention for the novelty of his situation.

2:36 Climbing in the rankings

As the World Cup moved to Oteppa, Estonia, All the athletes were challenged with the new track. Oteppa was making its World Cup debut as a venue and Eric continued to fight for the top spots. Earning 7th in the sprint and 5th in Mass Start. Erik began subtly climbing in the overall ranks.

3:00 Danke Erik

The historic Oslo Holmenkollen arena is the traditional finale to the IBU World Cup. After having to relinquish it’s World Cup stage for the past two seasons due to the covid 19 pandemic, Fans were eager to get back to the venue to cheer on their biathlon heroes.

Due to the high number of retirements from the biathlon family, a celebratory ambiance filled the air. Danke’s, Merci’s and Thank you banners lined the track for athletes who would be moving on from biathlon at the conclusion of the weekend. Erik was not immune to this type of attention but he did not let it distract him from what he came to Norway to accomplish.

Erik would continue his great streak of top-10 finishes by placing 5th in the opening sprint. And as fans and commentators couldn’t believe that Erik continued to pressure the podium, Erik was confident about his chances in the Pursuit

3:54 The Pursuit

On the morning of the Pursuit, Erik’s game plan was to control his own destiny.

And control his performance is what he did: Shooting clean in both prone stages Erik was able to move up into podium position and be within striking distance of the victory. However, prone shooting was not the obstacle for Erik. This season Erik boasted an incredible 97% prone shooting percentage and had not missed a prone shot since early January. The true test would come in the standing where he was shooting 80% on average, below the world cup standard.

As he approached the fist standing stage with Sweden’s Sebastian Sammuelsson, Erik was able to chip away at the lead again by cleaning his target in a quick 21.2 seconds.

4:57 Miracles do Happen

Erik was now alone on the course, chasing the only competitor standing in between him and the victory. Unfortunately for the man who wanted to control his own destiny, this sole competitor happened to be Sturla Holm Laegreid, one the best shooters on the World Cup circuit.

Erik would need a miracle to secure the victory.

Suddenly the door opened: With two misses in front of the home crowd, Laegreid gave Erik the opportunity to win. Erik was no longer battling his competitors but his internal thoughts as stressful of his Shooting meltdown from the PyeongChang Olympics four years prior resurfaced to challenge the biathlon veteran

With the world watching and praying Erik, beloved biathlon hero stepped to the shooting mat for the final time: