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Emil Hegle Svendsen
Personal information
Full name	Emil Hegle Svendsen
Date of birth	July 12, 1985 (1985-07-12) (age 24)
Place of birth	Trondheim,  Norway
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Professional information
Club	Strindheim IL
Skis	Madshus
World Cup
Seasons	2005-
Wins	12
Additional podiums	14
Total podiums	26
Infobox last updated on:
March 28, 2009

Medal record
Competitor for  Norway
Men's biathlon
World Championships
Gold	2009 Peyongchang	4×7.5 km relay
Gold	2008 Östersund	20 km individual
Gold	2008 Östersund	15 km mass start
Silver	2008 Östersund	4×7.5 km relay
Bronze	2007 Antholz-Anterselva	mixed relay
Youth & Junior World Championshipsname="IBUprofile"/>
Bronze	2003 Koscielisko	10 km sprint
Bronze	2003 Koscielisko	12.5 km pursuit
Gold	2004 Haute Maurienne	12.5 km pursuit
Gold	2005 Kontiolahti	10 km sprint
Silver	2005 Kontiolahti	12.5 km pursuit

Emil Hegle Svendsen (born 12 July 1985) is a Norwegian biathlete. He skis with Strindheim IL, based in Trondheim. He is 6 ft 1" (185 cm) tall, and weights 170 lbs (77 kg, 12st 2 lb).

The 2005/06 season was Svendsen's first season on the World Cup tour, before then he competed as a junior in the European Cup. During his first season in the World Cup Svendsen finished fifth in three races, two of them in sprints (Brezno-Orsblie and Ruhpolding), and the other in a mass start (Holmenkollen). He also finished races in seventh, ninth, and four more within the top twenty (14th, 15th, 17th, 19th). He finished the overall season in 22nd place. He was 32nd in the pursuit, 21st in the sprint, and 7th in the mass start, only seven points behind Sven Fischer in fourth place.

Svendsen was selected for the Olympics, to compete in the mass start, in which he came sixth, after hitting 18/20 targets and finished 53.8 seconds behind winner Michael Greis of Germany. As a junior Svendsen won four gold medals in junior World Championships, his first and second gold was in the pursuit, and the relay in Haute Maurienne in 2004, and the third and fourth gold in the individual and the sprint in Kontiolahti in 2005. He also has two bronze medals from the individual and the pursuit in Kościelisko in 2003. During his three seasons in the European Cup, Svendsen won two races (individual and pursuit), one second place (sprint), and came third three times (all in the sprint).

For his first season in the World Cup Svendsen had a 82% shooting average, making him the 42nd best shot of the tour, but the same shooting percentage as Halvard Hanevold, and Vincent Defrasne. He hit 243 out of 295 targets. He shot both 82% in his prone and standing shoot, he averaged 70% in the individual, 84% in the sprint, 81% in the pursuit, 87% in the mass start, and 76% in the relay.

At the 13th of December 2007, Svendsen took his first world cup victory, at the 20 km in Pokljuka. However, his big breakthrough came when he won two individual gold medals at the 2008 World Championships, winning both the individual and the mass start ahead of Ole Einar Bjørndalen. He went on winning more victories and podiums for the rest of the season, and eventually finished third overall.

The 2008/2009 season started of well for Svendsen. By placing on the podium in every of the five first races, he took the lead in the overall world cup. After the Christmas holiday however, Svendsen struggled to maintain the early seasons results, and when he fell ill during the world championships and did not compete in several races, he lost the overall lead. After a couple of middle placings, he returned with a third place at the mass start event in Trondheim, and a fourth place and a victory in Khanty Mansiysk the consecutive week.

Career highlights

References

• Official IBU website
• Yahoo Sports

External links

• http://services.biathlonresults.com/athletes.aspx?IbuId=BTNOR11207198501 (Svendsen's profil at IBU)