Christoph "Sumi" Sumann (19 January 1976) is a former Austrian

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

Life and career

As was the case with many of his fellow biathletes, Sumann switched over from

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

, which he had been doing since childhood. By the mid-1990s had he entered junior ski team of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and later on progressed to senior level. He was a skillful sprinter at the time. Sumann began as a biathlete in 2000 and would compete in biathlon at the top level for 11 seasons. His first World Cup win came in 2002–03 season and he finished 15th in the World Cup total. In

2006–07 Biathlon World Cup The 2006–07 Biathlon World Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of biathlon, organised by the International Biathlon Union. The season lasted from 29 November 2006 to 18 March 2007. This article contains the top ten result listings and ...

Sumann won the a mass start race and wore the red bib of the leader of the mass start cup up until the last stage of the season, the fact is quite outstanding for Austrians in biathlon despite the fact that he eventually lost it to

Ole Einar Bjørndalen Ole Einar Bjørndalen () (born 27 January 1974) is a retired Norwegian professional biathlete and coach, often referred to by the nickname, the "King of Biathlon". With 13 Winter Olympic Games medals, he is second on the list of multiple medali ...

, who thus won the mass start world cup that season. His most brilliant season was the

2009–10 Biathlon World Cup The 2009–10 Biathlon World Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of biathlon, organised by the International Biathlon Union. The season started 2 December 2009 in Östersund, Sweden and ended 28 March 2010 with the '' Mixed Relay Worl ...

. He won two silvers at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May Doan Nancy GreeneWayne Gr ...

in the relay and the pursuit, being runner-up in the World Cup total along with title in the individual cup made him one of the most decorated athletes of that season. The 2010–11 Biathlon World Cup was fraught with hardships for Sumann since he caught intestinal disease in

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön ...

, Sweden in December and he had to combat it throughout the season. However, he came through at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

when he won a bronze medal in the 20 km individual. Sumann retired from the sport at the end of the 2013–14 season.

Personal life

* Coached by Gösweiner Reinhard at the club Union Sportverein Frojach-Katsch, Sumann is a policeman in his homeland. Besides, he is married and has two children, a daughter Lea and a son Felix.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; german: Internationale Biathlon-Union) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the ...

Olympic Games

''3 medals (2 silver, 1 bronze)'' :''*Mass start was added as an event in 2006, with the mixed relay being added in 2014.''

World Championships

''4 medals (2 silver, 2 bronze)'' :''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.'' :''**Mixed relay was added as an event in 2005.''

Individual victories

''6 victories (1 In, 1 Sp, 2 Pu, 2 MS)'' :''*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the

Biathlon World Cup The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...

Biathlon World Championships 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 fina ...

and the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sumann, Christoph 1976 births Living people People from Judenburg Austrian male biathletes Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes for Austria Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic bronze medalists for Austria Olympic silver medalists for Austria Biathlon World Championships medalists Universiade medalists in cross-country skiing FISU World University Games gold medalists for Austria Competitors at the 1999 Winter Universiade Sportspeople from Styria