Frank Ullrich (, ; born 24 January 1958) is a German politician of the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

and former

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 ti ...

and trainer of the German national team. Since

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, he has been a member of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

Career

Biathlon was in Ullrich's family as his father was a biathlon referee. His first appearance was in 1967 at the

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

Children Championships. In 1972, he placed second over 5 km at the

Spartakiad The Spartakiad (or Spartakiade) was an international sports event that was sponsored by the Soviet Union. Five international Spartakiades were held from 1928 to 1937. Later Spartakiads were organized as national sport events of the Eastern Bloc ...

, in 1975 he became Youth World Champion in

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

. He won a bronze medal at the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (, ) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 (), were a winter multi-sport event celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from February 4 to 15, 1976. The games were awarded to Inn ...

with the 4 × 7.5 km relay team. At the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

he won 3 medals with silvers in the 20 km individual and the 4 × 7.5 km relay and a gold medal in the 10 km sprint, an event he dominated at world level between 1978 and 1981. In 1982 his wife fell ill and died, soon after which he switched to training. He undertook a period of study at the National Academy for Body Culture and then, in 1987, became the trainer of the East Germany national team, and, following

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, national trainer for the sprint. Speaking to Ullrich's dominance in the World Cup, even though he retired in the mid-80s, only five male biathletes have surpassed him in terms of World Cup victories.

Sven Fischer Sven Fischer (born 16 April 1971) is a German former biathlete. He trained with the WSV Oberhof 05 club, and was coached by Frank Ullrich and Fritz Fischer (national coaches) and Klaus Siebert (club coach). After the 2006/07 biathlon season, ...

won his 17th World Cup victory on 18 March 2000,

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 ...

won his on 12 January 2001,

Raphaël Poirée Raphaël Poirée (born 9 August 1974) is a retired French biathlete who was active from 1995 to 2007. With his 44 World Cup victories and several World Championship medals he ranks among the most successful biathletes ever. Sports career Poi ...

won on 18 January 2002, whilst

Emil Hegle Svendsen Emil Hegle Svendsen (born 12 July 1985) is a retired Norwegian biathlete. He has won eight medals at Winter Olympics (four gold) and five individual gold medals and seven relay gold medals at World Championships. He skis with Trondhjems Skiskytt ...

won on 2 December 2010 and

Martin Fourcade Martin Fourcade (; born 14 September 1988) is a retired French Biathlon, biathlete. He is a six-time Biathlon at the Winter Olympics, Olympic champion, a thirteen-time Biathlon World Championships, World Champion and a seven-time winner of the B ...

won on 12 January 2013.

Politics

Ullrich, who has a working class background and whose grandfather was a "passionate social democrat", was a direct candidate for the

in the

2021 German federal election The 2021 German federal election was held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag. State elections in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were also held. Incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel, first elected in 2005, ...

. He won his electoral constituency (

Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg is an electoral constituency (German: ''Wahlkreis'') represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering syste ...

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

) with 33.5 %, making him a member of the 20th

. The local election was observed closely by the German public because Ullrich ran against

Hans-Georg Maaßen Hans-Georg Maaßen (born 24 November 1962 in Mönchengladbach) is a German civil servant and lawyer. From 1 August 2012 to 8 November 2018, he served as the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domes ...

, the controversial former head of the German domestic intelligence service. In 2024, Ulrich announced he will not run again for

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; ) 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 city. It was rocked by a corruption ...

Olympic Games

''4 medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)'' :''*Sprint was added as an event in 1980.''

World Championships

''14 medals (9 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze)'' :''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.''

Individual victories

''17 victories (6 In, 11 Sp)'' :''*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 original team event, Team (time), was held for the last time in 1965, to be replaced in 1966 by the team event, Relay (4 × 7.5 km) ...

and the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held in ...

.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ullrich, Frank 1958 births Living people People from Schmalkalden-Meiningen Biathletes from Thuringia German male biathletes Biathletes at the 1976 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1980 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1984 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes for East Germany East German male biathletes Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Olympic silver medalists for East Germany Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Biathlon World Championships medalists Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bundestag 2021–2025 Members of the Bundestag for Thuringia Members of the Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party of Germany German sportsperson-politicians Sportspeople from Bezirk Suhl German cross-country skiing coaches