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Frank Ullrich
	Ullrich in 2021
Personal information
Full name	Frank Ullrich
Born	24 January 1958 (age 66); Trusetal, East Germany
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Professional information
Sport	Biathlon
Club	ASK Vorwärts Oberhof
World Cup debut	13 January 1978
Olympic Games
Teams	3 (1976, 1980, 1984)
Medals	4 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams	6 (1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983)
Medals	14 (9 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	7 (1977/78–1983/84)
Individual victories	17
Individual podiums	28
Overall titles	4 (1977–78, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82)
Medal record
Men's biathlon
Representing East Germany
Olympic Games
World Championships

Frank Ullrich (German pronunciation: [fʁaŋk ˈʊlʁɪç], audio^ⓘ; born 24 January 1958) is a German politician of the SPD and former biathlete and trainer of the German national team. Since 2021, he has been a member of the Bundestag.

Career

Biathlon was in Ullrich's family as his father was a biathlon referee. His first appearance was in 1967 at the GDR Children Championships. In 1972, he placed second over 5 km at the Spartakiad, in 1975 he became Youth World Champion in relay. He won a bronze medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics with the 4 × 7.5 km relay team. At the 1980 Winter Olympics 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,^[1] 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.^[2] 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, 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 won his 17th World Cup victory on 18 March 2000, Ole Einar Bjørndalen won his on 12 January 2001, Raphaël Poirée won on 18 January 2002, whilst Emil Hegle Svendsen won on 2 December 2010 and Martin Fourcade 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 SPD in the 2021 German federal election. He won his electoral constituency (Suhl – Schmalkalden-Meiningen – Hildburghausen – Sonneberg in Thuringia) with 33.5 %, making him a member of the 20th Bundestag. The local election was observed closely by the German public because Ullrich ran against Hans-Georg Maaßen, the controversial former head of the German domestic intelligence service.^[3]

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.^[4]

Olympic Games

4 medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Relay
1976 Innsbruck	—	—	Bronze
1980 Lake Placid	Silver	Gold	Silver
1984 Sarajevo	5th	17th	4th

*Sprint was added as an event in 1980.

World Championships

14 medals (9 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Relay
1977 Lillehammer	—	—	Bronze
1978 Hochfilzen	Silver	Gold	Gold
1979 Ruhpolding	4th	Gold	Gold
1981 Lahti	Silver	Gold	Gold
1982 Minsk	Gold	Silver	Gold
1983 Antholz-Anterselva	Gold	8th	Silver

*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

Individual victories

17 victories (6 In, 11 Sp)

Season	Date	Location	Discipline	Level
1977–78 3 victories (1 In, 2 Sp)	22 February 1978	Antholz-Anterselva	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
	4 March 1978	Hochfilzen	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Championships
	27 March 1978	Murmansk	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
1978–79 1 victory (1 Sp)	31 January 1979	Ruhpolding	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Championships
1979–80 5 victories (1 In, 4 Sp)	19 January 1980	Ruhpolding	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	26 January 1980	Antholz-Anterselva	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	19 February 1980	Lake Placid	10 km sprint	Winter Olympic Games
	22 March 1980	Hedenäset	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	27 March 1980	Murmansk	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
1980–81 2 victories (2 Sp)	31 January 1981	Ruhpolding	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
1980–81 2 victories (2 Sp)	14 February 1981	Lahti	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Championships
1981–82 4 victories (2 In, 2 Sp)	16 January 1982	Egg am Etzel	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	23 January 1982	Antholz-Anterselva	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	28 January 1982	Ruhpolding	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
	10 February 1982	Minsk	20 km individual	Biathlon World Championships
1982–83 2 victories (2 In)	9 February 1983	Antholz-Anterselva	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
1982–83 2 victories (2 In)	24 February 1983	Antholz-Anterselva	20 km individual	Biathlon World Championships

*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

References

^ Olympic results Archived 25 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine
^ Achim Leoni (as interviewer); Frank Ullrich (as interviewee) (18 February 2006). "In meiner Stasi-Akte erkannte ich zwölf Leute". newspaper interview. Hamburger Abendblatt. {{cite web}}: |author1= has generic name (help)
^ "Bundestagswahl 2021: Wer ist Maaßen-Bezwinger Frank Ullrich?". 26 September 2021.
^ "Frank Ullrich". IBU Datacenter. International Biathlon Union. Retrieved 20 May 2015.