The 32nd Biathlon World Championships were held in 1997 in Brezno-Osrblie, Slovakia.^[1] The pursuit races were contested for the first time in the world championships.

Men's results

20 km individual

Medal	Name	Nation	Penalties	Result
	Ricco Groß	GER
	Oleg Ryzhenkov	BLR
	Ludwig Gredler	AUT

10 km sprint

Medal	Name	Nation	Penalties	Result
	Wilfried Pallhuber	ITA
	René Cattarinussi	ITA
	Oleg Ryzhenkov	BLR

12.5 km pursuit

Medal	Name	Nation	Penalties	Result
	Viktor Maigourov	RUS
	Sergei Tarasov	RUS
	Ole Einar Bjørndalen	NOR

Team event

Medal	Name	Nation	Penalties	Result
	Belarus Vadim Sashurin Oleg Ryzhenkov Alexandr Popov Petr Ivashko	BLR
	Germany Mark Kirchner Frank Luck Peter Sendel Carsten Heymann	GER
	Poland Wieslaw Ziemianin Jan Ziemianin Wojciech Kozub Tomasz Sikora	POL

4 × 7.5 km relay

Medal	Name	Nation	Penalties	Result
	Germany Ricco Groß Peter Sendel Sven Fischer Frank Luck	GER
	Norway Egil Gjelland Jon Åge Tyldum Dag Bjørndalen Ole Einar Bjørndalen	NOR
	Italy René Cattarinussi Wilfried Pallhuber Patrick Favre Pieralberto Carrara	ITA

Women's results

15 km individual

Medal	Name	Nation	Penalties	Result
	Magdalena Forsberg	SWE
	Olena Zubrilova	UKR
	Ekaterina Dafovska	BUL

7.5 km sprint

Medal	Name	Nation	Penalties	Result
	Olga Romasko	RUS
	Olena Zubrilova	UKR
	Magdalena Forsberg	SWE

10 km pursuit

Medal	Name	Nation	Penalties	Result
	Magdalena Forsberg	SWE
	Olena Zubrilova	UKR
	Olga Romasko	RUS

Team event

Medal	Name	Nation	Penalties	Result
	Norway Liv Grete Skjelbreid Ann Elen Skjelbreid Gunn Margit Andreassen Annette Sikveland	NOR
	Russia Olga Melnik Anna Volkova Nadezhda Talanova Olga Romasko	RUS
	Ukraine Valentina Tserbe-Nessina Tatyana Vodopyanova Olena Petrova Olena Zubrilova	UKR

4 × 7.5 km relay

Medal	Name	Nation	Penalties	Result
	Germany Uschi Disl Simone Greiner-Petter-Memm Katrin Apel Petra Behle	GER
	Norway Ann Elen Skjelbreid Annette Sikveland Liv Grete Skjelbreid Gunn Margit Andreassen	NOR
	Russia Olga Melnik Galina Kukleva Nadezhda Talanova Olga Romasko	RUS

Medal table

Place	Nation				Total
1	Germany	3	1	0	4
2	Russia	2	2	2	6
3	Sweden	2	0	1	3
4	Norway	1	2	1	4
5	Belarus	1	1	1	3
5	Italy	1	1	1	3
7	Ukraine	0	3	1	4
8	Austria	0	0	1	1
8	Bulgaria	0	0	1	1
8	Poland	0	0	1	1