Miriam Neureuther (néeGössner; born 21 June 1990) is a former German biathlete and cross-country skier. She has won an Olympic silver medal in cross-country skiing and two biathlon world championship titles, all in team events. Noted for her fast skiing performances, she won two junior world championship titles in biathlon in 2008 and 2009. Gössner was called up for the Nordic World Ski Championships 2009, where she was part of Germany's cross-country team claiming silver in the 4 × 5 kilometre relay.
Miriam Gössner was born in the German alpine resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria. Her father is German and her mother Norwegian, born in Molde, Norway. Gössner grew up bilingually and is fluent in Norwegian.[3] She originally hoped for a career in alpine skiing, but following an accident during slalom training, in which she lost several teeth and suffered a broken cheekbone, she instead started biathlon at the age of 14.[4] Until 2011, she had been involved in a four-year relationship with German biathlete Simon Schempp.[5] Since 2013 she has been in a relationship with German alpine skier Felix Neureuther: in October 2017 she gave birth to the couple's first child, a girl named Matilda.[6] She married Felix Neureuther in December 2017.
In February 2014 Gössner posed nude for, and appeared on the cover of, the German edition of Playboy.[7]
Career
Early career
After deciding to pursue a career in biathlon, Gössner joined the German Customs Administration in August 2006 to become a member in the government-supported Customs-Ski-Team (Zoll-Ski-Team). She officially holds the rank of Zollhauptwachtmeisterin (head customs officer),[8] although she is a full-time professional athlete with no customs obligations. For several years Gössner trained alongside retired Olympic champion Magdalena Neuner in Mittenwald, one of Germany's biathlon bases.[9] Her local coach is Bernhard Kröll.[10]
Gössner qualified for the 2008 Biathlon Junior/Youth World Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany, where she won gold as part of the German relay team. One year later at the 2009 Biathlon Junior/Youth World Championships in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, Gössner won the pursuit title. She also won silver in the sprint, bronze in the relay, and came in fourth place in the individual. Early on, Gössner was noted for her fast skiing performances. She won the junior pursuit gold in spite of eight shooting errors and came in fourth in the individual with a total time penalty of six minutes.[1]
Because of her fast skiing times, Germany's cross-country coach, Jochen Behle, called her up as a late replacement for the freestyle sprint at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic. She came in 17th place during qualification, but did not advance beyond the quarter-final in the main competition, eventually finishing in 19th position. After Stefanie Böhler had to withdraw, Gössner was picked for the 4 × 5 kilometre relay. She set the fastest time of all racers on her lap and reduced Germany's gap to the lead by 55.1 seconds, playing an important part in Germany's silver medal win. Gössner could not compete in biathlon for the remainder of the season due to a thumb injury, therefore she debuted in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Lahti, Finland in March 2009, winning her first World Cup points with two top-30 finishes.[2]
Olympic cross-country silver (2009–10 season)
Gössner made her debut in the Biathlon World Cup in Östersund, Sweden, in December 2009, the first event of the 2009–10 season. She finished in 73rd place in the individual and 58th in the sprint race, with seven and five shooting errors respectively. She saw no chance to qualify for the 2010 Winter Olympics in biathlon and concentrated on cross-country skiing for the remaining season. Gössner competed at the 2009–10 Tour de Ski, finishing in 5th place in the prologue, which secured her the Olympic qualification in cross-country skiing. She continued with good results in the cross-country World Cup, coming in 5th in the sprint and 4th in the team sprint in Rybinsk, Russia.
The Winter Olympics in Vancouver started with a setback for Gössner. She was looking for a potential top ten finish in the 10 kilometre freestyle race, before crashing on the second loop. She injured her shoulder and lost time, eventually finishing in 21st place.[11] On 25 February 2010, running the third leg alongside Katrin Zeller, Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle and Claudia Nystad for Germany, Gössner claimed the silver medal in the 4 × 5 kilometre relay. After the Olympics, she remained with the cross-country team through the end of the season. Her best World Cup result was a second place in Lahti, again coming in a women's relay event.[2] Along with all Olympic medal winners, she received the Silberne Lorbeerblatt (Silver Laurel Leaf), the highest state decoration for athletes in Germany.[12]
Key:"—" denotes discipline not held; DNS—Did not start; WCH—World Championships[1]
Despite repeated attempts by head coach Jochen Behle to convince her to stay with the cross-country team, Gössner decided to return to biathlon for the 2010–11 season, even if she had to compete in second tier IBU Cup races initially.[13] However, she was picked for the German team at the World Cup opening in Östersund. In the first race of the season, she finished in 39th place in the individual race, winning her first Biathlon World Cup points. Two days later, Gössner shot clean and came in second place in the sprint race. In the subsequent pursuit, she defended her second place. She set the fastest course time in both races and was beaten only by Finland's Kaisa Mäkäräinen.[1]
Following her surprising podiums, Gössner continued the season with average results, earning World Cup points in 11 of her next 13 individual races. However, she failed to reach any more top ten positions because of poor shooting performances. In Pokljuka, Slovenia, Gössner competed in her first biathlon team event, a mixed relay race. She incurred four penalty loops in the standing shoot, with Germany finishing eighth eventually. One month later in Antholz, Italy, she reached third place in the women's relay with Germany, again skiing two penalty loops. At the World Cup stop in Fort Kent in the United States, Gössner claimed her third career podium, coming in second behind team mate Andrea Henkel in the sprint race.
In March 2011, Gössner made her first appearance at the Biathlon World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. She achieved good results, finishing in 9th place in the sprint, 7th in the pursuit and 14th in the mass start, and was consequently selected for the women's relay. Alongside Andrea Henkel, Tina Bachmann and Magdalena Neuner, Gössner ran the second leg for Germany, but again struggled with the standing shoot and had to ski two penalty loops. A strong finish by team mate Magdalena Neuner on the last leg, however, gave Gössner her first world championship gold medal and first World Cup win.[14] Gössner ended her first complete biathlon season with three individual podiums and seven top ten finishes, ranked 14th in the overall World Cup standings.[1]
Key:"—" denotes discipline not held; DNS—Did not start; WCH—World Championships[1]
During the summer of 2011, Gössner had to undergo an emergency intestinal operation after being diagnosed with a volvulus.[15] The 2011–12 World Cup season did not go as well as the previous winter. Gössner was struggling with her skiing speed and she only reached one individual top ten position during the entire season. A sixth place in the Kontiolahti sprint was her best position of the winter, shooting clean but not skiing fast enough for a podium finish.[16] Four of her five best results during the 2011–12 season came in sprint events.[1]
At the 2012 World Championships in Ruhpolding, Gössner managed to end the season with a good performance in front of her home fans. Despite mixed results, she was selected to run the third leg of Germany's women's relay, alongside Tina Bachmann, Magdalena Neuner and Andrea Henkel. She used three spare rounds and led the team from third to first position, playing a pivotal part in Germany's eventual relay victory.[17]
First individual World Cup victory (2012–13 season)
Key:"—" denotes discipline not held; DNS—Did not start; WCH—World Championships[1]
Gössner lost 10 kilograms during the summer, in an effort to regain her outstanding skiing pace.[18] At the beginning of the 2012–13 season, she was once again able to set the fastest course times. At the third World Cup stop in Pokljuka, Slovenia, Gössner finished all three races on the podium. She missed her first individual victory by 2.0 seconds in the sprint, before claiming her maiden World Cup win in the following pursuit, despite a total of five penalty loops.[19] She ended her weekend with another second place in the Pokljuka mass start.
After the Christmas break, Gössner claimed her second World Cup win in the Oberhof sprint race.[20] She also came third with the German relay team in the Oberhof women's relay. One week later, she won her second sprint race in a row in Ruhpolding.[21] At the last World Cup stage before the world championships, Gössner missed seven out of ten targets in the Antholz sprint, finishing in 62nd place. It was the second worst result of her career, which also meant she failed to qualify for the subsequent pursuit. However, two days later in the last event before the 2013 Biathlon World Championships she was part of Germany's winning relay team.[1] At the Biathlon Worlds themselves, she failed to secure a medal, with her best finishes being a pair of sixth places in the sprint and the mass start. Subsequently, she also narrowly missed out on a medal at the 2013 Nordic Worlds in Val di Fiemme, her first cross-country appearance since the 2010 Olympics, where she finished fourth in the 10km freestyle, half a second behind bronze medallist Yuliya Chekalyova.[22]
Injury, drop in form and focus on cross-country
Following her 2012-13 season, Gössner suffered a back injury in a cycling accident, which kept her out of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.[7] The injury contributed to a loss of form in biathlon over the next few seasons. After taking time out of competition due to the birth of her daughter, in May 2018 she was named by the German Ski Association as a member of their third-tier cross-country ski team: earlier that year she had stated that if she would return to racing she would do so in cross-country, rather than biathlon, as she felt she was no longer able to shoot error-free.[23]
Gössner is known as one of the fastest cross-country skiers in biathlon. During 17 of her 75 World Cup races (23%), she has set the fastest course time (race time without time spent at the shooting range or in the penalty loop). In addition, she has been among the top three fastest skiers in 52% of her career races. At junior level, Gössner was noted for her fast skiing performances and she often had been able to make up for multiple shooting errors on the cross-country course. In her first two World Cup races in the 2009–10 season, she achieved the 9th and 15th fastest course time respectively. One year later during the 2010–11 season, Gössner set the fastest skiing time in 8 of her 25 races, out-skiing most of the field's top contenders on a regular basis. Her skiing performances dropped off considerably in 2011–12 season when she only managed one top three course time. During the 2012–13 season, Gössner returned to her fast ski speed, setting the best course time in nine consecutive races, a new record, beating Magdalena Neuner, who managed 8 consecutive races back in 2007–08 season.[1]
Key: Number of respective times achieved / number of all races entered, percentage.
* Results in IBU World Cup races, no relay events. Statistics as of 17 March 2013, the end of the 2012–13 season.[1][24]
Shooting
As of January 2013, Gössner has a career shooting accuracy of 70%. Her career average in the prone position is 76%, while her career average in the standing position is 64%. Her shooting results in the prone position are slightly below average, while her standing position percentage is among the worst of the entire World Cup field. In her three seasons on the World Cup tour, Gössner produced highly inconsistent shooting results. She shot clean twice (in her first podium finish in the 2010 Östersund sprint, as well as the 2012 Kontiolahti sprint), but also had three races with a total of nine shooting errors (2011 Antholz mass start, 2011 Presque Isle pursuit, 2012 Khanty-Mansiysk mass start). In the 2013 Oberhof pursuit she even had 10 errors, however finished 10th due to an outstanding skiing performance. When she claimed her first World Cup victory she skied five penalty loops (2012 Pokljuka pursuit).[1]
* Results in all IBU World Cup races, Olympics and World Championships including relay events and disqualified races. Statistics as of 15 January 2017.[1][24]
Gössner made her debut in the Biathlon World Cup in the 2009–10 season. After two disappointing races at the beginning of the winter, she joined the German cross-country team. She had ten appearances on the FIS Cross-Country World Cup tour, including three top ten finishes in non-team races.[2] The following winter, Gössner returned to biathlon for the 2010–11 season. In the overall standings she finished her first complete World Cup season in 14th place.[1]
a.1 Until 2009–10 season, IBU did not count an athlete's three worst races in overall World Cup scores. In 2010–11 season, all races were included in World Cup scores. Starting from 2011–12 season, the two worst results have been eliminated again. So the points in the "Points" column is represented after deduction, except 2010–11 season.
Gössner reached her first personal World Cup win during her fourth season. As of January 2013, she has won three individual World Cup races. In addition, she has won four relays as a part of the German team. Her first two victories both occurred in world championship races.[1]
As of the end of the 2012–13 season, Gössner has competed in 89 Biathlon World Cup events, claiming three individual wins: one pursuit and two sprint races. In team events, she claimed her maiden World Cup win in the 2011 World Championships relay with Germany. Gössner has achieved 34 top ten finishes—38.20 per cent of all the races she has entered.[1]
Result
Individual
Sprint
Pursuit
Mass Start
Relay
Mixed Relay
Total
Individual Events
Team Events
All Events
1st Place
–
2
1
–
4
–
3
4
7
2nd Place
–
3
1
1
1
–
5
1
6
3rd Place
–
2
–
–
3
–
2
3
5
Podiums
–
7
2
1
8
–
10
8
18
Top 10
–
13
8
4
14
3
25
17
42
Points
7
37
29
17
14
4
91
18
109
Others
8
17
9
–
–
–
33
–
33
Starts
15
54
38
17
14
4
124
18
142
* Results in all UIPMB and IBU World Cup races, Olympics and World Championships. Statistics as of 15 January 2017.[1]
Biathlon Junior/Youth World Championships
Gössner has won two gold medals, as well as one silver and one bronze medal at the Biathlon Junior/Youth World Championships. In 2008, she competed at her first junior world championships when they were held in Ruhpolding, Germany, winning gold as part of the German relay team. One year later in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, Gössner won the pursuit title after claiming the silver medal in the sprint, and she also won bronze in the relay.[1]
