page_title: Magdalena Neuner
section_title: Skiing
hierarchical_section_title: Magdalena Neuner / Skiing
caption_attribution_description: German biathlete Magdalena Neuner at the IBU World Cup in Trondheim, Norway, March 2009.
context_page_description: Magdalena "Lena" Neuner is a retired German professional biathlete. She is the most successful woman of all time at Biathlon World Championships and a two-time Olympic gold medalist. At the age of 21, she became the youngest Overall World Cup winner in the history of the International Biathlon Union. With 34 World Cup wins, Neuner is ranked second all-time for career victories on the Biathlon World Cup tour. She has won the Overall World Cup title three times, in 2007–08, in 2009–10 and her final season in 2011–12. Neuner retired from the sport in March 2012, citing a lack of motivation and her desire for a normal life.
  Neuner started biathlon when she was nine years old and won five junior world championship titles from 2004 to 2006. She made her World Cup debut in 2006 and won her first World Cup race in January 2007. One month later, she claimed three gold medals in her first appearance at the Biathlon World Championships. In the 2007–08 season, Neuner won the Overall World Cup and once more claimed three titles at the 2008 World Championships.
context_section_description: Neuner was  one of the fastest female cross-country skiers in biathlon.  During 66 of her 151 World Cup races (44%), 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 77% of her career races.
  In her first World Cup races in the 2005–06 season, Neuner achieved average course times; her best result was being fourth fastest in the pursuit race in Kontiolahti. During her first full season in 2006–07, she finished among the top three fastest skiers in 19 of her 24 races and came in fastest in seven of them. Neuner won the 2007–08 Biathlon World Cup with dominating skiing performances. She set the fastest course time in 19 of her 25 races and was second or third fastest in the remaining six. At the beginning of the 2008–09 season, Neuner had a substantial drop in her skiing times due to a series of illnesses. However, she recovered and set the fastest course time in 14 of the remaining 18 races from January onwards. In the 2009–10 Olympic season, Neuner again started slowly in December, but came back finishing among the top three fastest skiers in 17 of her 21 races. She had her second best winter in 2010–11 when she set the fastest or second fastest skiing time in 90% of her 21 races.
  Neuner had been a fast cross-country skier from an early age. When she was eight years old, she won the first cross-country skiing competition she entered at her local ski club. At junior level, her lap times at the German Student's Cup were comparable to older or male opponents. At the age of 15, Neuner managed to set the same skiing times as her coeval male training partners. In preparation for the 2006–07 season, Neuner skied 5,300 kilometres (3,300 mi) in training; she increased the volume to 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) for the 2007–08 season. Because of her ski speed, she has often been able to compensate for one or sometimes two or three shooting errors (a penalty loop is 150 metres (160 yd) long and normally takes 21 to 26 seconds).
  During three of her 32 World Cup wins (2007 World Championships pursuit, 2008 World Championships mass start, and 2009 Ruhpolding pursuit), Neuner skied three additional penalty loops compared to the second-place finisher. In March 2008, she came in second in the Khanty-Mansiysk mass start race, despite completing five penalty loops. She also reached third place in the Oberhof pursuit in January 2007 with six missed targets. At Neuner's first World Cup victory in the individual discipline in January 2010, she compensated for a total time penalty of two minutes on the 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) cross-country course (incurred by two additional shooting errors).
caption: Neuner skies uphill at a World Cup race in Trondheim, March 2009
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