Mark Kirchner

Mark Kirchner is a German former biathlete, born on 4 April 1970. He won gold in the 10 km sprint at the 1992 Albertville Olympics, followed it with silver in the 20 km individual and gold in the relay, and in 1994 at Lillehammer he was his country's flag bearer and part of the gold-medal winning relay team. At just 23 years and 10 months he was the youngest triple Olympic champion in biathlon. At the World Championships he won 10 medals, seven gold, one silver and two bronze. He finished second in the overall World Cup standings twice, behind Sergei Tchepikov of the USSR in 1990-91 and behind Mikael Löfgren of Sweden in 1992-93. He retired relatively early, at the age of 28, in 1998, and later worked as an assistant to the German men's head coach Frank Ullrich, with responsibilities including youth development. In April 2014 he was appointed men's coach for the national team.