Laura Dahlmeier

Laura Dahlmeier (German: [ˈlaʊʁa ˈdaːlˌmaɪɐ] ^ⓘ; 22 August 1993 – 28 July 2025) was a German biathlete. Dahlmeier started in her first World Cup races in the 2012–13 season. In 2014, she participated in the Winter Olympics in Sochi. She won a record of five gold medals at the World Championships of 2017. In 2018, she became the first woman to win the biathlon sprint and pursuit in the same Olympics. During her career she won a total of two golds and one bronze at the Olympics, seven gold medals, three silver medals and five bronze medals at World Championships, one overall World Cup and two discipline World Cup titles.

Dahlmeier announced her retirement from competition in May 2019, at the age of 25. She died on 28 July 2025 in a mountaineering accident in northern Pakistan.

Born on 22 August 1993 in the Bavarian ski-town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen as the first child of Andreas and Susi Dahlmeier with a five years younger brother named Pirmin, she began skiing at a young age and took up biathlon by the age of 7. She excelled as a teenaged biathlete, and at the age of 17, she won gold in all three races (10km individual, 6km sprint, and the mixed relay) at the 2011 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Liberec. In this year she also passed her high school diploma at the" St. Irmengard-Gymnasium" with an average of 1,9 in spring and became in august member of the "Zoll-Ski-Team Germany", where she could combine a professional education with a biathlon career. Her father runs a furniture store in the fourth generation, he is also a passionated climber, skier and voluntary at the "mountain rescue". Her mother and her aunt were both professional "downhill mountainbiker" and won a lot of titles. After their carriers Lauras mother opened an goldsmith studio, her aunt workes as a hairstylist.

At the 2013 Biathlon Junior World Championships in Obertilliach, Austria, Dahlmeier took three gold medals in the individual, sprint and relay, as well as a silver in the pursuit. Following this, she was selected for the German team in the women's relay at the 2013 Biathlon World Championships: racing in the third leg, she shot clean and overcame a 38-second deficit to hand over with Germany in the lead. Dahlmeier completed her first full World Cup campaign the following season: she enjoyed further success in World Cup relays, however she was unable to secure a solo podium finish, and did not make an impact at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Dahlmeier's start to her 2014–15 season was delayed due to a injury, she got, while climbing with her father at the Zugspitze. There a rock flake broke off, than another, so she fell down several meters on her foot, but was stopped by the main rope. She suffered a broken bone and a torn ligament at the right foot, was brought by a helicopter to hospital and made her World Cup season debut at Pokljuka in December 2014. Two months later she took her first World Cup win in Nové Město na Moravě, following which she took another six podiums, including a second win, and her first two senior World Championship medals, a silver in the pursuit and a gold in the women's relay.

In 2015–16, she took five World Cup wins, and at the World Championships in Oslo she took her first solo gold medal in the pursuit along with a silver in the mass start and bronzes in the sprint, individual and women's relay.

Dahlmeier enjoyed her best season in 2016–17, winning the overall World Cup and winning five golds and a silver at the World Championships in Hochfilzen, Austria, missing out on a sixth gold by four seconds in the sprint to Gabriela Koukalová. She became the first woman in biathlon history to win five gold medals at a World Championships.

The following season Dahlmeier's focus was on the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang: At the Games she became the second German woman to take the Olympic gold in the sprint, shooting clean as one of only three competitors to hit all targets in windy conditions, before doubling up with a second title in the pursuit and additionally taking a bronze in the individual. Dahlmeier received the Silver Laurel Leaf shortly after she won her first Olympic gold medal. She was the first female biathlete to win sprint and pursuit gold medals at the same Winter Olympics.