Seventeen athletes with World Cup credentials retired this spring including World Cup Total Score titlists Dorothea Wierer and Franziska Preuss as well as less familiar names like Vetle Paulsen and Daniele Cappellari.

Top Retirees Wierer and Preuss

It is a toss-up between Wierer and Preuss for the most prominent retiree. Wierer’s 19-year international career included 440 World Cup starts, 2 World Cup Total Score titles, seventeen individual World Cup wins, 88 podiums including relays, five individual IBU WCH titles, victories in every individual and relay discipline, and medals in four consecutive Olympic Winter Games. This plus her bubbling outgoing personality kept her in the limelight year-round.

On the flip side, Preuss’ 14-year international career included 297 World Cup starts, one World Cup Total Score title, six individual World Cup wins, 70 podiums including 39 in relays, two individual IBU WCH titles and medals in two OWG. Preuss was the team leader only recently, following Laura Dahlmeier and Denise Hermann-Wick while keeping a much lower profile than the Italian.

Regardless, these two top the 2026 retiree list and with fellow retirees, will be missed when the snow flies next November.

Eder and Hauser

Austria lost its two biggest stars and role models, Simon Eder and Lisa Theresa Hauser.

Eder closed out a 24-year international career that started by winning the 2002 IBU Junior 15 km Individual World Championship title. The 43-year-old toed the WC starting line 560 times, with three individual victories and twenty podiums including five OWG (two Relay Silver medals) and fifteen IBU World Championships. The Saalfelden native was known for his accurate (around 90%) fast-shooting style that has become the norm today. Eder’s specialty was four-stage competitions, where he claimed 19 of his 20 podiums. Ironically and unsurprisingly, Eder closed his career in the Oslo Sprint, shooting clean with the fastest total shooting time of the day…that is how legends are made!

Over a 14-year international career, Hauser was the first Austrian female to: win IBU Junior WCH medals (2013 Individual Silver, Sprint Bronze), win a World Cup competition (2021 Antholz 15 km Individual), become a IBU World Champion (2021 Pokljuka Mass Start), and win a Discipline Crystal Globe. She and Eder teamed up for nine single mixed relay podiums, claiming Austria’s first-ever SMR podium at Canmore in 2016. In 397 World Cup starts, Hauser had thirteen podiums including six victories, the final one last December in the Oestersund 10 km Pursuit. The ever-smiling Hauser competed in four OWG with her best result, fourth place in the 2022 Beijing Sprint. She summed up her career with, “Thank you to my teammates, you made this trip so special. We laughed, cried and shared some unforgettable moments together.”

Paulina Batovska-Fialkova hung up her rifle after 14 international seasons, 307 World Cup starts and four Olympic Winter Games. The steady presence on the Slovak team for many seasons flirted with World Cup victory, leaving with eleven second and third place results, two since giving birth to her daughter two years ago. Her biggest moments came on rollerskis, winning 11 IBU SBWCH medals including two Gold. In early March, Batovska-Fialkova climbed the podium one final time with third in the Kontiolahti Short Individual. “I was really disappointed after the Olympic Games, because my ambitions were higher. But that’s biathlon; that’s life. I really believed I could finish my career on the podium or close and I did it.”

USA: Schommer and Brown

The USA lost two veteran men to retirement. Paul Schommer left after a 10-year career. Two-time US Olympian Schommer splitting his career between the IBU Cup and 114 World Cup starts was a steady third leg on the US Men’s Relay team. Tantalizingly close to the podium all last season, the foursome equaled the US best-ever with fourth at Hochfilzen following with an Olympic-best fifth at Milan Cortina. In an Instagram post, he emphasized, “The sport has taught me more than just skiing and shooting, but there is such a thing as new beginnings and new opportunities around every corner.”

Schommer’s teammate and relay compatriot Jake Brown closed his career with the Oslo Sprint. Brown, with 139 World Cup starts also spent much of his 10-year international career on the IBU Cup circuit with recent 7th and 8th places at Lake Placid. Brown competed at the 2022 Beijing OWG and in five IBU World Championships. After that final sprint, he admitted, “It was a dream to finish my career here in Oslo…Representing the US in this way has been the honor of my life.”

Czechia

Czechia’s Adam Vaclavik closed his 15-year international biathlon career at the Lake Placid IBU Cup. Over his long biathlon journey, Vaclavik had 125 World Cup starts, competed in two Olympic Winter Games and four IBU World Championships. His career highlight was Super Sprint Silver at the 2020 European Championships ahead of notably Dmytro Pidruchnyi and 2025 World Cup Total Score winner Sturla Holm Laegreid.

27-year-old Tereza Vinklárková after competing in the Milan/Cortina Olympic Winter Games, recording 11th in the 15 km Individual and 5th in the Women’s Relay left biathlon behind with a clean-shooting Oslo Sprint 20th place, the second-best result of her career. Vinklárková, after a career season, plans to compete in the Ski Classics with the eD system Vltava Fund team she trained with last summer.

Skogan and Paulsen

Norway lost two promising athletes who never had consistent World Cup success. Marit Ishol Skogan retired at 27 with the memory of three meteoric 2023/24 World Cup weeks. At Hochfilzen, Lenzerheide, and Oberhof, Skogan ran a leg on Norway’s winning Hochfilzen Women’s Relay team, finished sixth in the Sprint, then hit the podium with third in the Lenzerheide Pursuit, following up with second in the Oberhof Women’s Relay. After that she struggled to gain traction in the IBU Cup, hanging up her rifle after this month’s Norwegian Championships.

Vetle Paulsen, the 2022 IBU Junior WCH 15 km Individual Silver medalist retired the same week as Skogan. Paulsen spent most of his15-year international career in the IBU Cup, highlighted by victory in his first-ever IBU Cup start. Paulsen had two additional IBU Cup podiums and a single World Cup start, 32nd in this season’s Nove Mesto Short Individual.

Lithuania’s Tomas Kaukenas retired after a 20-year international career that took him to 3 Olympic Winter Games and 12 IBU World Championships. The Lithuanian’s top results in a 264-starts came in the Olympic Winter Games (13th 2022 OWG Pursuit) and IBU WCH (21st Oslo 2026).

Webb Bows Out

Great Britain’s Marcus Bolin Webb retired after a short 5-year biathlon career. Webb spent most of his career in the IBU Cup, but had 14 World Cup starts. Finishing last in this year’s Oslo Sprint, he closed his career with a bow on the finishing straight, saluting the Norwegian fans cheering him in his last competition. Italy’s Daniele Cappellari retired after ten years of international competitions, mostly in the IBU Cup, after winning IBU YJWCH Relay Bronze medals several and IBU Cup individual and relay podiums. Third in the 2019 Hochfilzen Relay and starts in two IBU World Championships highlighted his 44-start World Cup career.

Switzerland’s Susi Meinen ended her biathlon career after what she called, “12 unforgettable years.” Meinen spent most of her career on the IBU Cup circuit but also had 40 World Cup starts in the 2017-19 period. She now plans to work in her family’s painting business.

Sweden’s Anton Ivarsson officially retired after missing the whole 2025/26 season. Ivarsson, battling injuries for several years, called this year, “particularly bad…I’ve lost the enjoyment in biathlon; it feels like time to try something else.” Winning the 2024 IBU Open European Championships Single Mixed Relay with Sara Andersson highlighted the 25-year-old’s career. Slovenia’s Kaja Maric who spent most of her career in the Junior Cup and the IBU Cup this past season left the sport at age 22. She had one World Cup start in the 2022 Ruhpolding Women’s Relay.

That’s a wrap on retirees, bright futures in new endeavors await for all!

Photos: IBU/Christian Manzoni, Nordnes, Yevenko, Nordic Focus