German biathlon champion retires

Laura Dahlmeier, double Olympic and seven-time world biathlon champion, said she would no longer compete professionally. The 25-year-old from Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, wrote on her Facebook page that she no longer had goals that "mean everything and that I would do anything to achieve or would even be capable of achieving."

Biathlon is a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting, with disciplines including sprint, pursuit, individual and mass start.

Dahlmeier is one of the most successful athletes in the German Skiing Association. She won Olympic gold twice in 2018(sprint, pursuit). She was the first biathlete to take 13 medals in a row in the world championships; in the World Cup, she racked up 20 wins.

Fellow biathlete Magdalena Neuner — a World Championship record holder and one of the best female cross-country skiers — said she had similar motives when she retired at the age of 25 in 2012. "I had also achieved everything and wasn't just staying to win more World Cup titles," she said on Friday.

Dahlmeier had also recently been struggling with health issues, which is why she had hinted at a possible retirement earlier in the year.

The biathlete is also a passionate mountaineer and rock climber, hobbies she says she will have more time for in future.

ng/msh (dpa, SID)