Frank Luck

Frank Luck (born 5 December 1967) is a former German and, before 1990, East German biathlete.

Career

Luck started early with cross-country skiing, but in 1980 he went over to biathlon. By 1988 at the age of 21 he had already qualified for the Winter Olympics in Calgary, where he finished sixth in the sprint event. His big breakthrough came with the 10 km sprint world title in 1989. Having originally competed for the East German team, by 1991, Germany had unified and Luck was now competing for the combined Germany team. Because of illness he missed the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, but at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer he won the gold medal with the German relay team which he repeated four years later at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. During his seventeen-year career, Luck won eleven world championship gold medal with the last one in the relay in 2004 at Oberhof where he retired as a biathlete after this event. With five silver and three bronze medals he is one of the most successful world championship competitors of all time.

Luck also won three times at the Holmenkollen ski festival biathlon competition with two wins in the pursuit (1999, 2000) and one win in the sprint (2002). He is the Brother-in-law to his one-time team mate Sven Fischer.

Doping

In April 2009, Luck, on the German TV show Sport Inside (WDR), acknowledged having unwittingly been given the anabolic steroid Oral Turinabol by his trainer in the 1980s.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

Olympic Games

5 medals (2 gold, 3 silver)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Relay
1988 Calgary	—	6th	N/A	—
1994 Lillehammer	Silver	6th	N/A	Gold
1998 Nagano	—	7th	N/A	Gold
2002 Salt Lake City	Silver	29th	11th	Silver

World Championships

20 medals (11 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Team	Relay
1989 Feistritz	4th	Gold	N/A	N/A	—	Gold
1990 Minsk	6th	5th	N/A	N/A	Gold	Bronze
1991 Lahti	—	Silver	N/A	N/A	—	Gold
1992 Novosibirsk	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	7th	N/A
1993 Borovets	10th	—	N/A	N/A	Gold	Bronze
1995 Antholz-Anterselva	11th	7th	N/A	N/A	—	Gold
1996 Ruhpolding	8th	33rd	N/A	N/A	6th	Silver
1997 Brezno-Osrblie	—	7th	9th	N/A	Silver	Gold
1998 Pokljuka	N/A	N/A	16th	N/A	Silver	N/A
1999 Kontiolahti	24th	Gold	Silver	20th	N/A	4th
2000 Oslo Holmenkollen	Bronze	4th	Gold	17th	N/A	Bronze
2001 Pokljuka	—	11th	17th	22nd	N/A	12th
2002 Oslo Holmenkollen	N/A	N/A	N/A	6th	N/A	N/A
2003 Khanty-Mansiysk	36th	30th	5th	17th	N/A	Gold
2004 Oberhof	—	—	—	—	N/A	Gold

Individual victories

12 victories (1 In, 9 Sp, 2 Pu)

Season	Date	Location	Discipline	Level
1988–89 2 victories (2 Sp)	17 December 1988	Albertville	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	11 February 1989	Feistritz	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Championships
1990–91 1 victory (1 Sp)	2 February 1991	Oberhof	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
1992–93 1 victory (1 Sp)	6 March 1993	Lillehammer	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
1993–94 1 victory (1 Sp)	22 January 1994	Antholz-Anterselva	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
1997–98 2 victories (2 Sp)	6 December 1997	Lillehammer	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	5 March 1998	Pokljuka	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
1998–99 2 victories (1 Sp, 1 Pu)	12 February 1999	Kontiolahti	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Championships
	14 March 1999	Oslo Holmenkollen	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
1999–2000 1 victory (1 Pu)	20 February 2000	Oslo Holmenkollen	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Championships
2001–02 2 victories (1 In, 1 Sp)	19 December 2001	Brezno-Osrblie	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
	21 March 2002	Oslo Holmenkollen	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup