Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen (born 12 May 1992) is a Norwegian biathlete.
Early life Sjåstad Christiansen was born in Geilo, a centre in the municipality of Hol, to Randi Sjåstad and her husband, Georg William Christiansen. His younger sister, Tiril Sjåstad Christiansen, is a successful freestyle skier.
Sjåstad Christiansen began his career by racing in biathlon and cross-country skiing as a junior on the national level. In his youth, his greatest idol was Ole Einar Bjørndalen. Sjåstad Christiansen learned much about how to train from literature of and about Bjørndalen, and was inspired by Bjørndalen's training mentality, and started training a lot and hard from a very early age. On the last day of the 2004 World Championships, Sjåstad Christiansen set a long-term goal of qualifying for the 2014 Winter Olympics. In 2008, Sjåstad Christiansen entered the Norwegian College of Elite Sport in Geilo.
Career
Early career and World Cup debut Before turning 17, Sjåstad Christiansen had made a clean sweep at the Junior Norwegian Championships in his age group, winning four gold medals and the Norwegian Biathlon Cup (Norgescupen) in his age category, called the Statkraft Junior Cup overall. He had also won two golds in the Junior Norwegian Summer Biathlon Championships in September 2008, in the 17-year-olds age group. At the end of the 2008–09 season, Sjåstad Christiansen participated in the 2009 Norwegian Biathlon Championships. He did not participate in the 20 km individual, but finished 17th in the sprint and 8th in the pursuit. This caused Sjåstad Christiansen to be selected for the first team of Buskerud alongside Christian Georg Bache, Frode Andresen and Ole Einar Bjørndalen. Though he incurred a penalty loop, he made up two places over his leg, and good work by Andresen and Bjørndalen secured the gold.
During the off-season, Sjåstad Christiansen participated in the Junior Norwegian Summer Championships, in the age group for 18-year-olds. He won silver in the sprint and gold in the pursuit. When the winter came, Sjåstad Christiansen debuted at the Junior/Youth World Championships in 2010 in Torsby, competing in the youth class. The first event was the 12.5 km individual on 27 January, in which he received three penalty minutes but still won bronze. Three days later, Sjåstad Christiansen won another bronze, this time in the 7.5 km sprint. The next day, Sjåstad Christiansen fell two places and finished fifth. Two days later, Sjåstad Christiansen raced in the 3 × 7.5 km relay, taking the anchor leg. Sjåstad Christiansen started his leg in third position and kept that position until the end, and the team thus won bronze. Later in February, Sjåstad Christiansen participated in the Junior Norwegian Championships. He won gold in the individual, came fourth in the sprint, and won silver in the relay. At the end of the season, Sjåstad Christiansen participated in the Norwegian Championships at Simostranda. He did not race in the individual, but came 11th in the sprint and 13th in the mass start. In the relay, Sjåstad Christiansen took the first leg for the first team of Buskerud. He changed in third, but a total of five penalty loops by his teammates, Anders Brun Hennum, Bache and Andresen, meant they finished in fifth.
In September 2010, Sjåstad Christiansen competed in the Junior Norwegian Summer Championships in the age group for 19-year-olds. He came second in both the sprint and pursuit. In January 2011, Sjåstad Christiansen again competed in the Junior/Youth World Championships, this time in Nové Město, competing in the youth class. The first event was the 7.5 km sprint on 29 January, in which he received two penalties and won silver. The following day, Sjåstad Christiansen started eighteen seconds behind Maxim Tsvetkov. He missed four times but still won silver, thirty seconds behind Tsvetkov. Two days later, Sjåstad Christiansen raced in the 12.5 km individual in which he incurred three penalty minutes, and yet won bronze. Norway did not participate in the relay in the youth category, but Sjåstad Christiansen was selected for team that raced in the junior category. Sjåstad Christiansen took the anchor leg. At the exchange, the Norwegians were in third position, Sjåstad Christiansen defended that position, and the Norwegians won bronze. In March, Sjåstad Christiansen participated Junior Norwegian Championships. He won gold in the individual, came sixth in the sprint, but returned to the top of the podium in the relay. At the end of the season, Sjåstad Christiansen participated in the 2011 Norwegian Championships. He again skipped the individual, but came 13th in the sprint and 8th in the pursuit. In the relay, he again took the first leg and changed in fourth place. Fast skiing and good shooting by his teammates, Andresen, Hennum, and the returning Bjørndalen, meant that the team from Buskerud again won gold, more than two minutes ahead of second place.
In September 2011, Sjåstad Christiansen competed in the Junior Norwegian Summer Championships in the age group for 20- and 21-year-olds. He came eighth in the sprint but climbed to claim gold in the pursuit. In January 2012, Sjåstad Christiansen debuted in the Junior European Championships in Brezno-Osrblie. In the first event, the 10 km sprint on 27 January, he missed once but still won gold, just one second ahead of Alexandr Loginov. Two days later, Sjåstad Christiansen won silver in the 12.5 km pursuit, 23.5 seconds behind Loginov, despite both having missed twice. The next event was the mixed relay in which Sjåstad Christiansen took the anchor leg. The Norwegians led at the last exchange, and as Sjåstad Christiansen needed only two spare rounds to clear the targets, they won gold. He also participated in the last event, the 15 km individual. He missed twice but still won bronze, thanks to quick ski speed. Sjåstad Christiansen competed in the Junior/Youth World Championships in 2012 as well, this time in Kontiolahti, competing in the junior category. The first event was the 15 km individual on 21 February. He skied quickly but missed six times and finished 16th. Two days later, Sjåstad Christiansen raced in the relay, once again taking the anchor leg. The Norwegian team led the race at the last exchange, Sjåstad Christiansen defended their lead, and the Norwegians won gold. The next race, two days later, was the 10 km sprint. Sjåstad Christiansen missed twice and finished 13th. Sjåstad Christiansen skied better in the pursuit the following day, where he missed twice but climbed eleven places to win silver just ahead of Alexandr Loginov, and over one minute and forty seconds behind the sprint winner Tsvetkov. In March, Sjåstad Christiansen raced in the Junior Norwegian Championships, winning silver in the individual and gold in the sprint and finishing fourth in the relay. At the season's end, Sjåstad Christiansen participated in the Norwegian Championships in Trondheim. He came 13th in the 20 km individual and 9th in the 10 km sprint but skipped the mass start. He then took the anchor leg in the relay. Andresen, Tommi Luchsinger, and Erlend Bjøntegaard had pulled Buskerud I into fourth position, and Sjåstad Christiansen was the fastest in his leg, pulling them into second, winning silver.
In September 2012, Sjåstad Christiansen competed at the Norwegian Summer Biathlon Championships in Holmenkollen for the first time in the senior group. He impressed by winning bronze, just 6.8 seconds behind Lars Berger, who won silver and one minute and ten seconds behind Bjørndalen. Sjåstad Christiansen won another bronze the next day, though the gap to Berger and Bjørndalen had grown to 18 seconds, and two minutes and 49 seconds, respectively. In the first round of the 2012–13 World Cup, on 1 December 2012, Sjåstad Christiansen made his World Cup debut. The race was the 10 km sprint, and he missed twice and finished 27th, 1 minute and 18 seconds behind the winner, the Canadian Jean-Philippe Leguellec, qualifying for the pursuit the following day. Over the rest of the season, he would race in ten more races breaking three more barriers. First, in Hochfilzen in his fifth World Cup race and first relay, Sjåstad Christiansen also won his first relay. He raced alongside fellow newcomers Lars Helge Birkeland and Henrik L'Abée-Lund, both having clocked in less than twenty World Cup races, and the veteran Ole Einar Bjørndalen, who had raced more than 460 World Cup races. Birkeland shot fast and cleanly in the first leg to hand over to Bjørndalen just 9.8 seconds behind, in fourth place. Bjørndalen would require only one spare round, which, combined with his swift shooting and skiing, brought the Norwegians the lead. At the second exchange, Bjørndalen handed over to Sjåstad Christiansen, 6.0 seconds ahead of the Czech Republic. Sjåstad Christiansen skied fast and shot cleanly, and this, combined with mistakes by other teams, increased the lead to 47.0 seconds. L'Abée-Lund took the anchor leg. Also, he shot fast and cleanly, compensating in large part for his skiing speed. The Norwegians won 34.5 seconds ahead of France in second and 46.6 seconds ahead of Russia in third.
Sjåstad Christiansen participated only briefly in the Junior/Youth World Championships in 2013 in Obertilliach. The championships started for Sjåstad Christiansen with the 10 km sprint event. He shot cleanly, but he finished outside the podium in fourth position. He did not start in the pursuit, nor did he enter any more events in the championships. Sjåstad Christiansen participated in the European Championships the following month. In the first race, Sjåstad Christiansen and his fellow Norwegians were not acclimatized. Thus, Sjåstad Christiansen finished 18th in the 20 km individual, despite missing only once. The next race, the 10 km sprint, was postponed twice due to heavy fog, giving the Norwegians two extra days to acclimatize. This allowed Sjåstad Christiansen to pick up his pace and win the gold in the sprint, shooting clear. The pursuit competition crashed with the men's relay, with the result being that the relay was cancelled. Sjåstad Christiansen won silver in the pursuit, having missed three times, the same amount as the winner, Benedikt Doll.
The second barrier Sjåstad Christiansen broke in the World Cup was finishing in the top ten in an individual race. That race was the season's last sprint in Khanty-Mansiysk. Sjåstad Christiansen shot cleanly and finished tenth, one minute and four seconds behind the winner, Martin Fourcade. This result, alongside the 11th-place finish in the pursuit, qualified Sjåstad Christiansen for his first mass start in the World Cup, breaking another barrier. The season was thus a remarkable success, with Sjåstad Christiansen mostly finishing in the top 30 individually, and finished 43rd overall in the World Cup. The season ended with the Norwegian Championships in Dombås. Sjåstad Christiansen came tenth in the individual, having missed five times, and fifth in the sprint despite having missed four times. Sjåstad Christiansen then came fourth in the pursuit, having lost the bronze in a sprint finish with Lars Berger. In the relay, he took the anchor leg, lifting the team from Buskerud from sixth to third, winning bronze.
Olympic season (2013–14 World Cup season)