Roman Rees - Biathlon
- Successes
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Vice world champion
Fourth place at the Olympic Games
1 world cup victory, 15 podium finishes in the World Cup
- Birthday
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03/01/1993
- Profession
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Customs official
- Club
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SV Schauinsland
- Hobbies
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Economics studies, books, Netflix
- Role model
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Oliver Kahn, Hans-Werner Sinn
I have enjoyed years of close cooperation with Viessmann, which has eased the burden of many of my relationships in sports and also warms my home. I am very appreciative of this wonderful overall package.
Career
At the age of seven, Roman begins parallel training in both cross-country skiing and biathlon with SV Schauinsland. In 2008 he wins the overall ranking of the DSV Schülercup and moves to the ski boarding school in Furtwangen. Three years later he gains his first international experience at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Liberec. Roman competes regularly in the IBU Cup beginning in 2017, the same year that he makes his first World Cup appearance in Finland and achieves a podium finish together with Laura Dahlmeier in the single mixed relay. At the 2019 World Cup in Östersund, Roman secures the silver medal with the German men’s relay team. In the following years, Roman became an integral part of the World Cup team. In 2022, he qualified for the Olympic Games in Beijing and impressed there with three top 10 results. His best placing to date in the overall World Cup, ninth place, followed in the 2022/23 season. Then the time had finally come: Roman celebrated his first World Cup victory in the individual event in Östersund in 2023/24.
Junior world champion
This season, Roman becomes junior world champion in relay in Presque Isle.
Medal in the German Championships, World Cup debut
Roman wins the silver medal in the pursuit race at the German Championships in Altenberg in 2016, and makes his World Cup debut in Östersund the same year, where he takes 48th place in individual. He participates in the World Cup again in 2017. Roman competes in the single mixed relay in Kontiolahti with Laura Dahlmeier and takes third place, his first podium finish in the World Cup.
Lost chance at the Olympics
Roman’s first competition of the season is the IBU Cup. His exceptional performance qualifies him for the World Cup, in which he competes after the new year. After an impressive fourth place in individual in Ruhpolding, he qualifies for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang and is supposed to take the place of Benedikt Doll, who is on a break, in the individual race. Unfortunately, Roman falls ill and misses out on the opportunity to compete in the Olympics.
Vice world champion, two World Cup podium finishes
At the 2019 World Championships in Östersund, Roman wins silver in the relay competition alongside Arnd Peiffer, Benedikt Doll and Erik Lesser. He makes it to the podium twice in the World Cup this season.
A focus on the IBU Cup
In 2019/20, Roman primarily competes in the IBU Cup and has individual events in the World Cup, including in Ruhpolding and Oslo.
Important member of the World Cup team
Roman is again an integral part of the World Cup team this year. With the German men's relay team he celebrates two podium finishes and ends up in the top-30 of the overall World Cup after good individual results. Due to the good results in the World Cup he is able to qualify for the World Championships on the Pokljuka and finishes tenth in the individual, the best World Championship result of his career.
First Olympic participation and 16th place overall in the World Cup
Compared to the previous season, Roman can once again significantly improve in 2021/22, which is reflected not least in his 16th place in the overall World Cup. In addition, he is on the podium twice with the relay team. In his first participation at the Olympic Games, Roman shows excellent performances in Beijing, makes it into the top 10 three times and narrowly misses a medal with the relay team.
Top 10 in the overall World Cup
For Roman, the season starts with a personal highlight: third place in the Kontiolahti sprint Although he misses out on a World Championship medal this year, he is rewarded for his consistently good performances with ninth place in the overall World Cup.
First World Cup win & yellow jersey
Roman's start to the 2023/24 season couldn't have been better: He wins the first individual race of the winter in Östersund and thus celebrates the first World Cup victory of his career. At the same time, he secured the yellow jersey and was at least briefly the overall World Cup leader. After that, an illness throws him off his stride and he has to miss a few races over the course of the season.
