They were celebrated at the governing body's inaugural Hall of Fame Awards Dinner in Oberhof as the German town is hosting the World Championships.

"We are very proud to announce the first four inductees into the IBU Hall of Fame," said IBU President Olle Dahlin.

"All four athletes are hugely deserving of this recognition for their incredible achievements and the extraordinary contributions they made to biathlon during their careers.

"They inspired us with their performances and set the benchmark for countless athletes to follow in their footsteps."

The four inductees were selected by the IBU Executive Board based on achievements over their careers which includes a collective 17 Olympic gold medals, 40 World Championships titles, and 221 World Cup wins.

Wilhelm famously became the most decorated female biathlete at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Another gold in Turin in 2006 made her the most successful female biathlete ever at that time with three in total.

During her career, she won 13 World Championships medals, including 5 golds, and claimed 29 World Cup victories.

"Especially our generation, Sven, Ole and Andrea witnessed the rapid growth of biathlon, how the interest in the sport grew and grew and the IBU played a big part in this because you made a lot of good decisions, adding exciting competitions and ideas and always gave us as the athletes a voice," she said.

"My calling now is to work with the next generation and help them with my experience: I enjoy it so much - and the next time we have a World Championships in Oberhof, I hope to see some of that next generation here from Thuringia at the start line."

The Awards are now set to become an annual feature on the IBU calendar.