Early career After deciding to pursue a career in biathlon, Gössner joined the German Customs Administration in August 2006 to become a member in the government-supported Customs-Ski-Team (
Zoll-Ski-Team). She officially holds the rank of
Zollhauptwachtmeisterin (head customs officer), although she is a full-time professional athlete with no customs obligations. For several years Gössner trained alongside retired Olympic champion
Magdalena Neuner in
Mittenwald, one of Germany's biathlon bases. Her local coach is Bernhard Kröll. Gössner qualified for the 2008 Biathlon Junior/Youth World Championships in
Ruhpolding,
Germany, where she won gold as part of the German relay team. One year later at the 2009 Biathlon Junior/Youth World Championships in
Canmore, Alberta,
Canada, Gössner won the pursuit title. She also won silver in the sprint, bronze in the relay, and came in fourth place in the individual. Early on, Gössner was noted for her fast skiing performances. She won the junior pursuit gold in spite of eight shooting errors and came in fourth in the individual with a total time penalty of six minutes. On 25 February 2010, running the third leg alongside
Katrin Zeller,
Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle and
Claudia Nystad for Germany, Gössner claimed the silver medal in the
4 × 5 kilometre relay. After the Olympics, she remained with the cross-country team through the end of the season. Her best World Cup result was a second place in Lahti, again coming in a women's relay event.
Initial biathlon success (2010–11 season) Despite repeated attempts by head coach Jochen Behle to convince her to stay with the cross-country team, Gössner decided to return to biathlon for the
2010–11 season, even if she had to compete in second tier IBU Cup races initially. However, she was picked for the German team at the World Cup opening in Östersund. In the first race of the season, she finished in 39th place in the individual race, winning her first Biathlon World Cup points. Two days later, Gössner shot clean and came in second place in the sprint race. In the subsequent pursuit, she defended her second place. She set the fastest course time in both races and was beaten only by Finland's
Kaisa Mäkäräinen. Gössner ended her first complete biathlon season with three individual podiums and seven top ten finishes, ranked 14th in the overall World Cup standings. The
2011–12 World Cup season did not go as well as the previous winter. Gössner was struggling with her skiing speed and she only reached one individual top ten position during the entire season. A sixth place in the Kontiolahti sprint was her best position of the winter, shooting clean but not skiing fast enough for a podium finish. Four of her five best results during the 2011–12 season came in sprint events.
First individual World Cup victory (2012–13 season) Gössner lost 10 kilograms during the summer, in an effort to regain her outstanding skiing pace. At the beginning of the
2012–13 season, she was once again able to set the fastest course times. At the third World Cup stop in
Pokljuka,
Slovenia, Gössner finished all three races on the podium. She missed her first individual victory by 2.0 seconds in the sprint, before claiming her maiden World Cup win in the following pursuit, despite a total of five penalty loops. She ended her weekend with another second place in the Pokljuka mass start. After the Christmas break, Gössner claimed her second World Cup win in the Oberhof sprint race. She also came third with the German relay team in the Oberhof women's relay. One week later, she won her second sprint race in a row in Ruhpolding. At the last World Cup stage before the world championships, Gössner missed seven out of ten targets in the Antholz sprint, finishing in 62nd place. It was the second worst result of her career, which also meant she failed to qualify for the subsequent pursuit. However, two days later in the last event before the
2013 Biathlon World Championships she was part of Germany's winning relay team.
Injury, drop in form and focus on cross-country Following her 2012–13 season, Gössner suffered a back injury in a cycling accident, which kept her out of the
2014 Winter Olympics in
Sochi. The injury contributed to a loss of form in biathlon over the next few seasons. After taking time out of competition due to the birth of her daughter, in May 2018 she was named by the
German Ski Association as a member of their third-tier cross-country ski team: earlier that year she had stated that if she would return to racing she would do so in cross-country, rather than biathlon, as she felt she was no longer able to shoot error-free. == Personal health ==