Anja Sofia Tess Pärson (; born 25 April 1981) is a Swedish former

alpine skier Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

. She is an Olympic gold medalist, seven-time gold medalist at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, and two-time overall

Alpine Skiing World Cup The FIS Alpine Ski World Cup is the top international circuit of alpine skiing competitions, launched in 1966 by a group of ski racing friends and experts which included French journalist Serge Lang and the alpine ski team directors from France ( ...

champion. This included winning three gold medals in the 2007 World Championship in her native Sweden. She has won a total of 42 World Cup races.

Biography

Pärson was born in

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Um ...

, Sweden and has

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

roots. Pärson was introduced to ski racing by her sister, Frida, and is now trained by her father, Anders. Her first World Cup race was a

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up th ...

at the World Cup Finals at

Crans-Montana Crans-Montana is a municipality in the district of Sierre in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. On 1 January 2017 the former municipalities of Chermignon, Mollens, Montana and Randogne merged to form the new municipality of Crans-Montana. ...

, Switzerland (on 15 March

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

). She qualified for that race as the new junior World Champion but only finished 25th in last place. She won her first World Cup race, a slalom at

Mammoth Mountain Mammoth Mountain is a lava dome complex partially located within the town of Mammoth Lakes, California, in the Inyo National Forest of Madera and Mono Counties. It is home to a large ski area primarily on the Mono County side. Mammoth Mount ...

, California, in December 1998 at age 17, and her first gold medal at St. Anton, Austria, in 2001. She clinched the silver medal in the giant slalom and the bronze medal in the slalom at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

, and added the gold in slalom plus two more bronze medals in downhill and combined in

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

. Pärson won the

overall title in 2004 and 2005. The latter title was won by the smallest margin ever, only 3 points over her fierce rival,

Janica Kostelić Janica Kostelić (; born 5 January 1982) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and four-time Olympic gold medalist from Croatia. In addition to the Olympics, she won five gold medals at the World Championships. In World Cup competition, she w ...

. Initially a slalom and giant slalom specialist, she won her first

super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event d ...

and

downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

races in March 2005 at

San Sicario Sansicario (also spelled San Sicario) is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Cesana Torinese (Metropolitan City of Turin) in Piedmont, north-western Italy. It lies at 1,700 m in the Val Susa and has a population of 93 people. It is a famous ...

, Italy, during the pre-Olympic competitions. In total, she has won 42 World Cup races in all five disciplines. Pärson has won seven gold medals in the

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships is an alpine skiing competition organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). History The inaugural world championships in alpine skiing were held in 1931. During the 1930s, the event was held annuall ...

, in 2001 (slalom), 2003 (giant slalom), 2005 (giant slalom, super-G) and 2007 (super-G, super combined, downhill). These go along with two silver and three bronze medals in other events in 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2011. With her three gold medals in 2007 at

Åre Åre () is a locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpen. 25% of the local eco ...

, Sweden, she became the first skier in history to win World Championship golds in all five disciplines. Pärson has earned a total of 17 individual medals in World Championships and Olympics, exceeding the record by

Christl Cranz Christl Franziska Antonia Cranz-Borchers (1 July 1914 – 28 September 2004) was a German alpine ski racer. Cranz dominated international competition in the 1930s, winning twelve world championship titles between 1934 and 1939. At the 1936 Winte ...

in women's alpine skiing. In men's alpine skiing this achievement has been beaten only by

Kjetil André Aamodt Kjetil André Aamodt (born 2 September 1971) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Norway, a champion in the Olympics, World Championships, and World Cup. He is one of the most successful alpine ski racers from Norway. Biography Born in ...

, with 20. After two disappointing seasons ( 2006/07 and 2007/08 where she finished fifth and sixth in the overall cup), she was back to her best over the 2008/09 season, finishing third in the overall cup. At the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...

, while trying to chase down eventual downhill champion

Lindsey Vonn Lindsey Caroline Vonn ( ; born October 18, 1984) is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer on the US Ski Team. She won four World Cup overall championships — second only amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll — with three ...

of the United States, Pärson lost her balance on the last jump before the finish, resulting in a 60-metre flight and subsequent fall, without however suffering serious injury. She recovered from the fall and one day later won the bronze medal in the combined event. With a downhill victory in March 2011, she has won at least one race for ten consecutive World Cup seasons, trailing only

Alberto Tomba Alberto Tomba (born 19 December 1966 in San Lazzaro di Savena) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Italy. He was the dominant technical skier (slalom and giant slalom) in the late 1980s and 1990s. At 182 cm and 90 kg, his powerful ...

and

Vreni Schneider Verena "Vreni" Schneider (born 26 November 1964) is a retired ski racer from Switzerland. She is the most successful alpine ski racer of her country, the fourth most successful female ski racer ever (after Lindsey Vonn, Annemarie Moser-Pröll an ...

who won races in eleven consecutive World Cup seasons, and equalling the mark of

Renate Götschl Renate Götschl (born 6 August 1975) is an Austrian former alpine ski racer. She is a two-time individual World Champion in the combined (1997) and downhill (1999), and has won a total of 9 World Championships medals. She also won two Olympic ...

Ingemar Stenmark Jan Ingemar Stenmark (; born 18 March 1956) is a Swedish former World Cup alpine ski racer. He is regarded as one of the most prominent Swedish athletes ever, and as the greatest slalom and giant slalom specialist of all time. He competed fo ...

and

Mikaela Shiffrin Mikaela Pauline Shiffrin (born March 13, 1995) is an American two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and World Cup alpine skier. She is a four-time Overall World Cup champion, a four-time world champion in slalom, and a six-time winner of the World Cup ...

. On 12 March 2012, Pärson officially announced her retirement, and that her last competition would be the World Cup final in

Schladming Schladming is a small former mining town in the northwest of the Austrian state of Styria that is now a popular tourist destination. It has become a large winter-sports resort and has held various skiing competitions, including most notably the F ...

the coming weekend. In 2014 she became an expert commentator for

Viasat Viasat may refer to: *Viasat (American company) (founded 1986) * Viasat (Nordic television service) (founded 1991) * Danish 1st Division, officially Viasat Divisionen, second-highest football league in Denmark * Viasat Cup, 2006 Danish football to ...

during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. As of 2015, Pärson works as a sports expert for the broadcaster Sveriges Television, in addition to running a company with her wife. Pärson competes in the celebrity dance show Let's Dance 2017 broadcast on

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network **TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station *South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...

Personal life

Pärson's athletics club is Fjällvinden,

Tärnaby Tärnaby is a locality situated in Storuman Municipality, Lappland, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 482 inhabitants in 2010. It is known for its successful skiers, particularly in the "technical" disciplines: Slalom and Giant Slalom: Ingemar St ...

, the same to which skiing legend

and Stig Strand belonged. Her height is 170 cm (5 ft 7 in). She was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 2006 and in 2007. After living several years in Monaco during her sports career, she returned to Sweden and has lived in

since 2012. In June 2012, Pärson announced on the Swedish radio program '' Sommar'' that she has been in a relationship with a woman, Filippa Rådin, for the past five years, and that they are expecting a child together. Their son, Elvis, was born on 4 July 2012. On 2 August 2014, Anja Pärson and Filippa married in Umeå, Sweden. Former Swedish Social Democratic Party leader

Mona Sahlin Mona Ingeborg Sahlin ( born 9 March 1957) is a Swedish politician who was leader of the opposition and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 2007 to 2011. Sahlin was a Member of Parliament, representing Stockholm County, from 198 ...

officiated at the wedding. In January 2015, the couple announced that Pärson was pregnant with their second child, a boy named Maximilian who was born in May 2015.

World Cup results

Season standings

Season titles

7 titles (2 overall, 3 GS, 1 SL, 1 SC)

Individual races

42 wins (6 DH, 4 SG, 11 GS, 18 SL, 3 SC)

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

* * * *
Tänk det onämnbara. Tänk fem guld

World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation
anjapaerson.com
– personal site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parson, Anja 1981 births Swedish female alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers of Sweden Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in alpine skiing Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions LGBT sportspeople from Sweden Lesbian sportswomen Swedish Sámi people Swedish Sámi sportspeople Sámi actors Sommar (radio program) hosts Swedish women radio presenters Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Monaco People from Storuman Municipality Sportspeople from Umeå Living people LGBT skiers People from Tärna 21st-century LGBT people