Kaisa Leena Mäkäräinen (born 11 January 1983) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

former world-champion and 3-time world-cup-winning

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

, who currently competes for Kontiolahden Urheilijat. Outside sports, Mäkäräinen is currently studying to be a Physics teacher at the

University of Eastern Finland The University of Eastern Finland ( fi, Itä-Suomen yliopisto) is a university in Finland founded in 2010 with campuses in Joensuu and Kuopio. History The Finnish Parliament passed the Universities Act on June 16, 2009, which, among other thin ...

Joensuu Joensuu (; krl, Jovensuu; ) is a city and municipality in North Karelia, Finland, located on the northern shore of Lake Pyhäselkä (northern part of Lake Saimaa) at the mouth of the Pielinen River (''Pielisjoki''). It was founded in 1848. The ...

. Her team coach is Jonne Kähkönen, while Jarmo Punkkinen is her ski coach.

Career

Magdalena Neuner Kaisa Mäkäräinen Kontiolahti 2012

Mäkäräinen was originally a cross-country skier and focused on this until the age of twenty. She started training for the biathlon in 2003. In 2004, she made the Finnish National Team. 2005 saw Mäkäräinen compete at the

Biathlon World Championships The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The number of events has grown significantly over the years. Beginning in 1984, women biathletes had their own World Championships, and fina ...

for the first time. Her best placings in the Biathlon World Championships have occurred at the 2007 World Championships in

Antholz-Anterselva Rasen-Antholz (; it, Rasun-Anterselva ) is a municipality in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Geography The municipal area stretches along the Antholz valley, a northern side valley of the larger Puster Valley. In the northeast, the Staller Saddl ...

, where she placed eighth in the individual 15 and seventh in the mass start events. At the 2008 Biathlon World Championships in

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

, she was 15th in the mass start. During the 2007-08 Biathlon World Cup, she made it to the podium twice, the first time when she placed second in the sprint at

Pokljuka The Pokljuka Plateau () is a forested karst plateau at an elevation of around , located in the Julian Alps in northwestern Slovenia. The plateau is known for its forests, mountain pastures (Javornik, Lipanca, Uskovnica, Zajamniki, etc.), and w ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

and third in the pursuit at

Ruhpolding Ruhpolding is the municipality with the biggest area of the Traunstein district in southeastern Bavaria, Germany. It is situated in the south of the Chiemgau region in the Alps and next to the Austrian border. Ruhpolding has a biathlon track. I ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. During the

2008–09 Biathlon World Cup The 2008–09 Biathlon World Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season of biathlon, organised by the International Biathlon Union. The season started on 2 December 2008 in Östersund, Sweden and ends on 29 March 2009 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russi ...

, she has steadily risen in the rankings and on she placed second during the pursuit event and third in the mass start after Iourieva and

Jonsson Jonsson is a surname of Nordic, mostly Swedish, origin, meaning ''son of Jon''. In Iceland the name is a part of the Patronymic name system. Notable people with the surname include: *Åke Jonsson, Swedish motocross racer *Andreas Jonsson (born 1 ...

at Antholz. Her best season so far has been the 2010-11 Biathlon World Cup. She made a strong start at the opening event in

, where Mäkäräinen won her first ever World Cup victory in the sprint. Two days later she repeated her success by winning the pursuit, too. She showed her strong early-season form again in

Hochfilzen Hochfilzen is a town and municipality in the Kitzbühel district of the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is located in the Pillersee valley 5 km east of Fieberbrunn. Population was 1,147 in 2016. It is a popular winter sports resort, especially f ...

and

by reaching the podium in every single event. Mäkäräinen's form fell somewhat after that as she managed to reach the podium only once in the next 12 starts. Despite this Mäkäräinen scored valuable points in every single race beside the mass start in Antholz. She entered the

Biathlon World Championships 2011 The 44th Biathlon World Championships was held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from March 3–13, 2011. There was a total of 11 competitions: sprint, pursuit, individual, mass start, and relay races for men and women, and mixed relay. All the event ...

in Khanty-Mansiysk in second place for the Overall World Cup (9 points behind

Andrea Henkel Andrea Burke, née Henkel (born 10 December 1977) is a retired German professional biathlete and the younger sister of Manuela Henkel, a successful cross-country skier. She trained at SV Großbreitenbach. Andrea Henkel started out as a cross-co ...

), but regained the overall World Cup leader's yellow bib after taking the silver medal in the sprint. Mäkäräinen's flawless shooting and fourth-fastest course time secured her career-first gold medal in the pursuit the following day. Mäkäräinen became the second Finnish female to medal in biathlon and the first one since 1987 when

Tuija Vuoksiala Tuija Vuoksiala (born 25 August 1961) is a Finnish biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance ...

placed third in the

individual An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own need ...

. She is also the first Finnish biathlete to medal at the

since 2003, since

Paavo Puurunen Paavo Puurunen (born 28 August 1973 in Kuhmo, Kainuu) is a retired Finnish biathlete who competed at four Winter Olympics. Puurunen debuted on the World Cup scene in the 1995/96 season. His best overall placing is from 1997/98 season when ...

's bronze in the pursuit. Despite her not-so-good performance in the individual competition and being tied for the overall lead by Helena Ekholm, Mäkäräinen managed to stay on top of the Overall World Cup classification until the very end of the season. In

Holmenkollen Holmenkollen () is a mountain and a neighbourhood in the Vestre Aker borough of Oslo, Norway. It goes up to above sea level and is well-known for its international skiing competitions. Overview In addition to being a residential area, the are ...

she grabbed both the Overall and the Pursuit Titles. She was subsequently named the 2011

Finnish Sports Personality of the Year The Finnish Sportspersonality of the Year is chosen annually since 1947 by the national sports journalists. In addition, the best female athlete was nominated each year until 2009. Winners Men Women See also * Finnish Footballer of the ...

. She has gone on to win two more overall World Cups, in 2013-14 and 2017-18. Mäkäräinen has also competed in the

FIS Cross-Country World Cup The FIS Cross-Country World Cup is an annual cross-country skiing competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1981. The competition was arranged unofficially between 1973 and 1981, although it received provisional recogn ...

, and she finished 14th in the 10km freestyle event at the 2013 Nordic Skiing World Championships. She was also the 2013 Finnish national champion in the same event. She has continued competing in the national cross-country skiing championships even during her retirement. In January 2021, she notably won a silver medal in a 10 km freestyle competition, with only a few of Finland's current World Cup skiers absent from the event.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; german: Internationale Biathlon-Union) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of t ...

.International Biathlon Union
Kaisa Mäkäräinen
IBU Datacenter. Retrieved 17 April 2016.

Olympic Games

''0 medals'' :a. The mixed relay was added as an event in 2014.

World Championships

''6 medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze)'' :a. During Olympic seasons "Mixed-Relay Championships" were held for those events not included in the Olympic program. :b. The single mixed relay was added as an event in 2019.

Junior/Youth World Championships

World Cup standings

:a. Until 2009–10 season, IBU did not count an athlete's three worst races in overall World Cup scores. In 2010–11 season, all races were included in World Cup scores. Starting from 2011–12 season, the two worst results have been eliminated again. So the points in the "Points" column is represented after deduction, except 2010–11 season. :b. Until 2009–10 season it was required to leave out the result of the worst discipline race for the final result of discipline world cup (if there were four discipline races or more during the season), so the points in the "Points" columns for those seasons is represented after deduction of the result of the worst discipline race.

Individual victories

* 27 victories – (8 Sp, 13 Pu, 2 In, 4 MS) :''* Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the

Biathlon World Cup The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...

and the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

.''

Overall record

:a. Includes mixed relay and single mixed relay, the event involves one male and one female biathlete each completing two legs consisting of one prone and one standing shoot. :b. Until 2007–08 season, top-30 were awarded with World Cup points and biathlete got 50 points for the win. Starting from 2008–09 season another points system is applied in World Cup, top-40 are awarded with World Cup points and winner got 60 points. Results in "Points" row is represented according to the applied scoring system in corresponding season. ''Statistics as of 15 December 2018''

Shooting

''Results in all IBU World Cup races, Olympics and World Championships including relay events and disqualified races. Statistics as of 25 March 2018.''

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

World Championships

World Cup

Season standings

Roller-ski biathlon

In the summer of 2007, Mäkäräinen won the world championship in roller-ski

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

Otepää Otepää (formerly Nuustaku) is a town in Valga County, southern Estonia, it is the administrative centre of Otepää Parish. Otepää is a popular skiing resort, popularly known as the "winter capital" of Estonia (in contrast to the "summer c ...

in both the 7.5 km sprint and the 10 km pursuit.

References

External links

*
Statistics at ''Biathlonworld''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makarainen, Kaisa 1983 births Living people People from Ristijärvi Finnish female cross-country skiers Finnish female biathletes Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes of Finland Biathlon World Championships medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Holmenkollen medalists Sportspeople from Kainuu 21st-century Finnish women