Tanja Tuulia Poutiainen (born 6 April 1980) is a retired

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

alpine ski racer from Finland. She specialized in the technical events of slalom and

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

, and was the silver medalist in the women's

at the

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

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. Born in

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the Rovaniemi su ...

, Lapland, Poutiainen started skiing at the age of three. She became junior world champion in slalom in 1997 at

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 th ...

, Austria, and also took bronze in the

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 ...

; she made her World Cup debut that March at Vail in the United States. At the 1999 Junior World Championships, she placed third in the giant slalom at

Pra-Loup Pra-Loup is a ski resort in France, at Uvernet-Fours in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, from the town of Barcelonnette. Geography Ski area The ski station has two separate base areas, 2 km apart: * Pra-Loup 1600 - primary base area at above ...

, France. Poutiainen scored her first World Cup victory – and the first for a female Finnish alpine skier – on 28 February

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

in a slalom held on home snow in Levi, Finland – the first alpine World Cup race to be held in the country. In the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

season, Poutiainen won the season titles in both the slalom and giant slalom, and placed fifth in the overall standings. Along the way she won three slaloms, a giant slalom and secured ten podium finishes. At the 2005 World Championships, she placed second in the giant slalom behind

Anja Pärson Anja Sofia Tess Pärson (; born 25 April 1981) is a Swedish former alpine skier. She is an Olympic gold medalist, seven-time gold medalist at the World Championships, and two-time overall Alpine Skiing World Cup champion. This included winn ...

of Sweden and second in the slalom behind Janica Kostelić of Croatia – the first alpine World Championship medals for a Finnish female. The 2009 season saw Poutianen take another World Cup discipline title, in giant slalom, as well as bronzes in slalom and giant slalom at the World Championships in Val d'Isère. Poutiainen was notable for her consistency, and between January 2007 and March 2011 she successfully completed every World Cup race she entered – a total of 67. At the end of the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

season, Poutiainen had 11 World Cup victories, 48 podiums, and three World Cup discipline titles. She was trained by Michael Bont and lives in St. Gallen, Switzerland. She announced her retirement in March 2014.

World Cup results

Season titles

Season standings

Race victories

11 wins – (5

, 6 slalom)

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

* *
Tanja Poutianen
World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation *
Tanja Poutiainen
at Fischer Skis * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Poutiainen, Tanja 1980 births Finnish female alpine skiers Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic alpine skiers for Finland Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in alpine skiing Olympic silver medalists for Finland FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions Skiers from Rovaniemi Sportspeople from St. Gallen (city) Skiers from the canton of St. Gallen Living people Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland 21st-century Finnish sportswomen