Magdalena "Magda" Forsberg (née Wallin; born 25 July 1967) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

former

cross-country skier Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

and

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and shooting sports, rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into sh ...

. She was the dominating female biathlete from 1997 to 2002, when she retired, winning 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 Biathlon World Cup, 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 Biathlon World Cup, 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons ...

for six years straight. She is also a six-times world champion, a two-times Olympic bronze medalist, and holds the record for the most World Cup victories in women's biathlon. She has been married to

Henrik Forsberg Henrik Forsberg (born 16 February 1967) is a Swedish former cross-country skier and biathlete who competed from 1988 to 2001. Competing in four Winter Olympics, he earned his best finishes at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville in cross-coun ...

, also a biathlete and cross-country skier, since mid-1996.

Cross-country skiing

Forsberg competed as a cross country skier from 1988 to 1996, participating in the

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 concept i ...

. Her best results at the

Winter Olympics 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 ...

were in

Albertville Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

where she finished seventh in the 4 × 5 km relay and 26th in the 15 km event. Forsberg's best individual finish at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship e ...

was tenth in the 30 km event at

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. In 1987 she was in the Swedish team that finished third in the 4 × 5 km relay. Her best World cup finish was second in a 10 km event in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in 1988. She participated as a celebrity dancer in ''

Let's Dance 2019 Let's Dance 2019 was the fourteenth season of the Swedish celebrity dancing show Let's Dance. The season premiered on 22 March 2019, and is broadcast on TV4. Presenters were Tilde de Paula Eby and David Hellenius. Contestants Scoring char ...

'', which was 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 ...

. She placed second.

Biathlon

Competing from 1993 to 2002, Forsberg won six straight overall wins in the

from 1997 to 2002. She also won six gold medals in 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, ...

, became runner-up once, and placed third five times. At the

2002 Winter Olympic Games 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 internationa ...

, Forsberg won two bronze medals. In her career she managed a total of 42 individual

wins, which is more than any other female biathlete to date. Magdalena Forsberg retired from active sports after the 2001–02 season. After being retired for four years she made a temporary comeback in April 2006 due to losing a bet. The bet said Forsberg would enter the Swedish Championship in Women's

Relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

with fellow biathlon skier

Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek Anna Carin Helena Cecilia Zidek (née Olofsson, born 1 April 1973) is a Swedish former biathlete who won a silver medal in the 7.5 km sprint and a gold medal in the 12.5 km mass start event at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Originally a cros ...

if the latter won an Olympic gold in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) 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 ...

. The duo went on to win the competition, Forsberg outrunning her competitors in the first leg and Olofsson extending their lead in the second. During large parts of her career, Forsberg was trained by

Wolfgang Pichler Wolfgang Pichler (born 23 January 1955 in Ruhpolding) is a German biathlon and cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing coach. Wolfgang Pichler formerly trained Magdalena Forsberg, and won with her six World Biathlon Championships and si ...

, who later took over as coach of the national Swedish biathlon team.

Other honours

Forsberg competed at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

both as a biathlete and as a cross country skier. She is the only Swedish athlete to have been awarded the

Jerring Award The Jerring Award ( sv, Jerringpriset or "Radiosportens Jerringpris") is a prize established by Radiosporten, the sport section of Sveriges Radio, voted by its radio audience who choose the Swedish athlete or team that has made the best sport perf ...

four times.

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 the ...

Olympic Games

''2 medals (2 bronze)'' :''*Pursuit was added as an event in 2002.''

World Championships

''12 medals (6 gold, 1 silver, 5 bronze)'' :''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.'' :''**Team was removed as an event in 1998, and pursuit was added in 1997 with mass start being added in 1999.''

Individual victories

''42 victories (7 In, 13 Sp, 19 Pu, 3 MS)'' :''*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include 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 ...

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 he ...

.''

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

World Championships

* 1 medal – (1 bronze)

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

*1 podium

Team podiums

* 2 podiums Note: Until the 1999 World Championships, World Championship races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

References

* *

External links

*
Women's 4 x 5 km cross-country relay Olympic results: 1976-2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forsberg, Magdalena 1967 births Living people People from Kramfors Municipality Cross-country skiers from Västernorrland County Swedish female biathletes Swedish female cross-country skiers Cross-country skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1998 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes of Sweden Olympic cross-country skiers of Sweden Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Biathlon World Championships medalists FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners