Stina Nilsson (born 24 June 1993) is a Swedish

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 ...

and former cross-country skier. She is a five-time Olympic medalist and the 2018 Olympic champion in the individual sprint. In March 2020 she announced that she would switch to competing in

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 tim ...

Career

2011–12: World Cup debut and Junior World Champion

Stina Nilsson finished 23rd in her

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 ...

debut in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken (county), Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and village ...

on 7 March 2012. Nilsson won the gold medal in the sprint event at the 2012 Junior World Championships in

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

2012–13

At the 2013 Junior World Championships in

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, Nilsson defended her gold medal in the sprint.

2013–14: First Olympic medal and World Cup podium

On 19 February 2014, Nilsson and

Ida Ingemarsdotter Ida Maria Erika Ingemarsdotter (born 26 April, 1985) is a Swedish cross-country skiing coach and former skier who competed between 2003 and 2019. Skiing career Ingemarsdotter has a total of five individual victories at various levels up to 15&n ...

, won bronze medals together in the team sprint at the Olympic Games in Sochi. Nilsson also finished 10th in the individual sprint. She made her first individual World Cup podium on 5 March, having finished third in the classical sprint in Drammen.

2014–15: Falun World Championships

Nilsson won three silver medals at the 2015 World Championships in Falun; On 19 February in the individual sprint, on 22 February in the team sprint (with Ida Ingemarsdotter), and on 26 February in the 4 × 5 km relay (with

Sofia Bleckur Sofia Bleckur, born 3 July 1984, is a Swedish former cross-country skier who competed in the World Cup level, and for IFK Mora. She won Tjejvasan in 2005 and 2014. On 5 August 2015 she announced her retirement from cross-country skiing. Cross- ...

Charlotte Kalla Marina Charlotte Kalla (born 22 July 1987 in Tärendö) is a Swedish cross-country skier who has been competing at international level since the 2003–04 season. Kalla is a three-time Olympian, winning her first Olympic gold medal at the 2010 Wi ...

, and Maria Rydqvist). Nilsson won the Under-23 World Cup title for the 2014–2015 season and finished fourth in the Sprint World Cup.

2015–16

She defended the U23 World Cup title in the 2015–2016 season and finished third in the Sprint World Cup, having won three individual sprint events over the season.

2016–17

On 2 March 2017, she won the silver medal in the 4 × 5 km relay (with

Anna Haag Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...

, and Ebba Andersson) at the World Championships in Lahti. Nilsson won nine individual World Cup races over the 2016–2017 season, finishing fourth in the Overall World Cup and second in the Sprint World Cup. She also finished overall-third in the

Tour de Ski Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed b ...

2017–18: Four Olympic medals

Nilsson won four medals at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. On 13 February she became an Olympic champion, having won the gold medal in the individual sprint. On 17 and 21 February respectively, she won silver medals in the 4 × 5 km relay (with

, and Ebba Andersson) and in the

team sprint The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a track cycling event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider team time trial held over three laps of a velodrome. The current men's ...

(with

). On 25 February, Nilsson won a surprise bronze in the 30 km classical mass start. She also finished 10th in the 15 km skiathlon. She finished second in the 2017–2018 Sprint World Cup, having won three individual sprint events over the season. She was awarded the

Victoria Scholarship The Victoria Award ( sv, Victoriapriset), earlier called the Victoria Scholarship ( sv, Victoriastipendiet) is awarded to a Swedish athlete (or pair of athletes) every year since 1979, on Öland, on the 14 July, the birthday of Victoria, Crown Prin ...

in 2018.

2018-19: Continued World Championship success

Nilsson started the season off successfully, but injured her thigh in an extreme finish line stretch at the Otepää sprint event. She managed to recover just in time to return to competition at the 2019 World Championships in Seefeld, where she started her campaign with a silver medal in the freestyle sprint. She then went on to win her first World Championships gold medals in the classical team sprint and the 4 × 5 kilometre relay; in the latter, she anchored Sweden to the win by sprinting past

Therese Johaug Therese Johaug (born 25 June 1988) is a Norwegian cross-country skier from the village of Dalsbygda in Os municipality who has competed for the clubs Tynset IF and IL Nansen. In World Ski Championships she has won ten individual gold medals ...

of Norway in the final uphill. Nilsson's success continued for the rest of the season and included a distance win at the World Cup finals in Quebec. She won the Sprint World Cup for the first time in her career.

2019-20: Injuries, switch to biathlon

Nilsson suffered a rib injury in the summer, but started the season with stable results, including 2nd places in the sprint and team sprint in

Planica Planica () is an Alpine valley in northwestern Slovenia, extending south from the border village of Rateče, not far from another well-known ski resort, Kranjska Gora. Further south, the valley extends into the Tamar Valley, a popular hiking d ...

. At the first event of the Tour de Ski, however, the injury aggravated and she was forced to quit the Tour. She soon decided to end her season early after the recovery training proved to have been too heavy. The podiums in Planica turned out to be her last as a cross-country skier. On 22 March, she officially announced the unexpected news that she was switching sports to biathlon on her Instagram account. She left cross-country skiing as one of Sweden's most decorated skiers of the 2010s.

2020-21: First steps in biathlon

For most of the 2020–21 season, Nilsson competed in the

IBU Cup The IBU Cup in biathlon has been held since the winter seasons of 1982–83 and 1988–89, for women and men, respectively. Until the 2007–08 season this competition was called European Cup. It is the second-rank competition in biathlon after th ...

, where her season highlight was an 8th place in the pursuit at

Brezno Brezno (; 1927–1948 ''Brezno nad Hronom'', german: Bries or ''Briesen'', hu, Breznóbánya) is a town in central Slovakia with a population of around 21,000. Geography Brezno is located within the Geomorphological division of Slovakia, Horehr ...

. A 2nd place in a relay held the same weekend marked Nilsson's first international biathlon podium. She also took part in the European Championships in January, placing 42nd in the sprint and 38th in the pursuit; struggles with shooting were consistently present during Nilsson's debut season. In March 2021, Nilsson was selected to the Swedish team at their home World Cup competitions in Östersund, Sweden. She managed to perform well events, placing 26th in the sprint and 22nd in the pursuit, thus collecting her first world cup points already in her very first competitions in 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 ...

2021-22: First World Cup podiums in biathlon, Olympic roster

In the spring of 2021, Nilsson officially became part of Sweden's national biathlon team, having previously held a so-called "developmental" spot in the team. In the summer biathlon Swedish championships, she sensationally won gold over the Öberg sisters,

Elvira Elvira is a female given name. First recorded in medieval Spain, it is likely of Germanic (Gothic) origin. Elvira may refer to: People Nobility * Elvira Menéndez (died 921), daughter of Hermenegildo Gutiérrez and wife of Ordoño II of León ...

and Hanna. Nilsson's second season as a biathlete saw her secure a near-permanent spot at the starting line in World Cup competitions; she took part in almost all WC weekends. Managing to recover her skiing speed and improving her aim, she reached the top twenty in eight individual competitions. In January 2022, she celebrated her first World Cup podium, a second place at the relay in Ruhpolding, where she got to ski a leg at the absence of Sweden's biggest biathlon stars. In March, Nilsson reached her first individual podium in biathlon when she placed third in the sprint at

Kontiolahti Kontiolahti ( sv, Kontiolax; literally meaning "bear bay") is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region, about north of Joensuu. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The pop ...

, Finland. She was named as the last athlete into the Swedish biathlon team for the

2022 Beijing Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

, her first as a biathlete. Due to the success of her more seasoned teammates, Nilsson did not get to start in any of the races, which prevented her from getting a first chance at winning an Olympic medal in both cross-country skiing and biathlon.

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

*5 medals – (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)

World Championships

*7 medals – (2 gold, 5 silver)

World Cup

Season titles

* 3 titles – (2 U23, 1 Sprint)

Season standings

Individual podiums

*23 victories – (12 , 11 ) *41 podiums – (24 , 17 )

Team podiums

*3 victories – (3 ) *7 podiums – (1 , 6 )

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 ...

World Cup

Individual podiums

* 0 victories * 1 podiums

Team podiums

*0 victories *1 podiums :''*Results are from 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 ...

.''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsson, Stina 1993 births Swedish female cross-country skiers Swedish female biathletes Cross-country skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic cross-country skiers for Sweden Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Tour de Ski skiers Living people People from Malung-Sälen Municipality 21st-century Swedish women