Kaisa Leena Mäkäräinen (born 11 January 1983) is a Finnish former world-champion and 3-time world-cup-winning biathlete, who currently competes for Kontiolahden Urheilijat. Outside sports, Mäkäräinen is currently studying to be a Physics teacher at the University of Eastern Finland in

Joensuu Joensuu (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Karelia. It is located in the eastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Joensuu is approximately , while the sub-region has a population ...

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

Career

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 original team event, Team (time), was held for the last time in 1965, to be replaced in 1966 by the team event, Relay (4 × 7.5 km) ...

for the first time. Her best placings in the Biathlon World Championships have occurred at the 2007 World Championships in Antholz-Anterselva, where she placed eighth in the individual 15 and seventh in the mass start events. At the 2008 Biathlon World Championships in

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, 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, pasture, mountain pastures (Javornik, Lipanca, Uskovnica, Zajamniki, etc ...

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and third in the pursuit at

Ruhpolding Ruhpolding is the municipality with the biggest area of the Traunstein (district), 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. The economy ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. During the 2008–09 Biathlon World Cup, 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 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), Kitzbühel district of the Austrian state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol. It is located in the Pillersee valley 5 km east of Fieberbrunn. Population was 1,147 in 2016. It is a popu ...

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 in

Khanty-Mansiysk Khanty-Mansiysk (, lit. ''Khanty-Mansi Town''; Khanty: , ''Jomvoćś''; Mansi: , ''Abga'') is a city in west-central Russia. Technically, it is situated on the eastern bank of the Irtysh River, from its confluence with the Ob, in the oil-ri ...

in second place for the Overall World Cup (9 points behind Andrea Henkel), 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 placed third in the

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

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

since 2003, since Paavo Puurunen'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 she grabbed both the Overall and the Pursuit Titles. She was subsequently named the 2011 Finnish Sports Personality of the Year. 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, 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; ) 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 city. It was rocked by a corruption ...

.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 (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held in ...

.''

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 ti ...

at Otepää 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 for Finland Biathlon World Championships medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Holmenkollen medalists Sportspeople from Kainuu 21st-century Finnish sportswomen The Amazing Race winners