Kristin Størmer Steira (born 30 April 1981) is a retired Norwegian cross-country skier. She competed from 2002 to 2015, and won six individual

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 ...

victories and five individual medals 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 eve ...

and

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 ...

. She also won four gold medals with the Norway relay team. In Norwegian media, Steira was dubbed "the eternal fourth" due to her many finishes in fourth place.

Career

At the

, she has seven medals with two gold (4 × 5 km relay:

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 ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

), two silvers (7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, 30 km:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

), and three bronzes (7.5 km + 7,5 km double pursuit: 2005, 2007; 4 × 5 km relay: 2007). Steira finished fourth in three individual events (10 km, 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit, 30 km) 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 ...

Turin 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 ...

. She has four individual career victories at various levels from 2002 to 2006. In 2009 Steira extended her interests to track athletics and announced her ambition to compete in the 5000 metres at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

after achieving a time of 16.02 in Norway. She never did. In the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

in Vancouver, she came eighth in the 10 km pursuit. More agonisingly, she achieved her fourth fourth-place Olympic finish in the 15 km pursuit, losing out on a medal by 0.1 seconds in a photo finish with

Justyna Kowalczyk Justyna Maria Kowalczyk-Tekieli (Polish: ; born 19 January 1983) is a Polish cross-country skier who has been competing since 2000. Kowalczyk is a double Olympic Champion and a double World Champion. She is also the only skier to win the Tour ...

. This, along with her many fourth places previously, led to Norwegian media jokingly labelling her as "the eternal fourth". On 25 February 2010 Steira became an Olympic champion in the 4 × 5 km relay, racing in the third leg after

Vibeke Skofterud Vibeke Westbye Skofterud (20 April 1980 – 29 July 2018) was a Norwegian cross-country skier. She won gold in the 4 × 5 km relay at Vancouver in 2010. Her best individual finish at the Winter Olympics was eighth in the 30 km event at ...

and

Therese Johaug Therese Johaug (born 25 June 1988) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier from the village of Dalsbygda in Os Municipality. In World Ski Championships she won ten individual gold medals along with four gold medals in relays, and she is a ...

and before

Marit Bjørgen Marit Bjørgen (born 21 March 1980) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier. She is ranked first in the all-time Cross-Country World Cup rankings with 114 individual victories. Bjørgen is also the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country Wo ...

. She qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where she became 23rd in 15 kilometre skiathlon. In the last event, 30 km mass start freestyle, she finally won the bronze, her only individual medal of the Winter Olympics. On 20 April 2015, Steira announced her retirement from professional skiing.

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

* 2 medals – (1 gold, 1 bronze)

World Championships

* 8 medals – (3 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze)

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 6 victories – (3 , 3 ) * 22 podiums – (10 , 12 )

Team podiums

* 13 victories – (13 ) * 18 podiums – (18 )

Personal life

Steira lives in

Drøbak Drøbak is a town and the centre of the municipality of Frogn, in Akershus county, Norway. The city is located along the Oslofjord, and has 13,409 inhabitants. History Drøbak and Frogn was established as a parish on its own through a royal d ...

, near Oslo, in Norway. She married

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

skier

Devon Kershaw Devon Kershaw (born December 20, 1982) is a Canadians, Canadian retired cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skier who competed from 2005 to 2018. Growing up in Greater Sudbury, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, he split his time between several s ...

, her boyfriend since December 2012, on 25 July 2015.VG.no (Norwegian)
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References

External links

* *
Unofficial Kristin Steira pages
(in English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Steira, Kristin Stormer 1981 births People from Rana, Norway Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Living people Norwegian female cross-country skiers Olympic cross-country skiers for Norway Olympic gold medalists for Norway Olympic bronze medalists for Norway Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Tour de Ski skiers Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Frogn Skiers from Akershus Skiers from Nordland 21st-century Norwegian sportswomen