Noora Kaisa Keränen (born 17 October 2001) is a Finnish

biathlete 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 ...

. She has competed 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 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...

since 2023.

Career

Noora Kaisa Keränen made her international debut at the 2018 Youth World Championships in

Otepää Otepää (formerly Nuustaku) is a town in Valga County, southern Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Otepää Parish. Otepää is a popular skiing resort, popularly known as the "winter capital" of Estonia (in contrast to the "summer ca ...

, Estonia. She narrowly missed the gold medal in the relay event, competing alongside her sister Jenni and Heidi Nikkinen, with Nikkinen losing in a photo finish to

Elvira Öberg Elvira Karin Öberg (born 26 February 1999) is a Swedish biathlete. She is the younger sister of Olympic champion Hanna Öberg. Elvira won three gold medals in the youth category at the 2018 Biathlon Junior World Championships in Otepää; in th ...

. The following year, she participated again in the Youth World Championships, finishing 15th in the individual event. Additionally, she took part in the European Youth Festival and won the bronze medal in the mixed relay. After another year in the junior ranks, the Finn made her

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 Biathlon European Cup. It is the second-rank competition in biathlo ...

debut in early 2021 at

Arber Arber is a surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, ...

, where she finished in the top ten in the single-mixed relay. She also participated in the European Championships, competing only in the mixed relay. Keränen earned her first IBU Cup ranking points during the winter of 2021/22, achieving a 26th place twice. She secured another medal by finishing third in the sprint at the

2022 IBU Junior Open European Championships The 7th IBU Junior Open European Championships were held from 19 to 23 January 2022 in Pokljuka, Slovenia. Schedule ''All times are local (Central European Time, UTC+1).'' Medal summary Medal table Men Women Mixed References Exter ...

, behind

Selina Grotian Selina Grotian (born 25 March 2004) is a German biathlete. She won multiple gold medals at youth and junior world championships in 2022 and 2023, respectively. In the 2023 European Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, she won the gold meda ...

and Chloé Bened. At the Junior World Championships, she achieved three top-10 finishes. For the 2022/23 season, Keränen was selected for the national team but had to miss the first trimester due to illness. Except for two IBU Cup competitions, she participated only in the Junior European Championships and World Championships. In March 2023, she received her first start 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 name is ...

at the season finale in Oslo, finishing 90th in the sprint. Starting the 2023/24 season, Keränen became a regular member of the World Cup squad. At the season opener in

Östersund Östersund (; ) is an Urban areas in Sweden, urban area (Stad (Sweden), city) in Jämtland in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-larg ...

, she finished 64th in the individual event and, in the mixed relay, secured a tenth-place finish with

Olli Hiidensalo Olli Hiidensalo (born 2 February 1991) is a Finnish biathlete. He was born in Nummi-Pusula. He has competed in the Biathlon World Cup, and represented Finland at the Biathlon World Championships 2016. Biathlon results All results are sourced from ...

Tero Seppälä Tero Seppälä (born 25 January 1996) is a Finnish biathlete who competes internationally. Seppälä's best result in the Biathlon World Cup is 5th, which he has achieved twice during the season 2021-2022. The first time was in the pursuit in � ...

, and

Erika Jänkä Erika Jänkä (born 23 November 1995 in Perho, Finland) is a Finnish biathlete. She competed during the 2022 Winter Olympics. Biathlon results All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union ( ...

. In the

Lenzerheide Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village lies in the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein. Th ...

sprint competition, the Finn earned her first World Cup point, finishing 40th despite one shooting miss.

Personal life

Noora Kaisa Keränen has two older sisters, Maija and Jenni, who are twins and were also active as biathletes, particularly at the junior level. Keränen is currently studying Public Law at the

University of Eastern Finland The University of Eastern Finland () is a university in Finland, which was founded in 2010 and has campuses in Joensuu and Kuopio. History The Finnish Parliament passed the Universities Act on June 16, 2009, which, among other things, extende ...

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 ...

. Noora Kaisa lives and trains in

Vuokatti Vuokatti is an urban area that is a physically separate part of the municipality of Sotkamo, Finland. It is home to more than 6,000 inhabitants, making it the second most populous urban area in the region of Kainuu, after the main urban area of ...

.https://yle.fi/a/3-11904831

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 ...

World Championships

Youth and Junior World Championships

''1 medal (1 silver)''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keränen, Noora Kaisa 2001 births Living people Finnish female biathletes People from Luumäki 21st-century Finnish sportswomen