Kaisa Mäkäräinen

Kaisa Mäkäräinen
Personal information
Full name	Kaisa Mäkäräinen
Born	January 11, 1983 (1983-01-11) (age 28) Ristijärvi, Finland
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
World Cup
Seasons	2005-
Wins	3
Additional podiums	11
Total podiums	14
Medal record Women's biathlon Competitor for  Finland World Championships Gold 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 10 km pursuit Silver 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 7.5 km sprint
Updated on 20 March 2011.

Kaisa Leena Mäkäräinen (b. January 11, 1983 in Ristijärvi, Finland) is a Finnish biathlete, who currently competes for Kontiolahden Urheilijat. Outside of sports, Mäkäräinen is currently studying to be a Physics teacher at the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu. Her team coach is Jonne Kähkönen, while Jarmo Punkkinen is her ski coach and Asko Nuutinen her shooting coach.^[1]

Career

Kaisa Mäkäräinen started training for the biathlon in 2003. In 2004, she made the Finnish National Team. 2005 saw Mäkäräinen compete at the Biathlon World Championships for the first time. Her best placings in the Biathlon World Championships have occurred at the 2007 World Championships in Antholz, where she placed eighth in the individual 15  and seventh in the mass start events. At the 2008 Biathlon World Championships in Östersund, 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, Slovenia and third in the pursuit at Ruhpolding, Germany. During the 2008–09 Biathlon World Cup, she has steadily risen in the rankings and on she placed second during the pursuit event^[2] and third in the mass start after Iourieva and Jonsson^[3] at Antholz.

During the 2010–11 Biathlon World Cup she made a strong start right after the kick-off stages and caught up with then-leaders of the World Cup total score, Helena Ekholm and Anna Carin Zidek of Sweden and continued to dominate the filed as she reeled off six top-three finishes in a span of three WC stages, from Östersund to Pokljuka. She lost her yellow bib to Andrea Henkel of Germany after Ruhpolding but managed to regain it at the Biathlon World Championships 2011 in Khanty-Mansiysk finishing second in the sprint and earning her career-first medal. Mäkäräinen is the second Finnish female to medal in biathlon and the first one to do it since 1987 when Tuija Vuoksiala placed third in the Biathlon World Championships 1987 individual. She is also the first Finnish biathlete to medal at the Biathlon Wold Championships since 2003, as eight years have passed since Paavo Puurunen's bronze in the Biathlon World Championships 2003 pursuit.

Next day, on March 6, 2011, on the final loop of the pursuit at the Biathlon World Championships 2011 Mäkäräinen managed to pull away from Magdalena Neuner largely due to the Finnish's flawless shooting, while the German had two misses in the final standing stage. Mäkäräinen had more than 20 sec. lead over Neuner and she burst into tears after crossing the finishing line as she claimed the first Finnish female World Champion title in the history of biathlon.

Standings in the Biathlon World Cup

Standings	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass Start	Relay	Mixed Relay	Total
1st place		1	2				3
2nd place	1	2	2	1			6
3rd place		3	2				5
Top 10	4	18	11	7	4	5	49
Points	11	41	26	22	16	9	125
Starts	18	56	35	23	17	9	158

(As of the 21 March 2011) *still not up to date

Roller-ski biathlon

In the summer of 2007, Mäkäräinen won the world champion in roller-ski biathlon at Otepää in both the 7.5 km sprint and the 10 km pursuit.^[4]

References

1. ^ "About Kaisa". http://www.kaisaleena.com/about-kaisa/. Retrieved 2009-01-26. 
2. ^ "E.ON RUHRGAS IBU WORLD CUP - Antholz-Anterselva (ITA) Women 10 km Pursuit". International Biathlon Union. http://services.biathlonresults.com/results.aspx?RaceId=BT0809SWRLCP06SWPU. Retrieved 2009-01-25. 
3. ^ "Stephan and Iourieva win biathlon mass starts; Canada’s Le Guellec 22nd". The Associated Press. http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/ski/news?slug=capress-ski_biathlon_wcup-26109023&prov=capress&type=lgns. Retrieved 2009-01-26. 
4. ^ "Mäkäräiselle kaksi MM-kultaa rulla-ampumahiihdossa (Two World Champion Golds for Mäkäräinen in Roller Biathlon)". MTV3. 2007-09-08. http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/muutlajit/uutiset.shtml/arkistot/muutlajit/2007/09/559599. Retrieved 2007-09-09. 

External links

• Official website
• Statistics at Biathlonworld

Awards
Preceded by  Magdalena Neuner (GER)	Women's Biathlon World Cup winner 2011	Succeeded by incumbent

Persondata
Name	Makarainen, Kaisa
Alternative names
Short description	Finnish biathlete
Date of birth	January 11, 1983
Place of birth	Ristijärvi,
Date of death
Place of death