Charlotte_Kalla

Charlotte Kalla

Charlotte Kalla

Swedish cross-country skier

Marina Charlotte Kalla (Swedish pronunciation: [ɧaˈɭɔtː ˈkâlːa] ⓘ; born 22 July 1987) is a Swedish retired cross-country skier. A four-time Olympian, Kalla won three golds and nine medals overall at the Olympics between 2004 and 2022. She holds the joint record as Sweden's most decorated Olympic competitor and is the all-time leader among Swedish female athletes.[1] She is also a 13-time medalist at the World Championships, including a gold medal at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2015 10 km freestyle event in Falun. This made Kalla the first Swedish female cross-country skier to win individual golds in both the Olympics and World Championships. In 2008, Kalla won the Jerring Award.[2]

Quick Facts Country, Full name ...

She retired from competitive skiing after the Swedish Championships in March 2022.[3]

Winter Olympics

2010 Winter Olympics

Kalla won the gold medal in the women's 10 km individual for Sweden at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with a time of 24:58.4.[4][5] She also won a silver in the team sprint event with Anna Haag at those same games.[6]

2014 Winter Olympics

Kalla won a silver medal in the skiathlon event on 8 February in Sochi,[7] and another silver in the classical race on 13 February. In the 4 × 5 km women's relay race, held on 15 February, she ran in the final leg and started third with a 25.7 sec lag behind the first place and a 19.9 lag behind the second place, but totally reduced the gap, and overtook her competitors in the final straight, giving Sweden the gold medal.[8]

2018 Winter Olympics

Kalla took the first gold medal awarded at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang when she won the skiathlon,[9] breaking away from the leading group on the last lap of the course to take victory with a lead of 7.8 seconds over second-placed Marit Bjørgen. Her win made her the first Swedish woman to win three Winter Olympic golds, and tied her with canoer Agneta Andersson as the female Swede with most Olympic gold medals overall. It was also Kalla's sixth Olympic medal, equalling Anja Pärson's record for the most Winter Olympic medals among Swedish women.[10] She then went on to win silver in the 10 km freestyle individual start, the 4 × 5 km relay (together with Anna Haag, Ebba Andersson and Stina Nilsson) and the team sprint (with Stina Nilsson).[11]

2022 Winter Olympics

Kalla competed in three events at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, her fourth appearance at the Games. Her highest placing was in the 15-km skiathlon, where she finished 19th as the defending champion. Kalla announced her retirement from international competition later that winter.

Other competitions

On 6 January 2008, Kalla won the second edition of Tour de Ski in her debut in the event.[12]

On 17–18 April 2015, Kalla participated and placed second in Keb Classic, a ski mountaineering event in Kebnekaise, Sweden, with Emelie Forsberg and Josefina Wikberg.[13]

Personal life

Kalla was born in Tärendö in Norrbotten, Sweden. She is the eldest of three daughters.[14]

In 2023, Kalla competed on the Swedish reality TV series Let's Dance, pairing with professional dancer Tobias Karlsson. Kalla became pregnant before the competition started, becoming the first dancer to participate while pregnant.[15][16]

Kalla is of Tornedalian Finnish descent.[17]

She published a book in 2023: "Skam den som ger sig"[18] ("shame on the one who gives up"), in Swedish only, in which she summarises her sports career and describes her view.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).[19]

Olympic Games

  • 9 medals – (3 gold, 6 silver)
More information Year, Age ...

World Championships

  • 13 medals – (3 gold, 6 silver, 4 bronze)
More information Year, Age ...

World Cup

Season standings

More information Season, Age ...

Individual podiums

  • 12 victories – (7 WC, 5 SWC)
  • 59 podiums – (35 WC, 24 SWC)
More information No., Season ...

Team podiums

  • 3 victories – (2 RL, 1 TS)
  • 15 podiums – (14 RL, 1 TS)
More information No., Season ...

References

  1. [1]
    Sport, S. V. T. (15 February 2018). "Charlotte Kalla: Nu är Kalla bäst genom tiderna". SVT Sport (in Swedish).
  2. [2]
    Sport, S. V. T. (2009-01-19). "Sport: Charlotte Kalla fick Jerringpriset". SVT Sport (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  3. [3]
    Emil Eiman Roslund (22 March 2022). "Charlotte Kalla avslutar karriären" (in Swedish). SVT Sport. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  4. [4]
    Charlotte Kalla Swedens First Winter Olympics Gold Medal at Vancouver
  5. [5]
    "Sweden's Charlotte Kalla secures cross country crown". BBC Sport. 15 February 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  6. [6]
    Olmos, Cecilia (22 February 2010). "German women's team wins gold in cross country". The Toronto Observer. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  7. [7]
    "Kalla wins Sweden's first medal at Sochi 2014". Sveriges Radio. SR International – Radio Sweden. 8 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  8. [8]
    "Kalla brings the gold home for Sweden in ladies' relay". Fis-Ski. Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
  9. [9]
    "Winter Olympics: Sweden's Charlotte Kalla wins first gold medal of Pyeongchang 2018". BBC Sport. 10 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  10. [10]
    "Charlotte Kalla wins 1st gold medal of PyeongChang 2018". International Ski Federation. 10 February 2018. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  11. [11]
    "Athlete Profile – Charlotte Kalla". PyeongChang 2018. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  12. [12]
    "Kalla vinnare i Tour de ski". Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). 25 January 2008. Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  13. [13]
    "Resultat 2015" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  14. [14]
    "Här får Kalla koll på kartan". Archived 2013-12-19 at the Wayback Machine Sundsvalls tidning, 16 juli 2011.
  15. [15]
    "Charlotte Kalla i "Let's dance": Långt utanför min comfort zone". www.aftonbladet.se (in Swedish). 17 March 2023.
  16. [16]
    "Charlotte Kalla om att tävla i Let's Dance som gravid - Metro Mode". metromode.se (in Swedish).
  17. [17]
    "Charlotte Kalla om sitt ursprung: "Har jag rätt att göra det?"" [Charlotte Kalla about her origins: "Do I have the right to do it?"] (in Swedish). Expressen. 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2023-03-27.
  18. [18]
    ISBN 9789198764635
  19. [19]
    "KALLA Charlotte". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 10 December 2019.

Media related to Charlotte Kalla at Wikimedia Commons
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