Kaisa Mäkäräinen

Kaisa Mäkäräinen

Personal information
Full name	Kaisa-Leena Mäkäräinen
Nickname(s)	Kappa
Born	11 January 1983 Ristijärvi, Finland
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Website	kaisaleena.com
Professional information
Sport	Biathlon
Club	Kontiolahden Urheilijat
World Cup debut	5 March 2005
Olympic Games
Teams	2 (2010, 2014)
Medals	0
World Championships
Teams	11 (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016)
Medals	5 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	12 (2004/05–)
Individual victories	19
All victories	19
Individual podiums	61
All podiums	61
Overall titles	2 (2010–11, 2013–14)
Discipline titles	5: 1 Individual (2014–15); 1 Sprint (2013–14); 3 Pursuit (2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15)
Medal record Women's biathlon Representing  Finland World Championships 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 10 km pursuit 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 7.5 km sprint 2012 Ruhpolding 12.5 km mass start 2015 Kontiolahti 15 km individual 2016 Oslo 12.5 km mass start
Updated on 19 March 2016.

Kaisa-Leena Mäkäräinen (born 11 January 1983) 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 (leading) Kontiolahti, Finland, 12 February 2012

Mäkäräinen was originally a cross-country skier and focused on this until the age of twenty.^[2] 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 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 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^[3] and third in the mass start after Iourieva and Jonsson^[4] 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 Östersund, where Mäkäräinen won her first ever World Cup victory in the sprint.^[5] Two days later she repeated her success by winning the pursuit, too.^[6] She showed her strong early-season form again in Hochfilzen and Pokljuka 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 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.^[7] Mäkäräinen's flawless shooting and fourth-fastest course time secured her career-first gold medal in the pursuit the following day.^[8] Mäkäräinen became 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.^[9] She is also the first Finnish biathlete to medal at the Biathlon World Championships since 2003, as eight years have passed since Paavo Puurunen's bronze in the Biathlon World Championships 2003 pursuit.^[10]

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.^[11] She was subsequently named the 2011 Finnish Sports Personality of the Year.^[12]

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.^[12] She was also the 2013 Finnish national champion in the same event.^[13]

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.^[14]

Olympic Games

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay	Mixed relay
2010 Vancouver	46th	59th	45th	—	—	N/A
2014 Sochi	9th	30th	16th	6th	—	—

* The mixed relay was added as an event in 2014.

World Championships

• 5 medals – (1 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay	Mixed relay
2005 Hochfilzen	49th	73rd	—	—	18th	—
2006 Pokljuka*	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	19th
2007 Antholz	8th	29th	25th	7th	12th	16th
2008 Östersund	31st	55th	DNS	15th	15th	10th
2009 Pyeongchang	30th	23rd	4th	17th	—	6th
2010 Khanty-Mansiysk*	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	18th
2011 Khanty-Mansiysk	28th	Silver	Gold	4th	10th	9th
2012 Ruhpolding	28th	27th	20th	Bronze	18th	16th
2013 Nové Město	8th	9th	10th	17th	21st	19th
2015 Kontiolahti	Bronze	35th	12th	15th	17th	9th
2016 Oslo	19th	9th	7th	Bronze	17th	18th

* During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

World Cup standings

Season	Overall			Sprint			Pursuit			Individual			Mass start
	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position
2006–07	22/27	230	27th	8/10	60	29th	6/8	16	47th	3/4	78	8th	5/5	74	16th
2007–08	23/26	386	13th	9/10	178	10th	6/8	108	15th	3/3	11	43rd	5/5	80	14th
2008–09	24/26	577	14th	9/10	192	17th	7/7	178	10th	3/4	47	27th	5/5	140	9th
2009–10	22/25	418	22nd	10/10	202	17th	5/6	84	28th	3/4	26	43rd	4/5	106	16th
2010–11	26/26	1005	1st	10/10	391	2nd	7/7	343	1st	4/4	131	6th	5/5	140	8th
2011–12	26/26	1007	4th	10/10	401	3rd	8/8	330	4th	3/3	116	2nd	5/5	187	5th
2012–13	26/26	834	5th	10/10	324	5th	8/8	255	5th	3/3	104	6th	5/5	171	5th
2013–14	22/22	861	1st	9/9	368	1st	8/8	350	1st	2/2	31	20th	3/3	130	3rd
2014–15	25/25	1044	2nd	10/10	364	2nd	7/7	348	1st	3/3	162	1st	5/5	193	5th
2015–16	24/25	892	4th	9/9	309	4th	8/8	324	4th	3/3	93	8th	4/5	179	4th

World Cup podiums

• 19 victories – (6 Sp, 9 Pu, 2 In, 2 MS)
• 61 podiums – (23 Sp, 24 Pu, 6 In, 8 MS)

Standings	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass Start	Relay	Mixed Relay	Total
1st place	2	6	9	2	–	–	19
2nd place	3	10	8	2	–	–	23
3rd place	1	7	7	4	–	–	19
Total Podiums	6	23	24	8	–	–	61

* Statistics as of 17 March 2016.

Individual victories

• 19 victories – (6 Sp, 9 Pu, 2 In, 2 MS)

No.	Season	Date	Location	Discipline	Level
1	2010/11	3 December 2010	Östersund, Sweden	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
2		5 December 2010	Östersund, Sweden	10 km Pursuit	World Cup
3		6 March 2011	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	10 km Pursuit	World Championships
4	2011/12	11 January 2012	Nové Město, Czech Republic	15 km Individual	World Cup
5		12 February 2012	Kontiolahti, Finland	10 km Pursuit	World Cup
6	2013/14	8 March 2014	Pokljuka, Slovenia	10 km Pursuit	World Cup
7		13 March 2014	Kontiolahti, Finland	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
8		15 March 2014	Kontiolahti, Finland	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
9		16 March 2014	Kontiolahti, Finland	10 km Pursuit	World Cup
10	2014/15	7 December 2014	Östersund, Sweden	10 km Pursuit	World Cup
11		12 December 2014	Hochfilzen, Austria	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
12		14 December 2014	Hochfilzen, Austria	10 km Pursuit	World Cup
13		21 December 2014	Pokljuka, Slovenia	12.5 km Mass Start	World Cup
14		12 February 2015	Holmenkollen, Norway	15 km Individual	World Cup
15		20 March 2015	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
16	2015/16	6 December 2015	Östersund, Sweden	10 km Pursuit	World Cup
17		20 December 2015	Pokljuka, Slovenia	12.5 km Mass Start	World Cup
18		17 March 2016	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
19		19 March 2016	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	10 km Pursuit	World Cup

* Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

Shooting

Shooting	2005–06 season	2006–07 season	2007–08 season	2008–09 season	2009–10 season	2010–11 season	2011–12 season	Career
Prone position	86%	85%	83%	84%	82%	88%	80%	84%
Standing position	73%	76%	77%	79%	78%	82%	83%	78%
Total	79%	81%	80%	81%	80%	85%	81%	81%

Roller-ski biathlon

In the summer of 2007, Mäkäräinen won the world championship in roller-ski biathlon at Otepää in both the 7.5 km sprint and the 10 km pursuit.^[15]

References

1. "About Kaisa". Retrieved 2009-01-26.
2. "Home: Kaisa-Leena Mäkäräinen". kaisaleena.com. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
3. "E.ON RUHRGAS IBU WORLD CUP – Antholz-Anterselva (ITA) Women 10 km Pursuit". International Biathlon Union. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
4. "Stephan and Iourieva win biathlon mass starts; Canada’s Le Guellec 22nd". The Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
5. "E.ON IBU WORLD CUP BIATHLON 1 – Oestersund (SWE) Women 7.5 km Sprint". International Biathlon Union.
6. "E.ON IBU WORLD CUP BIATHLON 1 – Oestersund (SWE) Women 10 km Pursuit". International Biathlon Union.
7. "IBU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS) Women 7.5 km Sprint". International Biathlon Union.
8. "IBU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS) Women 10 km Pursuit". International Biathlon Union.
9. "WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN – Lahti (FIN) Women 10 km Individual". International Biathlon Union.
10. "WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – Khanty-Mansiysk (RUS) Men 12.5 km Pursuit". International Biathlon Union.
11. "Overall classification" (PDF). International Biathlon Union.
12. "Athletes – Kaisa Makarainen". Sochi2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
13. "Makarainen Kaisa – Biographie". Fédération Internationale de Ski. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
14. International Biathlon Union. Gabriela Soukalova. IBU Datacenter. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
15. "Mäkäräiselle kaksi MM-kultaa rulla-ampumahiihdossa (Two World Champion Golds for Mäkäräinen in Roller Biathlon)" (in Finnish). MTV3. 2007-09-08. Retrieved 2007-09-09.

External links

• Official website
• Statistics at Biathlonworld