Kaisa Mäkäräinen

Kaisa Mäkäräinen
Personal information
Full name Kaisa-Leena Mäkäräinen
Nickname(s) Kappa
Born (1983-01-11) 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 62
All podiums 62
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 3 December 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
Canada 2010 Vancouver 46th 59th 45th — — N/A
Russia 2014 Sochi 9th 30th 16th 6th — —
* The mixed relay was added as an event in 2014.

World Championships

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

Standings Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass Start Relay Mixed Relay Total
1st place 2 6 9 2 – – 19
2nd place 3 11 8 2 – – 24
3rd place 1 7 7 4 – – 19
Total Podiums 6 24 24 8 – – 62
* Statistics as of 3 December 2016.

Individual victories

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