Kaisa Mäkäräinen

Kaisa Leena Mäkäräinen is a Finnish former world champion and three-time World Cup winning biathlete, born on 11 January 1983, who competed for Kontiolahden Urheilijat. She was originally a cross-country skier, focused on that until the age of twenty, and began training for biathlon in 2003. She made the Finnish national team in 2004 and competed at the Biathlon World Championships for the first time in 2005. Her best placings at the 2007 World Championships in Antholz-Anterselva were eighth in the individual and seventh in the mass start. Her best season of the early part of her career was 2010-11, when she won her first World Cup victory in the sprint at the opening event in Östersund and repeated it two days later in the pursuit, and she reached the podium in every event at Hochfilzen and Pokljuka. She competed at the Winter Olympics in 2010, 2014 and 2018.