Virpi Sarasvuo

Virpi Katriina Sarasvuo, born Virpi Kuitunen on 20 May 1976, is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1995 to 2010. She won a bronze medal in the team sprint with Aino-Kaisa Saarinen at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, where her best individual finish was fifth in the sprint, and four years later in Vancouver she won another bronze in the 4 x 5 km relay. At the world championships she collected six golds, one silver and one bronze, and she won the first women's Tour de Ski in 2006-07 ahead of Marit Bjorgen, together with the overall and sprint World Cups of that season. She won the overall World Cup again in 2007-08 and the Tour de Ski in 2008-09, and she was named Finnish Sportswoman of the Year in 2007. She was disqualified at the 2001 championships in Lahti after testing positive for a plasma expander, and she married Jari Sarasvuo in July 2010.