Background
Kaisa Mäkäräinen was born on January 11, 1983 in Ristijärvi, Kainuu, Finland. She is a daughter of Urho Mäkäräinen, a bus driver, and Eira Mäkäräinen, a Physics teacher. Kaisa has two younger brothers, Tuomas and Jaakko.
Kaisa Mäkäräinen was born on January 11, 1983 in Ristijärvi, Kainuu, Finland. She is a daughter of Urho Mäkäräinen, a bus driver, and Eira Mäkäräinen, a Physics teacher. Kaisa has two younger brothers, Tuomas and Jaakko.
Kaisa Mäkäräinen, raised in the small town of Ristijärvi, central Finland, where cross-country skiing was a common free-time activity, participated in her skiing competition from an early age. At four, she won her first race. She studied at Ristijärvi high school and attended Sotkamo sports school from 1999 to 2002.
Following in her mother's footsteps who served as a Physics teacher, Kaisa entered the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu with an intention to pursue a career in teaching. It was at the university that she first came across biathlon while watching her comrades compete at the amateur level during their off studies time at a ski stadium in a nearby town.
Soon, she joined her friends and within the time excelled to such an extent that won the national championship. The victory qualified her for the World Junior Championship.
Kaisa Mäkäräinen emerged in an athletic career as a cross-country skier. She skipped to the biathlon in the early 2000s, starting her first training sessions in the sport in 2003. Kontiolahti Sport Club became first for Kaisa. A year later, she joined the Finnish national team and competed in the World Junior Biathlon Championships the next year. The debut at the senior level occurred in the 2004/2005 season, at the Biathlon World Championships in Austrian Hochfilzen. Both sports events were poor for the budding biathlete as she finished behind the top fifty in almost all races.
The first victories at the World Cup came to Kaisa two seasons later when she finished third two times, in the sprint in Pokljuka, Slovenia, and in the pursuit in Ruhpolding, Germany. By 2009, the biathlete had improved her results to silver medals. That career progress was however overshadowed by a serious knee injury which was even expected by many doctors as the possible necessity to stop competing. Fortunately, after operations, including that on her eyes, and a two-month period of rehabilitation, Mäkäräinen came back to the sport. Given the health problems, the 2009/2010 season came to be a recession.
The first Olympic Games for Kaisa which was held in 2010 in Vancouver, Canada, didn't please the Finnish biathlete with medals as well. Placed behind the top forty in the individual race, sprint and pursuit, she didn't even manage to qualify for the mass start. The 46th place was her best at the sports event.
In the first post-Olympic season, however, Mäkäräinen worked all her misfortunes out and triumphed properly. Missing no races in the 2010/2011 season, she earned gold medals in the sprint and pursuit in Östersund and became a 2011 World Champion in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, winning gold in the pursuit and adding silver in the sprint to her collection of medals. The first rank in the overall standings of the World Cup was ensured to Kaisa following the season. Besides, she finished 1st in the pursuit overall and received the first small crystal globe.
The main achievements of Kaisa Mäkäräinen during the 2011-2012 season were gold medals in the 15 km individual race in Nové Město na Moravě, Czech Republic, and in the pursuit in Finnish Kontiolahti. The 2012 World Championships in Ruhpolding ended up for Kaisa with the bronze trophy only, in the mass start. She placed 4th in the overall standings following the season. Though the next season turned out to be entirely poor for victories as she didn't grab any World Cup trophies and didn't win any World Championships' medals, she placed only one spot lower in the overall standings.
The 2013/2014 season was marked by four World Cup victories. The major sport event of the four years, held in 2014 in Sochi, Russia, wasn't successful again for the Finnish biathlete. She simply bested her personal result for pursuit finishing 16th and made the top 10 in both the individual race and the mass start. Nevertheless, she managed to lead the World Cup overall standings that provided her with the second big crystal globe. She topped the World Cup Overall sprint and individual race rankings following the season as well.
The season following the Olympics came to be quite rich in the World Cup victories for Kaisa. She was the first in the 10 km pursuit in Östersund, Sweden, triumphed in the sprint and pursuit in Hochfilzen and crowned all that with a gold medal in the mass start in Slovenian Pokljuka. The 2015 World Championships in Kontiolahti provided her with the bronze in the 15 km Individual race. The medal record of the season was completed by the first ranks in the individual in Holmenkollen and in the 7.5 km sprint in Khanty-Mansiysk. She placed 2nd in the World Cup overall but won World Overall titles for sprint and pursuit.
By 2016, Mäkäräinen had collected 62 World Cup podiums. Prior to the next Winter Olympics, the Finnish biathlete had grabbed 2 golds and 4 silvers at the World Cup stages and had the World Championships bronze in the mass start. The illness was an impediment for Kaisa to reach the podiums at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games, third in her athletic career. Though, the Finnish biathlon queen took her third big crystal globe surpassing Anastasia Kuzmina of Slovakia and third-placed overall Belarusian Rocket Darya Domracheva.
The 2018/2019 season began from the World Cup victories for Mäkäräinen. Though, the medals of the 2019 World Championships were taken by Kuzmina in the sprint, Denise Herrmann of Germany in the pursuit and Swedish Hanna Oberg in the individual race and Dorothea Wierer of Italy in the mass start. The next season, the 15th in Kaisa's athletic career, became the last for her. She announced her retirement from competitive biathlon on March 14, 2020.
Competing for medals in biathlon, Kaisa Mäkäräinen kept on taking part in the cross-country skiing events from time to time, as at the beginning of her athletic career, in particular the FIS Cross-Country World Cup and the Nordic Skiing World Championships. She has also participated in the World Championships on roller skis. She has served as an expert for the Yle's Sports Studio's TV broadcasts.
Though Kaisa Mäkäräinen didn't manage to become an Olympic Champion during her outstanding career, she is certainly one of the most highly respected and loved biathletes all over the world. Every victory of Kaisa has always been perceived as a personal win by her fans and supporters.
The lack of Olympic trophies didn't disturb Kaisa to gather an impressive collection of sports awards. A World Champion, vice-champion and bronze medalist of the World Championships, Mäkäräinen won three big crystal globes and six small globes in fifteen years spent in biathlon. She took the World Cup podium 85 times, including 27 victories. Besides, she is a four-time champion in summer biathlon and two-time champion of Finland in cross-country skiing.
In 2011, Kaisa was named the Finnish Sports Personality of the Year. She is also a recipient of the Holmenkollen Medal, the highest Norwegian honour in skiing.
Kaisa Mäkäräinen is of the opinion that family life and career are incompatible.
Quotations:
"I'm always a bit pessimistic, this seems to be my nature. But then, of course, I know that if I shoot clean, I can win. There are many others who can't win when they hit all their targets."
"I like the tracks in Korea, especially the big uphills. So, if I ski OK and have only one or two penalties in the pursuit or mass start, then I will have good results even though I don't like the evening races. The floodlights are not in my favor and I can't keep full tension until the evening."
Kaisa Mäkäräinen likes tennis and football and she is a fan of Manchester United Football Club. Her favorite books as of a reading lover are Jo Nesbø's detectives and Anatomy of Victory by Dr Aki Hintsa. She also enjoys knitting. As to food, Mäkäräinen prefers Italian cuisine, and in fact, she has stated Rome as one of her favorite cities. In addition to Finnish, Mäkäräinen speaks English, Swedish and German.
The shooting was Kaisa's quite weak side as of a biathlete. Though, her skiing abilities were often compared to those of Uschi Disl, Magdalena Neuner, both of Germany, and Tora Berger of Norway.
Physical Characteristics: Kaisa Mäkäräinen is 1.71 meters tall. Mäkäräinen contracted asthma at the age of fifteen. She has also undergone operations on her knee and eyes. Practicing sports helps her to support her health.
Kaisa Mäkäräinen isn't married but she has a life partner, Jarkko Siltakorpi. The house the couple moved into in 2016 was built according to designs by Kaisa herself. There is even a special room for all her athletic accolades. Jarkko was an avid support of his beloved and accompanied her at almost all the biathlon sports events while she still competed.
In the past, Jarkko practiced skiing. He has been a serviceman of the Canadian biathlon national team and has collaborated with the organizers of the biathlon and cross-country races. He was also Kaisa's ski coach for a while.
(born September 6, 1973)
(born March 19, 1951)
Jarmo Punkkinen was a ski coach of Kaisa Mäkäräinen.
