Jan Ottosson started for Åsarna IK . In December 1982 he made his debut in the cross-country skiing world cup over 15 kilometers in Reit im Winkl , where he immediately finished tenth. A year later he won his first World Cup race in the same place over the same distance. The Swede had previously participated in the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1982 at Holmenkollen in Oslo . Over 15 kilometers he was ninth and fifth with the 4x10 km relay. His participation in the next major event, the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo , went better . In the race over 30 kilometers, Ottosson finished 16th, over 50 kilometers 14th. With Thomas Wassberg , Benny Tord Kohlberg and Gunde Svan , he won the gold medal in the relay race ahead of the teams from the USSR and Finland. The next major event was the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1987 in Oberstdorf , where the Swede competed over 50 kilometers and came in tenth. Also in the next year he successfully took part in a major event. At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary , he won the gold medal with the relay, which again included Wassberg and Svan and Torgny Mogren . He started over 50 kilometers individually and finished sixth.
At the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1989 Ottosson started in the 50-kilometer run and reached 12th place there. Two years later in Val di Fiemme , he was sixth in the 15-kilometer run and seventh over 50 kilometers. For almost a decade, Ottosson had consistently performed well; in the season before the 1992 Olympic Games in Albertville , however, it slackened noticeably. So far, he has mostly achieved top ten placements and only rarely places worse than 15th, but now he has never been better than 20th. Nevertheless, he started over 30 kilometers (11th) and 50 kilometers (44th) in the games. In the two following seasons he was able to stabilize his performance again. At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun in 1993 , he started again in the relay, which only achieved a disappointing sixth place. It went better in the individual competitions. Over 30 kilometers Ottosson was 15th, over 50 kilometers even tenth. The last major event of his career was the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer . Ottosson was 14th over 10 kilometers, 15th in the pursuit and 18th over 30 kilometers. After the games he started again in a World Cup race in his home town of Falun and finished ninth there over 15 kilometers. Then he ended his career.
Ottosson was able to finish in the top ten in 27 World Cup races in his career. He won one race, finished second once, and finished third in three races. Ottosson also won the Wasalauf four times in 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1994 .
Sweden
Reit im Winkl