Kadri Lehtla

Kadri Lehtla
Association	Estonia
birthday	3rd May 1985 (age 35)
place of birth	Tallinn ,  Soviet Union
Career
society	SK Biathlon, Sparta SK (cross-country skiing)
Trainer	Meelis Aasmäe , Asko Nuutinen
Debut in the European Cup / IBU Cup	2007
Debut in the World Cup	2008
status	active
Medal table
Nat. Medals (biathlon) 0 × 8 × 4 × Nat. Medals (summer biathlon) 8 × 4 × 1 × Nat. Medals (cross-country skiing) 2 × 2 × 2 ×
World Cup balance
Overall World Cup	48th ( 2011/2012 )
Individual World Cup	26. (2011/2012)
Sprint World Cup	54th ( 2007/2008 )
Pursuit World Cup	43rd (2011/2012)
last change: December 29, 2012

Kadri Lehtla (born May 3, 1985 in Tallinn , then Estonian SSR , Soviet Union ) is an Estonian biathlete and cross-country skier . As the best result so far, Lehtla achieved an 18th place in the pursuit competition of the Biathlon World Cup in Oslo in 2012 . The participant of the 2010 Winter Olympics and four-time winner of the Viru Skimarathon was Estonian champion in 2012 in cross-country skiing over 10 kilometers freestyle.

life and career

Kadri Lehtla - WM Ruhpolding 2012

Like many Estonian children, Kadri Lehtla started cross-country skiing at an early age and was part of the "Merko Team", the youth team of the Estonian Ski Association. In 2002 she took part in the cross-country skiing Continental Cup competitions in Otepää , where she was only able to place in the back field. Four years later she had her second assignment in the cross-country skiing Continental Cup in Haanja , where she could not convince again. So she switched to biathlon in spring 2006 and started in the European Biathlon Cup at the beginning of 2007 . She contested her first races in Forni Avoltri , where she was 36th in the sprint and 29th in the pursuit. The best result was 16th place in the sprint from Nové Město na Moravě . With that she finished 99th in the overall ranking of the European Cup. In summer she started in Otepää at the world championships in summer biathlon . On roller skis, she finished 14th in the sprint and in the pursuit. In the cross-country competitions she was 15th in the 3 kilometer sprint, 17th in the mass start and eighth in the relay. Since the beginning of the 2007/08 season , the Estonian competes in the Biathlon World Cup . In her first race, an individual in Kontiolahti , she finished 97th. In the following years, however, she was able to improve her performance steadily. In January 2008 Lehtla missed winning the first World Cup points in Antholz as 37th in the sprint and 32nd in the pursuit. At the Biathlon World Championships in 2008 in Östersund , she reached 20th place and, in addition to the good World Cup placement, also won her first World Cup points. In the pursuit competition she was 39th and in the individual competition 65th. At the World Cup finals in Oslo, she shot in the sprint competition in the standing stop at targets of the neighboring track, whereupon she was subsequently penalized with a penalty of 2 minutes and from 34th to 73rd at the end of the season she finished 69th in the World Cup ranking. In the sprint classification, she finished 54th.

In 2009 she qualified for the Biathlon World Championship in Pyeongchang, South Korea . As in the previous year, she convinced in the sprint competition, where she finished 28th with zero misses. In the pursuit competition, she fell back to 42nd place with six missed shots. In the individual competition she was 66. After the world championship, she started in the European Cup in Ridnaun , where she was able to celebrate her first top ten placement with seventh place in the individual competition. In the pursuit competition, she was able to work her way up from 20th place to tenth place. At the end of the 2008/09 season , Lehtla achieved their best season positions in the World Cup in Trondheim with 27th place in the sprint and 25th place in the pursuit. She finished the season with 66th place in the overall World Cup. In the overall standings of the European Cup was 32. Kadri Lehtla participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics in part, finishing the season ranked 18th in the individual competition she was ranked 45 in the Sprint Course 64. Their best finish in the 2009/10 season they reached with 23rd place in the sprint competition in Oslo . In the overall World Cup she was 66 again. After the Olympic competitions in Vancouver, Lehtla started at the 2010 European Biathlon Championships in Otepää . In the individual competition, she took 34th place. After a 32nd place in the sprint competition, she improved to 17th place in the pursuit. With the Estonian season she was fifth.

The 2010/11 season began for Lehtla with good results in the points. In the second half of the season, however, she struggled with major problems at the shooting range and then took a break in the World Cup. While her competitors were fighting for World Cup points in America, she won the Viru Skimarathon for the third time in a row, starting at the IBU Cup in Osrblie . At the end of February she took part in the 2011 European Biathlon Championships in Ridnaun . In the individual competition, she took twelfth place with five misses. In the sprint competition, she increased her performance after intensive training with the Finnish shooting coach Asko Nuutinen, who also trains Kaisa Mäkäräinen and supports part of the Estonian biathlon team, and was sixth with a miss. This is her best career result at European championships so far. In the pursuit competition she was again twelfth. At the 2011 Biathlon World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk , Russia , Lehtla took 66th place in the sprint. In the individual competition she was 57. At the end of the World Cup season, she won again World Cup points in Oslo as 30th in the sprint and 35th in the pursuit. In the overall World Cup ranking, she finished 67th this season. After the World Cup season, Lehtla competed in the Estonian championships in cross-country skiing over 30 kilometers freestyle. Together with her teammate Eveli Saue , she was able to break away from the specialists shortly before the finish. In the final sprint, however, Saue narrowly prevailed against Lehtla.

After the best Estonian biathlete Eveli Saue announced after the 2010/11 season that she would take a break from competition due to stagnating performance and a lack of support from the Estonian Association, Lehtla also considered ending her career due to internal problems with the association and the coaching staff. A not inconsiderable reason for this was the contract extension of the Estonian Biathlon Association with the Latvian trainer Māris Čakars, who has been in charge of the Estonian national biathlon team since May 2010. Already during his first year in office there were disagreements between Čakars and the training group around Eveli Saue, Priit Viks and Kadri Lehtla, who continued their cooperation with the Finnish shooting coach Asko Nuutinen under Čakars. Lehtla decided to continue her career, but decided not to take part in the first World Cup competitions and instead to motivate herself with good and consistent results among the top ten in the IBU Cup. This was received with displeasure in the Estonian Ski Association. With a fourth place at the start of the IBU Cup 2011/12 in Östersund , however, Lehtla proved that her decision was the right one and that her goal of a podium placement in the IBU is achievable. In her best career result so far, she prevailed against well-known competitors such as Andrea Henkel and Vita Semerenko among a starting field of over 100 athletes . Lehtla, who is trained by her partner, former Estonian cross-country skier Meelis Aasmäe , returned to the World Cup in January 2012 as the IBU Cup leader. During her first assignment in Nové Město , she achieved her best career result so far in an individual competition as part of the Biathlon World Cup with 24th place. At the end of January she won the Estonian championship in cross-country skiing for the first time. She won over 10 kilometers of freestyle, clearly ahead of the two cross-country world cup participants Laura Rohtla and Piret Pormeister . One day later she won the Viru Skimarathon for the fourth time in a row over the distance of 42 kilometers. After finishing 29th and 20th in the sprint and pursuit competition in Oslo, Lehtla used her good starting position with 21st place in the pursuit competition in Kontiolahti , where she achieved her best career result in a World Cup competition with 18th place despite persistent back problems. The Biathlon World Championships 2012 in Ruhpolding , Bavaria , started for Lehtla in difficult warm weather conditions with a 43rd place in the sprint competition. In the pursuit competition she was brought down by Svetlana Slepzowa , who lost her balance in a corner, and with 7 shooting errors she took a disappointing 53rd and last place in the starting field. In the individual competition, however, she was able to build on the good placements of the last few weeks with a 22nd place. With her best career result to date in an individual competition, she placed ahead of the world champions of the previous two competitions, Magdalena Neuner and Darja Domratschawa, and thus secured 26th place in the overall World Cup ranking of the individual competitions. The joy about this result only lasted for a short time, because shortly after the competition she was informed that she could take part in the World Cup final in Khanty-Mansiysk . The Estonian head coach Čakars stated that he did not know about Lehtla's wish to compete in the World Cup final, although, according to Kadri Lehtla, this was at a joint meeting - at which the Estonian association president Aivar Nigol and an interpreter were also present - in December was assured. Čakars stated that due to the financial situation he could only send three athletes to Khanty-Mansiysk. The best Estonian biathlete of the season would have had to raise € 400 with the help of private sponsors to take part in the competitions in Siberia. Čakars also stated that he had asked Lehtla several times at the beginning of the season not to start in the IBU Cup but in the World Cup and that it was now not promising to aim for a place in the top 30 in the last World Cup competition. For the men, however, it would be possible to secure a fourth starting place for the coming season. A few days later, the president of the Estonian biathlon federation, Aivar Nigol, admitted that he had made a mistake and had left Lehtla in the belief that he could start in Khanty-Mansiysk when he left for Ruhpolding. The coach still decides on the final team line-up. In her last use in the 2011/12 season, the relay competition of the World Championships, Lehtla was able to convince again despite the public dispute with the association management. With good running and shooting performance, she led the Estonian relay to eighth place. In the end, the season finished 14th. Although Lehtla only took part in ten World Cup competitions, she finished the season with 48th place in the overall World Cup ranking and thus her best result to date, triple the points she gained compared to the previous year. She finished 16 in the overall ranking of the IBU Cup, which is also her best result so far. After the end of the World Cup season, Lehtla started at the Estonian championships in cross-country skiing. In the team sprint, she won the bronze medal together with Liis Kalda . She ran the fastest last lap and was able to reduce the gap to the runner-up from 6 s to 0.6 s and thus narrowly missed the silver medal for her team. With the 3 × 5 km relay of her cross-country skiing sports club Sparta , she won the gold medal with the team sprint winners of the previous day Piret Pormeister and Heidi Raju .

After preparing for the new season away from the Estonian team in the summer of 2012, Lehtla started the 2012/13 season with a good 22nd place in the 15 kilometer individual competition . She only awarded a top ten placement with a miss in the fourth and final shooting. However, this was followed by poor placements far beyond the World Cup points. After recovering from a cold, Lehtla started in Otepää in early January , where the IBU Cup competitions were held for the first time. When Jekaterina Jurjewa won the individual competition over 15 kilometers, she took fourth place in difficult wind conditions in front of a home crowd. This put her in her best position so far in an IBU Cup competition from the previous year.

At the World Cup in Oslo 2015 , Lehtla was able to achieve the foundation for 12th place as the starter of the Estonian relay. The team was not lapped for the first time in three years.

Record in the World Cup and title fights

Biathlon World Cup placements

The table shows all placements (depending on the year, including the Olympic Games and World Championships).

• 1st - 3rd Place: Number of podium placements
• Top 10: Number of placements in the top ten (including podium)
• Points ranks: Number of placements within the point ranks (including podium and top 10)
• Starts: Number of races run in the respective discipline
• Relay: including mixed relays

placement	singles	sprint	persecution	Mass start	Season	total
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
Top 10					2	2
Scoring	4th	12	9		21st	46
Starts	16	40	16		21st	93
Status: March 11, 2012 (season ended)

World Cup ratings

Results at biathlon world cups (discipline and overall world cup) according to the point system

season	singles		sprint		persecution		Mass start		total
	Points	space	Points	space	Points	space	Points	space	Points	space
2007/08	-	-	11	54.	-	-	-	-	11	69.
2008/09	4th	69.	35	59.	20th	60.	-	-	59	66.
2009/10	-	-	37	55.	11	64.	-	-	48	66.
2010/11	4th	65.	15th	68.	17th	63.	-	-	36	67.
2011/12	36	26th	32	56.	44	43.	-	-	112	48.

winter Olympics

Results at Winter Olympics

winter Olympics		singles	sprint	persecution	Mass start	Season
year	place
2010	Vancouver	45.	64.	-	-	18th

World championships

Results at biathlon world championships

World Championship		singles	sprint	persecution	Mass start	Season	Mixed relay
year	place
2008	Ostersund	65.	20th	39.	-	17th	11.
2009	Pyeongchang	66.	28.	42.	-	14th	13.
2010	Khanty-Mansiysk	-	-	-	-	-	17th
2011	Khanty-Mansiysk	57.	66.	-	-	15th	14th
2012	Ruhpolding	22nd	43.	53.	-	14th	15th

European championships

Results at European biathlon championships

European Championship		singles	sprint	persecution	Season
year	place
2010	Otepää	34.	32.	17th	5.
2011	Ridanna	12.	6th	12.	-

Summer biathlon world championships

Results at Summer Biathlon World Championships (roller skiing)

World Championship		Cross-country sprint	Cross country pursuit	Cross-country mass start	Cross-country mixed relay	Rollerski sprint	Rollerski pursuit	Rollerski mixed relay
year	place
2007	Otepää	15th	-	17th	8th.	14th	14th	-
2008	Haute Maurienne	-	-	-	-	20th	16.	-

Web links

Commons : Kadri Lehtla  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Kadri Lehtla in the IBU database (English)
• Website by Kadri Lehtla
• Kadri Lehtla in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Kadri Lehtla in the database of the International Ski Federation (English) (as a cross-country skier)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kangekaelne Kadri Lehtla - kass, kes kõnnib omapäi . Postimees . February 12, 2008. Accessed on December 16, 2010.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Lehtla: ju siis heitsin hoopis pilgu naabri märklauale . Delfi . March 14, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
3. ↑ Viru maraton avas suusasarja Tuisku trotsides . www.virumaateataja.ee. February 1, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
4. ↑ Kadri Lehtla sai laskesuusatamise EMil kuuenda koha! . Delfi. February 26, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
5. ↑ Saue krooniti ka tavasuusatamises Eesti parimaks . Postimees . March 27, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2011.
6. ↑ Laskesuusataja Kadri Lehtla võib karjääri lõpetada . Postimees . May 12, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
7. ↑ Enamus Eesti laskesuusatajatest soovivad uut peatreenerit . Delfi. April 11, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
8. ↑ Eesti laskesuusatajaid kutsusid koondist juhendama Läti naiskonna peatreeneri . Õhtuleht . March 11, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
9. ↑ Aivar Nigol: mingit protestikirja Cakarsi vastu pole olnud! . Õhtuleht. September 20, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
10. ↑ Eveli Saue & Co reisis oma rahakoti najal Ramsau laagrisse . Õhtuleht. September 6, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
11. ↑ Laskesuusatipud hoiavad uuest peatreenerist eemale . Postimees. September 8, 2010. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
12. ↑ Lehtla loobub esimestest MK-etappidest . Postimees . November 16, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
13. ↑ Lehtla ja peatreeneri tüli kogub tuure . Postimees . November 25, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
14. ↑ Maris Cakars: Lehtla peaks startima seal, kus alaliit seda soovib . ERR . November 23, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
15. ↑ Kadri Lehtla: Cakars võib juba päris kuri olla! . www.epl.ee. December 16, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
16. ↑ Kadri Lehtla: Cakars ei ole mulle sobilik treener . ERR. November 29, 2011. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
17. ↑ WOMEN'S IBU CUP TOTAL SCORE (PDF; 263 kB) IBU. January 8, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
18. ↑ Lehtla tuli murdmaasuusatajate ees Eesti meistriks . Postimees . January 27, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
19. ↑ Värske Eesti masterful Lehtla võitis päev hiljem Viru maratoni . Õhtuleht . January 28, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
20. ↑ Svetlana Sleptsova if in the women's pursuit at the biathlon WCH, Ruhpolding 2012 . YouTube . March 4, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
21. ↑ Ikka tülis? Kadri Lehtlat ei lubata viimasel MK-etapil starti . Delfi. March 8, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
22. ↑ Miks Eesti parimat laskesuusatajat viimasele MK-etapile ei lubata? . Õhtuleht. March 8, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
23. ↑ Lehtla vastulöök Cakarsile: "See on vale ja minuvastane vandenõu." . Õhtuleht. March 10, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
24. ↑ Oja: Sportlane ei saa dikteerida, kuhu ta läheb . Postimees. March 14, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
25. ↑ SPRINDITEADE VABA (PDF; 79 kB) www.suusaliit.ee. March 23, 2012. Accessed on March 24, 2012.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
26. ↑ NAISED 3x5 km KL, V, V (PDF; 52 kB) www.suusaliit.ee. March 24, 2012. Accessed on March 24, 2012.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.