Virpi Kuitunen

Virpi Sarasvuo
Virpi Kuitunen (2010)
nation	Finland
birthday	20th May 1976 (age 44)
place of birth	Kangasniemi , Finland
Career
society	Kangasniemen Kalske
status	resigned
End of career	2010
Medal table
Olympic medals 0 × 0 × 2 × World Cup medals 6 × 1 × 1 × JWM medals 0 × 0 × 1 ×
winter Olympics bronze 2006 Turin Team sprint bronze 2010 Vancouver Season  Nordic World Ski Championships gold 2001 Lahti persecution silver 2005 Oberstdorf 30 km classic gold 2007 Sapporo Team sprint gold 2007 Sapporo 30 km classic gold 2007 Sapporo Season bronze 2007 Sapporo sprint gold 2009 Liberec Team sprint gold 2009 Liberec Season  Nordic Junior Ski World Championships bronze 1995 Gällivare Season
Placements in the cross-country skiing world cup
Debut in the World Cup January 18, 1997  World Cup victories in individual 20 ( details )  Overall World Cup 1. ( 2006/07 , 2007/08 )  Sprint World Cup 1st ( 2006/07 )  Distance World Cup 1. ( 2006/07 , 2007/08 )  Tour de Ski 1. ( 2006/07 , 2008/09 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Sprint races 7th 6th 6th  Distance races 13 8th 3  Season 3 4th 3  Team sprint 0 0 2
Placements in the Continental Cup (COC)
Debut in the Continental Cup December 14, 1995  Continental Cup victories 7 ( details )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  COC individual race 3 2 1  OPA individual race 4th 0 0

Kuitunen, final run of the team sprint at the FIS World Cup in Duesseldorf, October 29, 2006

Virpi Kuitunen, Tour de Ski, Prague 2007

Virpi Katriina Kuitunen (born May 20, 1976 in Kangasniemi ) is a former Finnish cross-country skier .

Career

At the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2001 in her Finnish homeland Lahti , she won the gold medal in the pursuit. Shortly afterwards she was convicted of doping and given a two-year ban, although she was allowed to keep her title because the doping test after the World Cup race was negative. At the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf , she won the silver medal in the 30 km race in the classic technique. On January 15, 2006 she won the World Cup race in Val di Fiemme with the Finnish relay team (together with Aino-Kaisa Saarinen , Riitta-Liisa Lassila and Kaisa Varis ).

At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , she won the bronze medal in a team sprint with Aino-Kaisa Saarinen . A great success of her career was the 2007 Tour de Ski victory in front of Marit Bjørgen and Valentina Schewschenko.

At the Nordic World Ski Championships 2007 in Sapporo , she won gold medals over 30 km classic, in the freestyle team sprint (together with Riitta-Liisa Roponen ) and with the Finnish team in the 4x5 km relay (together with Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Riitta -Liisa Roponen and Pirjo Manninen ), as well as the bronze medal in the sprint, which was carried out in the classic technique.

With the success of the sprint in Lahti on March 10, 2007, Virpi Kuitunen secured victory in the overall World Cup for the first time in her career . In the following winter, she was able to successfully defend the overall World Cup title.

At the Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec in 2009 , Kuitunen was able to defend her title in the team sprint together with Aino-Kaisa Saarinen , and one day later she won the gold medal with the Finnish team.

Together with Pirjo Muranen , Riitta-Liisa Roponen and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Kuitunen achieved the bronze medal in the relay competition over 4 × 5 km at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver .

successes

winter Olympics

• 2006: 1x bronze (team sprint)
• 2010: 1x bronze (relay)

World championships

• 2001: 1x gold (pursuit)
• 2005: 1x silver (30 km classic)
• 2007: 3x gold (30 km classic, team sprint, relay), 1x bronze (sprint)
• 2009: 2x gold (team sprint, relay)

Victories in world cup races

World Cup victories in individual

No.	date	place	discipline
1.	March 7, 2004	Lahti	10 km classic
2.	February 13, 2005	Reit im Winkl	Classic sprint
3.	March 9, 2005	Drammen	Classic sprint
4th	February 5, 2006	Davos	10 km classic
5.	November 26, 2006	Kuusamo	10 km classic
6th	December 13, 2006	Cogne	10 km classic
7th	December 16, 2006	La Clusaz	15 km freestyle Mst.
8th.	January 7, 2007	Tour de Ski	Overall rating
9.	January 28, 2007	Otepää	Classic sprint
10.	February 3, 2007	Davos	10 km classic
11.	March 10, 2007	Lahti	Sprint freestyle
12.	March 14, 2007	Drammen	Classic sprint
13.	December 8, 2007	Davos	10 km classic
14th	February 9, 2008	Otepää	10 km classic
15th	February 27, 2008	Stockholm	Classic sprint
16.	March 2, 2008	Lahti	10 km classic
17th	March 5, 2008	Drammen	Classic sprint
18th	March 16, 2008	Bormio	10 km pursuit freestyle
19th	December 13, 2008	Davos	10 km classic
20th	January 4, 2009	Tour de Ski	Overall rating

Stage victories in world cup races

No.	date	place	discipline	run
1.	January 5, 2007	Asiago	Sprint freestyle	Tour de Ski 2006/07
2.	January 6, 2007	Cavalese	15 km classic Mst.	Tour de Ski 2006/07
3.	December 28, 2007	Nove Mesto	3.3 km classic prologue	Tour de Ski 2007/08
4th	January 5, 2008	Val di Fiemme	10 km classic Mst.	Tour de Ski 2007/08
5.	December 28, 2008	Oberhof	10 km classic handicap start	Tour de Ski 2008/09
6th	December 31, 2008	Nove Mesto	9 km classic	Tour de Ski 2008/09
7th	January 3, 2009	Val di Fiemme	10 km classic Mst.	Tour de Ski 2008/09

World Cup victories in the team

No.	date	place	discipline
1.	November 26, 2000	Beitostølen	4 × 5 km relay 1
2.	March 20, 2005	Falun	4 × 5 km relay 2
3.	January 15, 2006	Val di Fiemme	4 × 5 km relay 3
4th	December 7, 2008	La Clusaz	4 × 5 km relay 4

¹With Pirjo Manninen , Milla Jauho and Kaisa Varis .

²With Aino-Kaisa Saarinen , Kirsi Välimaa and Riitta-Liisa Roponen .

³With Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen and Kaisa Varis .

^4thWith Pirjo Muranen , Riitta-Liisa Roponen and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen.

Victories in Continental Cup races

No.	date	place	discipline	series
1.	January 13, 2001	Gjøvik	5 km classic	Continental Cup
2.	January 14, 2001	Gjøvik	10 km pursuit	Continental Cup
3.	April 21, 2003	Ainiovaara	5 km classic	Continental Cup
4th	December 10, 2005	Toblach	5 km classic	Alpine Cup
5.	December 11, 2005	Toblach	10 km freestyle	Alpine Cup
6th	December 17, 2005	Campra	5 km freestyle	Alpine Cup
7th	December 18, 2005	Campra	10 km classic Mst.	Alpine Cup

Tour de Ski

• Overall victory of the Tour de Ski 2006/2007 , included
  • two stage wins (sprint in Asiago and 15 km race in Cavalese )
• Second place in the Tour de Ski 2007/2008 , there
  • two stage wins (5 km race in Nové Město na Moravě and 10 km race in Cavalese)
• Overall victory of the Tour de Ski 2008/2009 , there
  • three stage wins (10 km pursuit in Oberhof , 10 km race in Nové Město na Moravě and 10 km race in Val di Fiemme )

World Cup overall placements

season	total		distance		sprint
	Points	space	Points	space	Points	space
1998/99	1	81.	-	-	1	79.
1999/2000	89	34.	14 46	33. 1 28. 2	29	35.
2000/01	227	18th	-	-	-	-
2001/02	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002/03	188	23.	-	-	95	20th
2003/04	848	6th	543	7th	305	4th
2004/05	726	3.	313	8th.	415	2.
2005/06	636	6th	411	7th	225	10.
2006/07	1510	1.	650	1.	532	1.
2007/08	1552	1.	729	1.	538	3.
2008/09	1132	5.	528	6th	204	11.
2009/10	317	22nd	178	21st	133	20th

¹ Long distance world cup.

² Middle distance world cup.

Web links

Commons : Virpi Sarasvuo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Virpi Kuitunen's website (English, Finnish)
• Virpi Kuitunen in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)

• Virpi Kuitunen in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )