Virpi Kuitunen

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Virpi Kuitunen
Personal information
Full name Virpi Katriina Kuitunen
Date of birth May 20, 1976 (age 30)
Place of birth Kangasniemi, Finland
Height 174 cm
Professional information
Club Kangasniemen Kalske
Skis Rossignol
World Cup
Seasons 1997-
Wins 10
Additional podiums 16
Total podiums 26
Medal record
Women's cross country skiing
Olympic Games
Bronze 2006 Turin Team sprint
World Championships
Gold 2001 Lahti 5 km + 5 km combined pursuit
Gold 2007 Sapporo Team sprint
Gold 2007 Sapporo 30 km
Gold 2007 Sapporo 4 x 5 km
Silver 2005 Oberstdorf 30 km
Bronze 2007 Sapporo Individual sprint
Disqualified 2001 Lahti 4 x 5 km

Virpi Kuitunen (born May 20, 1976 in Kangasniemi) is a Finnish cross country skier who has competed since 1995. She won a bronze medal in the team sprint event (with Aino Kaisa Saarinen) at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and earned her best individual finish of 5th in the individual sprint event in those same games.

Kuitunen has six medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with four golds (2001: 5 km + 5 km combined pursuit, 2007: Team sprint, with Riitta-Liisa Roponen, 4 x 5 km & 30 km), one silver (2005: 30 km), one bronze (2007: Indvidiual sprint). She also has thirty-four additional individual victories at various levels of various distances since 2000.

Kuitunen won the first ever Tour de Ski competition for women in 2006-07, winning over Norway's Marit Bjørgen by 1:17.5 (Germany's Tobias Angerer won the men's event.). She also won the overall 2006-07 Cross-Country Skiing World Cup, as well as the sprint World Cup the same season.

[edit] Doping controversy

At the 2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, Kuitunen was disqualified when she tested positive for hydroxyethyl starch, a banned blood plasma expander. This forced her to relinquish her silver medal earned in the 4 x 5 km and serve a two-year suspension that would not end until the 2003 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
World champions in women's team sprint cross country

2005 Norway Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen, Marit Bjørgen
2007 Finland Riitta-Liisa Roponen, Virpi Kuitunen

v • d • e
World champions in women's cross country combined/double pursuit

1993: Stefania Belmondo * 1995: Larisa Lazutina * 1997: Yelena Välbe * 1999: Stefania Belmondo * 2001: Virpi Kuitunen * 2003: Kristina Šmigun * 2005: Yuliya Chepalova * 2007: Olga Zavyalova

v • d • e
World champions in women's cross country skiing 4 x 5 km relay

(As 3 x 5 km) 1954 Soviet Union Lyubov Kozyreva, Margarita Maslennikova & Valentina Tsaryova
1958 Soviet Union Radya Yeroshina, Alevtina Kolchina & Lyubov Kozyreva
1962 Soviet Union Lyubov Baranova, Maria Gusakova & Alevtina Kolchina
1966 Soviet Union Klavdiya Boyarskikh, Rita Achkina & Alevtina Kolchina
1970 Soviet Union Nina Baldycheva, Galina Kulakova & Alevtina Olyunina
(As 4 x 5 km) 1974 Soviet Union Nina Baldycheva, Nina Selyunina, Raisa Smetanina & Galina Kulakova
1978 Finland Taina Impiö, Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen, Hilkka Riihivuori & Helena Takalo
1982 Norway Anette Bøe, Inger Helene Nybråten, Berit Aunli & Britt Pettersen
1985 Soviet Union Tamara Tikhonova, Raisa Smetanina, Liliya Vasilchenko & Anfisa Romanova
1987 Soviet Union Antonina Ordina, Nina Gavrilyuk, Larisa Ptistyna, & Anfisa Reztsova
1989 Finland Pirkko Määttä, Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi, Jaana Savolainen & Marjo Matikainen
1991 Soviet Union Lyubov Yegorova, Raisa Smetanina, Tamara Tikhonova & Yelena Välbe
1993 Russia Yelena Välbe, Larisa Lazutina, Nina Gavrilyuk & Lyubov Yegorova
1995 Russia Olga Danilova, Yelena Välbe, Larisa Lazutina & Nina Gavrilyuk
1997 Russia Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, Nina Gavrilyuk & Yelena Välbe
1999 Russia Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, Anfisa Reztsova & Nina Gavrilyuk
2001 Russia Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, Yuliya Chepalova & Nina Gavrilyuk
2003 Germany Manuela Henkel, Viola Bauer, Claudia Künzel & Evi Sachenbacher
2005 Norway Vibeke Skofterud, Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen, Kristin Størmer Steira & Marit Bjørgen
2007 Finland Virpi Kuitunen, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen & Pirjo Manninen

v • d • e
World champions in women's 30 km cross-country skiing

As 20 km - 1978: Zinaida Amosova * 1980: Veronika Hesse * 1982: Raisa Smetanina * 1985: Grete Ingeborg Nykkelmo * 1987: Marie-Helene Westin

As 30 km - 1989: Yelena Välbe * 1991: Lyubov Yegorova * 1993: Stefania Belmondo * 1995: Yelena Välbe * 1997: Yelena Välbe * 1999: Larisa Lazutina * 2003: Olga Zavyalova * 2005: Marit Bjørgen * 2007: Virpi Kuitunen

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