Magdalena Forsberg

Magdalena Forsberg

Forsberg - 2006
Personal information
Birth name Magdalena Wallin
Born July 25, 1967 (age 47)
Ullånger,
Västernorrland County,
Sweden
Height 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Professional information
World Cup debut 8 December 1994
Retired 24 March 2002
Olympic Games
Teams 2 (1998, 2002)
Medals 2 (0 gold)
World Championships
Teams 8 (1995, 1996,
1997, 1998, 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002)
Medals 12 (6 gold)
World Cup
Seasons 8 (1994/95–2001/02)
Individual wins 42
Individual podiums 87
Overall titles 6 (1996–97, 1997–98,
1998–99, 1999–00,
2000–01, 2001–02)
Discipline titles 17:
4 Individual (1997–98,
1999–00, 2000–01,
2001–02);
5 Sprint (1997–98,
1998–99, 1999–00,
2000–01, 2001–02);
6 Pursuit (1996–97,
1997–98, 1998–99,
1999–00, 2000–01,
2001–02);
2 Mass start (2000–01,
2001–02)

Magdalena "Magda" Forsberg (born July 25, 1967 in Ullånger, Västernorrland County as Magdalena Wallin) is a former Swedish cross country skier and biathlete. She was the dominating female biathlete from 1997 to 2002, when she retired, winning the Biathlon World Cup for six years straight. She is also a six-times world champion, a two-times Olympic bronze medalist, and holds the record for the most World Cup victories in women's biathlon.

She has been married to Henrik Forsberg since 1996, also a biathlete and cross country skier.

Cross country skiing

Forsberg competed as a cross country skier from 1988 to 1996, participating in the World Cup.[1] Her best results at the Winter Olympics were in Albertville in 1992 where she finished seventh in the 4 × 5 km relay and 26th in the 15 km event.

Forsberg's best individual finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was tenth in the 30 km event at Lahti in 1989. In 1987 she was in the Swedish team that finished third in the 4 × 5 km relay. Her best World cup finish was second in a 10 km event in Finland in 1988.

Biathlon

Competing from 1993 to 2002, Forsberg won six straight overall wins in the Biathlon World Cup from 1997 to 2002. She also won six gold medals in the World Championships, became runner-up once, and placed third five times. At the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, Forsberg won two bronze medails. In her career she managed a total of 42 individual Biathlon World Cup wins, which is more than any other female biathlete to date.

Magdalena Forsberg retired from active sports after the 2001–02 season. After being retired for four years she made a temporary comeback in April 2006 due to losing a bet. The bet said Forsberg would enter the Swedish Championship in Women's Relay with fellow biathlon skier Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek who won an Olympic gold in Turin.[2] The duo went on to win the competition, Forsberg finishing first in the first-leg and Olofsson extending their lead in the second.[3][4]

During large parts of her career, Forsberg was trained by Wolfgang Pichler, who later took over as coach of the national Swedish biathlon team.

Other honors

Forsberg competed at the 1998 Winter Olympics both as a biathlete and as a cross country skier. She is the only Swedish athlete to have won Jerringpriset four times.

References

  1. ↑ "Magdalena Forsberg". FIS. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "Magda tävlar igen - i SM" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2011-02-04.
  3. ↑ "Magda och ACO fixade väntat guld" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2011-02-04.
  4. ↑ "STAFETT Resultat" (PDF) (in Swedish). Retrieved 2011-02-04.

External links

Media related to Magdalena Forsberg at Wikimedia Commons