Tanja Poutiainen

Tanja Tuulia Poutiainen (born 6 April 1980) is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from Finland. She specialized in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, and was the silver medalist in the women's giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.

Tanja Poutiainen
Poutiainen in 2010
Born	(1980-04-06) 6 April 1980 Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland
Occupation	Alpine skier
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Skiing career
Disciplines	Giant slalom, slalom
Club	Santa Claus Ski Team
World Cup debut	16 March 1997 (age 16)
Retired	16 March 2014 (age 33)
Website	tanjapoutiainen.com
Olympics
Teams	5 – (1998–2014)
Medals	1 (0 gold)
World Championships
Teams	9 – (1997–2013)
Medals	4 (0 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	16 – (1998–99, 2001–14)
Wins	11 – (6 SL, 5 GS)
Podiums	48 – (28 SL, 20 GS)
Overall titles	0 – (5th in 2005, 2009)
Discipline titles	3 – (2 GS, 1 SL)
Medal record Women's alpine skiing Representing  Finland International alpine ski competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 0 1 0 World Championships 0 2 2 Total 0 3 2 Olympic Games 2006 Torino Giant slalom World Championships 2005 Bormio Giant slalom 2005 Bormio Slalom 2009 Val d'Isère Giant slalom 2009 Val d'Isere Slalom Junior World Ski Championships 1997 Schladming Slalom 1997 Schladming Super-G 1999 Pra-Loup Giant slalom

Born in Rovaniemi, Lapland, Poutiainen started skiing at the age of three.[1] She became junior world champion in slalom in 1997 at Schladming, Austria, and also took bronze in the super-G; she made her World Cup debut that March at Vail in the United States. At the 1999 Junior World Championships, she placed third in the giant slalom at Pra-Loup, France.

Poutiainen scored her first World Cup victory – and the first for a female Finnish alpine skier – on 28 February 2004 in a slalom held on home snow in Levi, Finland – the first alpine World Cup race to be held in the country.[1] In the 2005 World Cup season, Poutiainen won the season titles in both the slalom and giant slalom, and placed fifth in the overall standings. Along the way she won three slaloms, a giant slalom and secured ten podium finishes.[1] At the 2005 World Championships, she placed second in the giant slalom behind Anja Pärson of Sweden and second in the slalom behind Janica Kostelić of Croatia – the first alpine World Championship medals for a Finnish female.[1]

The 2009 season saw Poutianen take another World Cup discipline title, in giant slalom, as well as bronzes in slalom and giant slalom at the World Championships in Val d'Isère.[1]

Poutiainen was notable for her consistency, and between January 2007 and March 2011 she successfully completed every World Cup race she entered – a total of 67.[1]

At the end of the 2014 season, Poutiainen had 11 World Cup victories, 48 podiums, and three World Cup discipline titles.[2] She was trained by Michael Bont and lives in St. Gallen, Switzerland. She announced her retirement from the sport in March 2014.[2]