Anja Pärson

Anja Sofia Tess Pärson (; born 25 April 1981) is a Swedish former alpine skier. She is an Olympic gold medalist, seven-time gold medalist at the World Championships, and two-time overall Alpine Skiing World Cup champion. This included winning three gold medals in the 2007 World Championship in her native Sweden. She has won a total of 42 World Cup races.

Biography Pärson was born in Tärnaby, Sweden, and has Sámi roots. Pärson was introduced to ski racing by her sister, Frida, and is now trained by her father, Anders. Her first World Cup race was a giant slalom at the World Cup Finals at Crans-Montana, Switzerland (on 15 March 1998). She qualified for that race as the new junior World Champion but only finished 25th in last place. She won her first World Cup race, a slalom at Mammoth Mountain, California, in December 1998 at age 17, and her first gold medal at St. Anton, Austria, in 2001. She clinched the silver medal in the giant slalom and the bronze medal in the slalom at the 2002 Winter Olympics, and added the gold in slalom plus two more bronze medals in downhill and combined in 2006 Winter Olympics.

Pärson won the Alpine Skiing World Cup overall title in 2004 and 2005. The latter title was won by the smallest margin ever, only 3 points over her fierce rival, Janica Kostelić. Initially a slalom and giant slalom specialist, she won her first super-G and downhill races in March 2005 at San Sicario, Italy, during the pre-Olympic competitions. In total, she has won 42 World Cup races in all five disciplines.

Pärson has won seven gold medals in the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, in 2001 (slalom), 2003 (giant slalom), 2005 (giant slalom, super-G) and 2007 (super-G, super combined, downhill). These go along with two silver and three bronze medals in other events in 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2011. With her three gold medals in 2007 at Åre, Sweden, she became the first skier in history to win World Championship golds in all five disciplines.

Pärson has earned a total of 17 individual medals in World Championships and Olympics, exceeding the record by Christl Cranz in women's alpine skiing. In men's alpine skiing this achievement has been beaten only by Kjetil André Aamodt, with 20. After two disappointing seasons (2006/07 and 2007/08 where she finished fifth and sixth in the overall cup), she was back to her best over the 2008/09 season, finishing third in the overall cup.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics, while trying to chase down eventual downhill champion Lindsey Vonn of the United States, Pärson lost her balance on the last jump before the finish, resulting in a 60-metre flight and subsequent fall, without however suffering serious injury. She recovered from the fall and one day later won the bronze medal in the combined event.

With a downhill victory in March 2011, she has won at least one race for ten consecutive World Cup seasons, trailing only Alberto Tomba and Vreni Schneider who won races in eleven consecutive World Cup seasons, and equalling the mark of Renate Götschl, Ingemar Stenmark and Mikaela Shiffrin.

On 12 March 2012, Pärson officially announced her retirement, and that her last competition would be the World Cup final in Schladming the coming weekend.

In 2014, she became an expert commentator for Viasat during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Later, she also worked as a sports expert for the broadcaster Sveriges Television. Currently, she runs a company totegther with her wife.

Pärson competed in the celebrity dance show Let's Dance 2017 broadcast on TV4.

Personal life Pärson's athletics club is Fjällvinden, Tärnaby, the same to which skiing legend Ingemar Stenmark and Stig Strand belonged.

She was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 2006 and in 2007.

After living several years in Monaco during her sports career, she returned to Sweden and has lived in Umeå since 2012.

In June 2012, Pärson announced on the Swedish radio program Sommar that she had been in a relationship with a woman, Filippa Rådin, for the past five years, and that they were expecting a child together. Their son, Elvis, was born on 4 July 2012. On 2 August 2014, Anja Pärson and Filippa married in Umeå, Sweden. Former Swedish Social Democratic Party leader Mona Sahlin officiated at the wedding. In January 2015, the couple announced that Pärson was pregnant with their second child,

World Cup results

Season standings Season Age Overall Slalom Giantslalom Super-G Downhill Combined 1999 17 12 3 12 – – – 2000 18 8 3 15 39 – – 2001 19 11 10 2 – – – 2002 20 5 3 3 – – – 2003 21 3 2 1 34 – – 2004 22 1 1 1 15 42 – 2005 23 1 6 2 4 8 2 2006 24 2 3 1 9 7 2 2007 25 5 12 13 6 4 14 2008 26 6 15 15 7 4 3 2009 27 3 10 16 4 7 1 2010 28 3 16 10 7 3 2 2011 29 8 37 25 5 5 6 2012 30 32 – 39 21 28 9

Season titles 7 titles (2 overall, 3 GS, 1 SL, 1 SC)

Individual races 42 wins (6 DH, 4 SG, 11 GS, 18 SL, 3 SC)

Season Date Location Discipline 1999 3 Dec 1998 Mammoth Mountain, USA Slalom 2002 9 Dec 2001 Sestriere, Italy Slalom 29 Dec 2001 Lienz, Austria Slalom 5 Jan 2002 Maribor, Slovenia Slalom 6 Jan 2002 Slalom 2003 30 Nov 2002 Aspen, USA Slalom 15 Dec 2002 Sestriere, Italy KO-slalom 19 Jan 2003 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Giant slalom 25 Jan 2003 Maribor, Slovenia Giant slalom 26 Jan 2003 Slalom 6 Mar 2003 Åre, Sweden Giant slalom 2004 28 Nov 2003 Park City, USA Giant slalom 29 Nov 2003 Slalom 16 Dec 2003 Madonna di Campiglio, Italy Slalom 28 Dec 2003 Lienz, Austria Slalom 5 Jan 2004 Megève, France Slalom 24 Jan 2004 Maribor, Slovenia Giant slalom 25 Jan 2004 Slalom 7 Feb 2004 Zwiesel, Germany Giant slalom 8 Feb 2004 Slalom 21 Feb 2004 Åre, Sweden Giant slalom 14 Mar 2004 Sestriere, Italy Giant slalom 2005 23 Nov 2004 Sölden, Austria Giant slalom 23 Jan 2005 Maribor, Slovenia Slalom 25 Feb 2005 San Sicario, Italy Super-G 26 Feb 2005 Downhill 2006 11 Dec 2005 Aspen, USA Slalom 22 Dec 2005 Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic Slalom 28 Dec 2005 Lienz, Austria Giant slalom 13 Jan 2006 Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria Downhill 27 Jan 2006 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy Super-G 4 Feb 2006 Ofterschwang, Germany Giant slalom 11 Mar 2006 Levi, Finland Slalom 15 Mar 2006 Åre, Sweden Downhill 2007 15 Mar 2007 Lenzerheide, Switzerland Super-G 2008 15 Dec 2007 St. Moritz, Switzerland Downhill 16 Dec 2007 Super-G 9 Mar 2008 Crans-Montana, Switzerland Combined 2009 19 Dec 2008 St. Moritz, Switzerland Combined 18 Jan 2009 Altenmarkt, Austria Downhill 2010 29 Jan 2010 St. Moritz, Switzerland Combined 2011 5 Mar 2011 Tarvisio, Italy Downhill

World Championship results Year Age Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 1999 17 DNF1 DNF1 — — — 2001 19 1 3 — — — 2003 21 4 1 — — — 2005 23 DNF2 1 1 7 2 2007 25 3 DNF2 1 1 1 2009 27 9 15 DNF 12 DNF1 2011 29 — 9 10 11 3

Olympic results Year Age Slalom Giant slalom Super-G Downhill Combined 2002 20 3 2 — — — 2006 24 1 6 12 3 3 2010 28 DNF2 22 11 DNF 3