Charlotte Kalla

Marina Charlotte Kalla (; born 22 July 1987) is a Swedish Tornedalian retired cross-country skier. A four-time Olympian, Kalla won three golds and nine medals overall at the Olympics between 2004 and 2022. She holds the joint record as Sweden's most decorated Olympic competitor and is the all-time leader among Swedish female athletes. She is also a 13-time medalist at the World Championships, including a gold medal at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2015 10 km freestyle event in Falun. This made Kalla the first Swedish female cross-country skier to win individual golds in both the Olympics and World Championships. In 2008, Kalla won the Jerring Award for her Tour de Ski win.

She retired from competitive skiing after the Swedish Championships in March 2022.

Winter Olympics

2010 Winter Olympics Kalla won the gold medal in the women's 10 km individual for Sweden at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with a time of 24:58.4. She also won a silver in the team sprint event with Anna Haag at those same games.

2014 Winter Olympics Kalla won a silver medal in the skiathlon event on 8 February in Sochi, and another silver in the classical race on 13 February. In the 4 × 5 km women's relay race, held on 15 February, she ran in the final leg and started third with a 25.7 sec lag behind the first place and a 19.9 lag behind the second place, but totally reduced the gap, and overtook her competitors in the final straight, giving Sweden the gold medal.

2018 Winter Olympics Kalla took the first gold medal awarded at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang when she won the skiathlon, breaking away from the leading group on the last lap of the course to take victory with a lead of 7.8 seconds over second-placed Marit Bjørgen. Her win made her the first Swedish woman to win three Winter Olympic golds, and tied her with canoer Agneta Andersson as the female Swede with most Olympic gold medals overall. It was also Kalla's sixth Olympic medal, equalling Anja Pärson's record for the most Winter Olympic medals among Swedish women. She then went on to win silver in the 10 km freestyle individual start, the 4 × 5 km relay (together with Anna Haag, Ebba Andersson and Stina Nilsson) and the team sprint (with Stina Nilsson).

2022 Winter Olympics Kalla competed in three events at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, her fourth appearance at the Games. Her highest placing was in the 15-km skiathlon, where she finished 19th as the defending champion. Kalla announced her retirement from international competition later that winter.

Other competitions

On 6 January 2008, Kalla won the second edition of Tour de Ski in her debut in the event.

On 17–18 April 2015, Kalla participated and placed second in Keb Classic, a ski mountaineering event in Kebnekaise, Sweden, with Emelie Forsberg and Josefina Wikberg.

Personal life Kalla was born in Tärendö in Norrbotten, Sweden. She is the eldest of three daughters.

In 2023, Kalla competed on the Swedish reality TV series Let's Dance, pairing with professional dancer Tobias Karlsson. Kalla became pregnant before the competition started, becoming the first dancer to participate while pregnant. Her daughter was born 15 July 2023. In August 2025, she gave birth to a son.

Kalla is of Tornedalian descent. Her grandfather, Väinö Martikkala, was of Finnish descent, and her maternal grandmother came from Finland.

She published her autobiography in 2023: "Skam den som ger sig" ("shame on the one who gives up"), in Swedish only. Written in the first person, the book summarises her sports career and describes her view.

Cross-country skiing results All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games 9 medals – (3 gold, 6 silver) Year Age 10 km individual 15 km skiathlon 30 km mass start Sprint 4 × 5 km relay Team sprint 2010 22 Gold 8 6 — 5 Silver 2014 26 Silver Silver 34 — Gold — 2018 30 Silver Gold 5 — Silver Silver 2022 34 20 19 35 — — —

World Championships 13 medals – (3 gold, 6 silver, 4 bronze) Year Age 10 km individual 15 km skiathlon 30 km mass start Sprint 4 × 5 km relay Team sprint 2007 19 5 7 — — 4 — 2009 21 — 8 18 6Bronze — 2011 23 11 4 4 8 Silver Gold 2013 25 7 6 11 11 Silver Silver 2015 27 Gold Bronze Bronze — Silver — 2017 29 Silver Bronze 7 — Silver — 2019 31 9 6 5 — Gold — 2021 33 6 5 DNF — 6 —

World Cup Season standings

Individual podiums 12 victories – (7 , 5 ) 59 podiums – (35 , 24 )

Team podiums 3 victories – (2 , 1 ) 15 podiums – (14 , 1 )