Johanna Matintalo

Johanna Katariina Matintalo (born 11 December 1996) is a Finnish cross-country skier and former track and field athlete. She set Finnish age group records as a middle-distance runner and was national champion in the women's 800 metres in 2013, but injuries and stagnating results led her to concentrate on skiing. As a skier, she won silver in the women's skiathlon at the 2017 World U23 Championships and has represented Finland in the 2017, 2019 and 2021 World Championships as well as the 2018 Winter Olympics in cross-country skiing, winning her first and to date, only medal in the 4 × 5 kilometre relay in the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf.

Running career Matintalo broke the national age-13 record in the 1000 metres in 2009 with her time of 3:01.01; the following year, she set age group records in both the 600 metres (1:34.21) and 1000 metres (2:58.51). In 2011, as a 14-year-old, she won silver in the 800 metres at the national senior championships; she improved her personal best by almost six seconds to 2:05.87, which was a national under-16 and under-18 record and the best time in the world by an under-16 runner that year. Matintalo won silver again in 2012 (2:07.43) before winning her only individual national title in 2013. In 2016, she decided to drop athletics and concentrate solely on her other sport, cross-country skiing; the injuries and lack of improvement, as well as Finland's strong skiing team and high-level skiing tradition, were all factors in this choice. She represented Finland in cross-country skiing at the 2013 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Brașov, placing eighth in the 5 km classical race. In 2015, she competed in the World Junior Championships in Almaty, where she placed 16th in the under-20 skiathlon.

At higher levels, the increasing incompatibility of skiing training and running training made it impossible for Matintalo to continue to seriously pursue both sports indefinitely; as a skier, she needed much more upper-body strength, implying additional mass that would slow her down as a runner.

Matintalo qualified for the February 2017 World Cup races in Otepää as a substitute for Riitta-Liisa Roponen, who had suffered a season-ending back injury.

Olympic Games Year Age 10 km individual 15/20 km skiathlon 30/50 km mass start Sprint 4 × 5/7.5 km relay Team sprint 2018 21 — 24 18 19 — — 2022 25 14 12 23 — 4 —2026 29 — — DNF 10 Bronze —

World Championships 1 medal – (1 bronze) Year Age 10 km individual 15/20 km skiathlon 30/50 km mass start Sprint 4 × 5/7.5 km relay Team sprint 2017 20 — 29 — — — — 2019 22 17 32 — — — — 2021 24 — 30 13 26 Bronze — 2023 26 — — 25 26 4 — 2025 28 10 — — — 4 —

World Cup Season standings

Individual podiums 1 win – (1 ) 4 podiums – (3 , 1 )

Team podiums 5 podiums – (4 , 1 )