Kristina Šmigun-Vähi

Kristina Šmigun-Vähi (born 23 February 1977) is a former Estonian female cross-country skier and politician. She is the most successful Estonian female cross-country skier with two Olympic gold medals. Since 2019, Šmigun-Vähi, a member of the Reform Party, has served as a member of the Estonian Parliament.

Cross-country skiing career On 12 February 2006, she won the Winter Olympics gold medal for the 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit, becoming the first Estonian woman to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. Four days later, she won a second gold medal in the 10 km classical.

On 15 February 2010, she won her third Olympic medal, a silver in the 10 km freestyle race. With two golds and one silver, Šmigun-Vähi is the most successful Estonian athlete in Olympic history (summer or winter), tying the record of men's cross-country skier Andrus Veerpalu.

Šmigun-Vähi has also found success at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, earning six medals. This included one gold (2003: 5 km + 5 km double pursuit), three silvers (1999: 15 km, 2003: 10 km, 15 km), and two bronzes (1999, 2003: both in 30 km).

On 2 July 2010, Šmigun-Vähi announced that she will quit her professional sport career to focus on her family and her daughter Victoria-Kris. On 24 October 2016, the World Anti-Doping Agency Athletes' Commission stated that Šmigun-Vähi faced a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing before the end of October.

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

Olympic Games 3 medals – (2 gold, 1 silver) Year Age 5 km 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km Sprint 4 × 5 km relay Team sprint 1994 17 30 28 27 — 12 1998 21 — — — 46 — 2002 25 7 13 7 25 — 2006 29 Gold Gold 8 — — — 2010 33 Silver 27 — — —

World Championships 6 medals – (1 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze) Year Age 5 km 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km Sprint 4 × 5 km relay Team sprint 1993 16 35 — 31 — — 1995 18 5 — 20 — 11 1997 20 28 8 9 — — 1999 22 9 Silver 6 Bronze — 2001 24 12 41 — 19 — 2003 26 Silver Silver GoldBronze — — 2005 28 4 14 — 13 — 2007 30 9 10 6 — 15 —

a. Cancelled due to extremely cold weather.

World Cup

Season titles 2 titles – (1 long distance, 1 middle distance)

Season standings Season Age Discipline standingsSki Tour standingsOverallDistanceLong DistanceMiddle DistanceSprintTour deSkiWorld CupFinal 1993 16 1994 17 60 1995 18 29 1996 19 17 1997 20 13 21 15 1998 21 19 15 27 1999 22 4 2000 23 2001 24 10 23 2002 25 4 24 2003 26 41 2004 27 5 47 2005 28 4 70 2006 29 17 11 38 2007 30 11 5 2010 33 32 22 84 — 6

Individual podiums

16 victories – (16 ) 50 podiums – (49 , 1 )

Note: Until the 1999 World Championships, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

Overall record

a. Classification is made according to FIS classification. b. Includes individual and mass start races. c. Includes pursuit and double pursuit races. d. May be incomplete due to lack of appropriate sources for some relay races prior to 1995/96 World Cup season.

Note: Until 1999 World Championships and 1994 Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races were part of the World Cup. Hence results from those races are included in the World Cup overall record.

Political career Šmigun-Vähi joined the liberal Reform Party in 2018.

Since 2019, she has been serving as a member of the Estonian Parliament.