Laila Friis-Salling

Laila Friis-Salling (born 11 April 1985) is a Greenlandic and Danish freestyle skier. Born to a politician and a businessman, she started snowboarding and later switched to skiing, taking up freestyle skiing due to a bet. Friis-Salling made her international debut in 2014 and competed in the World Cup series the following year.

She competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics with the support of the Danish Ski Federation and Greenland Ski Federation. She competed in the women's halfpipe but did not advance to the finals of her event. After her retirement from competitive skiing, she competed in the dancing competition Vild med dans and was the sixth contestant to be eliminated. There, she met her eventual husband, actor Mads Madsen. Together, they have two children.

Early life and education Laila Friis-Salling was born on 11 April 1985 in Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland. Her mother Augusta Salling is a politician while her father Jens Kristian Friis-Salling is a business owner in Greenland and was ranked Denmark's 80th richest man according to Berlingske. She has a brother named Bent who also serves as her coach. Friis-Salling started sport at the age of twelve when she started snowboarding and later switched to skiing. For her education, Friis-Salling studied psychology and later lived in Aalborg.

Career Friis-Salling made her international debut for Denmark in December 2014 in a competition in Copper Mountain, United States, and placed 17th in the competition. A few weeks after the competition, she earned enough qualifying points to qualify for the Nor-Am Cup held in Mammoth Mountain; there, she placed 15th. She then made her World Cup debut during the 2014–15 FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup, placing as high as tenth during the racing circuit. While at the competition, she met actor Mads Madsen and began dating in December 2018. They later had two children and were married in 2022.