Petter Karlsson

Petter Karlsson (born 6 September 1975) is a Swedish musher and two-time world champion in long-distance sled dog racing. He has won the Finnmarksløpet dog sled race five times (2016, 2018, 2023, 2024 and 2026). In 2016, he was the first non-Norwegian to achieve this victory.

Sporting career Karlsson's mushing career began in the late 1990s. In 2005 he won the European Championship in Hamar, Norway.

Petter has mainly competed in long-distance races for decades. He won the La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc in 2008 with a finish time of 36:03:51.

In 2016, he took part in the Europe's longest sled dog race, the Finnmarksløpet, for the first time. He was the first non-Norwegian to achieve this success, breaking the Norwegian dominance in this sport.

In 2018, the Swede returned to Finnmarksløpet and was able to achieve a victory 7 minutes ahead of the Norwegian Birgitte Næss.

Karlsson was in the lead when the race in 2020 had to be stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The race was also cancelled in the following years due to the pandemic.

The Finnmarksløpet 2023 was also the world championship in the long distance, which Karlsson won with a time of 6 days 19 hours 35 min.

In 2024, he won the Finnmarksløpet for the fourth time in a time of 7 days 9 hours 30 minutes. In addition to this victory, he was honoured with the Best Dog Care Award by the race vets.

In 2025, he won the Femundløpet again, defending his world championship title from 2023. He also set a new record for the distance.

Karlssons dogs have also competed in numerous races with other mushers where they have achieved good results.

Awards and honours In addition to the various victories in his career, Karlsson has been honoured with several sports awards. In 2024 he was honoured by the Swedish Kennel Club with Segebadenplaketten for his sporting achievements. He is the first in 11 years to receive this award.

At the Finnmarksløpet 2024 Karlsson was also honoured with the popular Best Dog Care Award, an award given by the official race veterinarians to the musher who has shown the greatest care for his dogs throughout the course of the race.

Career highlights