Virpi Sarasvuo

Virpi Katriina Sarasvuo (née Kuitunen, born 20 May 1976) is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1995 to 2010. She won a bronze medal in the team sprint event (with Aino-Kaisa Saarinen) at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and earned her best individual finish of fifth in the individual sprint event in those same games. Four years later in Vancouver, Kuitunen won another bronze, this time in the 4 × 5 km relay.

Kuitunen has eight medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with six golds (2001: 5 km + 5 km combined pursuit, 2007: Team sprint, with Riitta-Liisa Roponen, 30 km, & 4 × 5 km; 2009: Team sprint, 4 × 5 km), one silver (2005: 30 km), one bronze (2007: Individual sprint). She also has thirty-four additional individual victories at various levels of various distances since 2000.

Kuitunen won the first ever Tour de Ski competition for women in 2006–07, winning over Norway's Marit Bjørgen by 1:17.5. She also won the overall 2006–07 Cross-Country Skiing World Cup, as well as the sprint World Cup the same season. In the season 2007–08 Kuitunen won the overall again.

Because of Kuitunen's successes in cross-country skiing in 2007, she was awarded Finnish Sportswoman of the Year. Kuitunen also won the Tour de Ski in 2008–09.

Virpi Kuitunen married Jari Sarasvuo on 16 July 2010.

Olympic Games 2 medals – (2 bronze) Year Age 10 km individual 15 km skiathlon 30 km mass start Sprint 4 × 5 km relay Team sprint 2006 29 9 — 5 7 Bronze 2010 33 — — 13 9 Bronze —

World Championships 8 medals – (6 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) Year Age 5 km 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km Sprint 4 × 5 km relay Team sprint 1999 22 35 — — — — 2001 24 — — Gold — 2003 26 — — 16 — — — 2005 28 4— Silver 5 5 — 2007 30 — Gold Bronze Gold Gold 2009 32 4 13 — Gold Gold

a. Cancelled due to extremely cold weather.

World Cup Season titles 5 titles – (2 overall, 2 distance, 1 sprint)

Season standings Season Age Discipline standingsSki Tour standingsOverallDistanceLong DistanceMiddle DistanceSprintTour deSkiWorld CupFinal 1995 18 1997 20 — 1998 21 — 1999 22 81 79 2000 23 34 33 28 35 2001 24 18 2003 26 23 20 2004 27 6 7 4 2005 28 3 8 2 2006 29 6 7 10 2007 30 1 1 1 1 2008 31 1 1 3 2 1 2009 32 5 6 11 1 2010 33 22 21 20 28

Individual podiums 27 victories – (21 , 6 ) 52 podiums – (44 , 8 )

Team podiums

4 victories – (4 ) 16 podiums – (13 , 3 )

Overall record

a. Classification is made according to FIS classification. b. Includes individual and mass start races. c. Includes handicap start, pursuit and double pursuit races. d. Incomplete due to lack of appropriate sources prior to 2001. e. Did not finish the race (DNF). f. Withdrawn from 2009–10 Tour de Ski.

Note: Until 1999 World Championships, World Championship races are part of the World Cup. Hence results from 1999 World Championships races are included in the World Cup overall record.