Virpi Sarasvuo

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Virpi Kuitunen leading the group in the quarterfinals of Tour de Ski, Prague 2007
Virpi Sarasvuo
Personal information
Full name Virpi Katriina Sarasvuo
Born (1976-05-20) 20 May 1976 (age 35)
Kangasniemi, Finland
Height 174 cm
Professional information
Club Kangasniemen Kalske
Skis Rossignol
World Cup
Seasons 1997–2010
Wins 20
Additional podiums 23
Total podiums 43
Medal record
Women's cross country skiing
Competitor for  Finland
Olympic Games
Bronze 2006 Turin Team sprint
Bronze 2010 Vancouver 4 x 5 km relay
World Championships
Gold 2001 Lahti 5 km + 5 km combined pursuit
Gold 2007 Sapporo Team sprint
Gold 2007 Sapporo 30 km
Gold 2007 Sapporo 4 x 5 km
Gold 2009 Liberec Team sprint
Gold 2009 Liberec 4 x 5 km
Silver 2005 Oberstdorf 30 km
Bronze 2007 Sapporo Individual sprint
Disqualified 2001 Lahti 4 x 5 km

Virpi Katriina Sarasvuo[1] (née Kuitunen, born 20 May 1976 in Kangasniemi, Southern Savonia) is a Finnish 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 x 5 km relay.

Kuitunen has seven medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with five golds (2001: 5 km + 5 km combined pursuit, 2007: Team sprint, with Riitta-Liisa Roponen, 30 km, & 4 x 5 km; 2009: Team sprint, 4 x 5 km), one silver (2005: 30 km), one bronze (2007: Indvidiual 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.[1]

[edit] Doping controversy

At the 2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, Kuitunen was disqualified when she tested positive for hydroxyethyl starch, a banned blood plasma expander. This forced her to relinquish her silver medal earned in the 4 x 5 km and serve a two-year suspension that would not end until the 2003 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Virpi ja Jari Sarasvuo avioon kokovalkoisissa asuissa" (in Finnish). HS.fi. Helsinki: Helsingin Sanomat Oy. 16 July 2010. http://www.hs.fi/viihde/artikkeli/1135258631945. Retrieved 17 July 2010. 

[edit] External links

Media related to Virpi Sarasvuo at Wikimedia Commons
2005: Norway (Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen & Marit Bjørgen) * 2007: Finland (Riitta-Liisa Roponen & Virpi Kuitunen) * 2009: Finland (Virpi Kuitunen & Aino-Kaisa Saarinen) * 2011: Sweden (Ida Ingemarsdotter & Charlotte Kalla)
5 km + 10 km combined
1993: Stefania Belmondo (ITA) * 1995: Larisa Lazutina (RUS) * 1997: Yelena Välbe (RUS) & Stefania Belmondo (ITA) * 1999: Stefania Belmondo (ITA)
5 km + 5 km combined
2001: Virpi Kuitunen (FIN)
5 km + 5 km double
2003: Kristina Šmigun (EST)
7.5 km + 7.5 km double
2005: Yuliya Chepalova (RUS) * 2007: Olga Zavyalova (RUS) * 2009: Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) * 2011: Marit Bjørgen (NOR)
3 x 5 km

1954: Soviet Union (Lyubov Kozyreva, Margarita Maslennikova & Valentina Tsaryova) · 1958: Soviet Union (Radya Yeroshina, Alevtina Kolchina & Lyubov Kozyreva) · 1962: Soviet Union (Lyubov Baranova, Maria Gusakova & Alevtina Kolchina) · 1966: Soviet Union (Klavdiya Boyarskikh, Rita Achkina & Alevtina Kolchina) · 1970: Soviet Union (Nina Baldycheva, Galina Kulakova & Alevtina Olyunina)
4 x 5 km

1974: Soviet Union (Nina Baldycheva, Nina Selyunina, Raisa Smetanina & Galina Kulakova) · 1978: Finland (Taina Impiö, Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen, Hilkka Riihivuori & Helena Takalo) · 1982: Norway (Anette Bøe, Inger Helene Nybråten, Berit Aunli & Britt Pettersen) · 1985: Soviet Union (Tamara Tikhonova, Raisa Smetanina, Liliya Vasilchenko & Anfisa Romanova) · 1987: Soviet Union (Antonina Ordina, Nina Gavrilyuk, Larisa Ptistyna & Anfisa Reztsova) · 1989: Finland (Pirkko Määttä, Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi, Jaana Savolainen & Marjo Matikainen) · 1991: Soviet Union (Lyubov Yegorova, Raisa Smetanina, Tamara Tikhonova & Yelena Välbe) · 1993: Russia (Yelena Välbe, Larisa Lazutina, Nina Gavrilyuk & Lyubov Yegorova) · 1995: Russia (Olga Danilova, Yelena Välbe, Larisa Lazutina & Nina Gavrilyuk) · 1997: Russia (Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, Nina Gavrilyuk & Yelena Välbe) · 1999: Russia (Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, Anfisa Reztsova & Nina Gavrilyuk) · 2001: Russia (Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, Yuliya Chepalova & Nina Gavrilyuk) · 2003: Germany (Manuela Henkel, Viola Bauer, Claudia Künzel & Evi Sachenbacher) · 2005: Norway (Vibeke Skofterud, Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen, Kristin Størmer Steira & Marit Bjørgen) · 2007: Finland (Virpi Kuitunen, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen & Pirjo Manninen) · 2009: Finland (Pirjo Muranen, Virpi Kuitunen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen & Aino-Kaisa Saarinen) · 2011: Norway (Vibeke Skofterud, Therese Johaug, Kristin Størmer Steira & Marit Bjørgen) ·
20 km
1978: Zinaida Amosova (URS) * 1980: Veronika Hesse (GDR) * 1982: Raisa Smetanina (URS) * 1985: Grete Ingeborg Nykkelmo (NOR) * 1987: Marie-Helene Westin (SWE)
30 km
1989: Yelena Välbe (URS) * 1991: Lyubov Yegorova (URS) * 1993: Stefania Belmondo (ITA) * 1995: Yelena Välbe (RUS) * 1997: Yelena Välbe (RUS) * 1999: Larisa Lazutina (RUS) * 2001: cancelled * 2003: Olga Zavyalova (URS) * 2005: Marit Bjørgen (NOR) * 2007: Virpi Kuitunen (FIN) * 2009: Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) * 2011: Therese Johaug (NOR)
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