The Finnish legend Kaisa Mäkäräinen caused the second biathlon sensation in her home country within just 24 hours. After the 42-year-old initially chose national champion on Friday with the season, she went one better on Saturday in the sprint race and got gold again.
Kaisa Mäkäräinen has actually been retired since March 2020. At the currently taking place in Finnish championships in Kontiolahti, the 42-year-old showed on Saturday for the second time in a row that she can still keep up with the athletes of the A team without any problems.
After Mäkäräinen put on the crown together with her season on Friday, she also won the sprint a day later. The former world champion stayed as the only starter without a penalty round on Saturday and was the first to get over the line after 22:27 minutes. Your lead over the first pursuers: 43.7 seconds or 1:16 minutes!
Biathlon legend was “a portion of luck”
What makes Mäkäinen’s success special: With Suvi Minkkinen, she distanced, among other things, the currently best Finnish biathlete. The overall World Cup seventh of the winter of 2024/25 only finished third after two penalty rounds. Silver secured Sonja Leinamo, who also started in the World Cup last season.
Following her second gold coup within 24 hours, the 42-year-old spoke of a “hard race” and complained both the soft and wet snow and the constant changing wind. “You also needed a little portion of luck,” she said modestly.
Incidentally, Mäkäinen does not want to use the chance to have a gold hat trick. According to her own statement, she does not want to fight for another title in the mass start. “Now that things went so well, it doesn’t make sense to compete again,” she told the newspaper “Karjalainen”.