Nordic Skiingretirements
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The 38-year-old Finn, sister of another top-level cross-country skier, Iivo, has announced her retirement from competition in an emotional video posted on her social media channels. During her career, she claimed eight victories in the top circuit, as well as five Olympic medals and two World Championship medals.
Wednesday 2 September 4 minutes reading time
Less than three months before the start of the 2026/2027 Cross-Country Skiing World Cup, an important retirement has been announced in the women’s field: Finn Kerttu Niskanen has announced her retirement from competition, certainly with unusual timing.
The 38-year-old from Oulu, who together with her brother Iivo has given Finland numerous successes in this discipline, has been one of the leading figures in her country’s winter sports scene over the past decade.
Niskanen, along with compatriot Krista Parmakoski, raised Finland’s profile in women’s cross-country skiing, even before the arrival of Jasmi Joensuu and Johanna Matintalo. Even in her final season as an athlete, she achieved several important results, including two fourth-place finishes and a splendid medal in the Olympic 4x7.5 km relay.
The Finnish cross-country skier, who began her long journey in the top circuit on 2 December 2007 in the 10 km classic-technique race in Kuusamo, announced the news in a beautiful video posted on her social media channels, featuring numerous significant images from her career as an athlete. It was accompanied by the caption “We will miss this”.
During her career, the 1988-born skier claimed eight victories—along with twenty other podium finishes—in the top circuit, with her latest success coming in the 10 km classic-technique race in Falun on 16 March 2024. Her first victory came on 1 January 2014 in the 10 km classic-technique mass start in Lenzerheide, but she had to wait until 19 February 2019 for her second triumph, when she won the 10 km classic-technique race in Cogne: an athlete who found her competitive maturity after turning thirty.
A specialist in classic technique, her honours also include five Olympic medals, with the bronze in the Milan Cortina 2026 relay as her latest achievement. At Sochi 2014, she won two silver medals, in the team sprint and the relay, while at Beijing 2022 she took silver in the 10 km classic-technique race and bronze in the 30 km freestyle race.
At World Championship level, meanwhile, she won two bronze medals in the relays (Falun 2015 and Lahti 2017).
Niskanen finished third in the overall World Cup standings twice, in 2023 and 2025, and won the distance crystal globe in 2023.
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