Cross-country skiing star Kerttu Niskanen retires

Kerttu Niskanen is closing a 20-year career in professional cross-country skiing, saying she now wants to make room for other parts of life.

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I have been able to ski professionally for an incredible 20 years. The journey has included a huge number of successes, victory celebrations, experiences, growth, challenges and failures. Everything that competitive sport is.

The 38-year-old Finnish skier announced the decision on Instagram. “I have been able to ski professionally for an incredible 20 years,” she wrote, describing a career filled with successes, celebrations, experiences, growth, challenges and failures.

Niskanen said she had enjoyed training and competing and had devoted herself passionately to skiing every day. She thanked her family, close supporters and sponsors, with particular praise for her husband, Juho Mikkonen, who also coached her. “The biggest thanks go to Juho, who has shared this life with me and coached me through my best years,” she wrote.

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I have enjoyed training and competing immensely and passionately devoted every day to skiing. Now it is time to make room for something else.

Niskanen first represented Finland at senior championships in 2011. Her final major-event medal was a relay bronze at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. At the Beijing Olympics in 2022, she won silver in the 10-kilometre classical race and bronze in the 30-kilometre freestyle mass start.

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The biggest thanks go to Juho, who has shared this life with me and coached me through my best years.

The Finnish Ski Association said Niskanen made 357 World Cup appearances, won 36 podium places and took nine individual victories. She also won the World Cup for distance events in the 2022-23 season. The association’s high-performance director, Petter Kukkonen, said the retirement decision came as a surprise and that Niskanen had “skied her way into the hearts of Finns.”

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Kerttu has skied her way into the hearts of Finns.