"THE FLYING FINN"PIRJO MURANEN FROM FINLAND

Pirjo Muranen

Medal record
Pirjo Muranen at Tour de Ski in Prague, 2007
Women's cross country skiing
World Championships
Gold	2001 Lahti	Individual sprint
Gold	2007 Sapporo	4 x 5 km
Gold	2009 Liberec	4 x 5 km
Silver	2005 Oberstdorf	Team sprint
Bronze	2009 Liberec	Individual sprint

Pirjo Muranen (born March 8, 1981) is a Finnish cross country skier who has competed since 1998. She won five medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with three golds (Individual sprint: 2001, 4 x 5 km: 2007, 2009), a silver (Team sprint: 2005, with Riitta Liisa Lassila), and a bronze (Individual sprint: 2009). Muranen married on 30 June 2007; previously she was known by her maiden name of Pirjo Manninen.

Manninen also has sixteen additional victories up to 15 km from 2000 to 2002. She is the younger sister of Nordic combined skier Hannu. At the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo, they became the first brother-sister combination to win gold medals at the same championships.

References

• FIS-Ski: Pirjo Muranen – statistics
• Official website (English) & (Finnish)

[show] v • d • e World champions in women's individual sprint cross country 2001: Pirjo Manninen (FIN) * 2003: Marit Bjørgen (NOR) * 2005: Emelie Öhrstig (SWE) * 2007: Astrid Jacobsen (NOR) * 2009: Arianna Follis (ITA)

[show] v • d • e World champions in women's cross country skiing 3/4 x 5 km relay 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)

Awards
Preceded by Pia Sundstedt	Finnish Sportswoman of the Year 2001	Succeeded by Heli Koivula