Virpi Kuitunen
| Virpi Kuitunen |
 |
| Personal information |
| Full name | Virpi Katriina Kuitunen |
| Date of birth | 20 May 1976 (age 33)(1976-05-20) |
| Place of birth | Kangasniemi, Finland |
| Height | 174 cm |
| Professional information |
| Club | Kangasniemen Kalske |
| Skis | Rossignol |
| World Cup |
| Seasons | 1997- |
| Wins | 10 |
| Additional podiums | 16 |
| Total podiums | 26 |
| Infobox last updated on: |
| {{{updated}}} |
Virpi Kuitunen (born 20 May 1976 in Kangasniemi) is a Finnish cross country skier who has competed since 1995. 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.
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.
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.
Virpi Kuitunen leading the group in the quarterfinals of Tour de Ski, Prague 2007
References
| [show] World champions in women's cross country skiing 3/4 x 5 km relay | | | 3 x 5 km | | | | 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) | |
Tanja Poutiainen 
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