Anja Pärson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Anja Pärson

Alpine skier
Pärson in 2008
Disciplines	Downhill, super-G, slalom, combined, giant slalom
Club	Tärna IK Fjällvinden
Born	(1981-04-25) 25 April 1981 (age 44) Umeå, Sweden
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
World Cup debut	15 March 1998 (age 16)
Retired	15 March 2012 (age 30)
Olympics
Teams	3 – (2002–2010)
Medals	6 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams	7 – (1999–2011)
Medals	13 (7 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	15 – (1998–2012)
Wins	42
Podiums	95
Overall titles	2 – (2004, 2005)
Discipline titles	5 – (3 GS, 1 SL, 1 SC)
Medal record Women's alpine skiing Representing  Sweden World Cup race podiums Event 1st 2nd 3rd Slalom 17 9 7 Giant slalom 11 11 6 Downhill 6 3 6 Super-G 4 4 2 Combined 3 3 2 Parallel 1 0 0 International competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 1 4 World Championships 7 2 4 Junior World Championships 4 0 2 Olympic Games Gold 2006 Turin Slalom Silver 2002 Salt Lake City Giant slalom Bronze 2002 Salt Lake City Slalom Bronze 2006 Turin Downhill Bronze 2006 Turin Combined Bronze 2010 Vancouver Combined World Championships Gold 2001 St. Anton Slalom Gold 2003 St. Moritz Giant slalom Gold 2005 Bormio Super-G Gold 2005 Bormio Giant slalom Gold 2007 Åre Super-G Gold 2007 Åre Combined Gold 2007 Åre Downhill Silver 2005 Bormio Combined Silver 2007 Åre Team event Bronze 2001 St. Anton Giant slalom Bronze 2007 Åre Slalom Bronze 2011 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Combined Bronze 2011 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Team event Junior World Ski Championships Gold 1998 Megève Giant slalom Gold 1999 Pra Loup Slalom Gold 2000 Quebec City Slalom Gold 2000 Quebec City Giant slalom Bronze 1998 Megève Slalom Bronze 2000 Quebec City Super-G

Anja Pärson is a famous Swedish alpine skiing champion. She has won many big awards. These include an Olympic gold medal and seven gold medals at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. She also won the overall Alpine Skiing World Cup title twice. Anja Pärson has won an amazing 42 World Cup races in total!

Anja Pärson: Skiing Superstar

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Anja Pärson was born in Umeå, Sweden, on April 25, 1981. She has roots from the Sámi people. Anja got into ski racing because of her sister, Frida. Her father, Anders, later became her coach.

Anja's first big race was a giant slalom in March 1998. She was only 16 years old. She had just become the junior World Champion. Even though she finished last in that race, she quickly improved.

First Wins and Olympic Success

Anja won her first World Cup race in December 1998. It was a slalom race in California, and she was just 17. Her first gold medal at the World Championships came in 2001.

She earned a silver medal and a bronze medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, she won a gold medal in slalom. She also added two more bronze medals in downhill and combined events.

World Cup Champion

Anja Pärson won the overall Alpine Skiing World Cup title two times. She won in 2004 and again in 2005. Her 2005 win was very close, by only 3 points!

She started as a specialist in slalom and giant slalom. But she soon became great at all five skiing types. In March 2005, she won her first super-G and downhill races. She has won 42 World Cup races across all five alpine skiing disciplines.

Making History at World Championships

Anja Pärson has won seven gold medals at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. These wins happened in 2001, 2003, 2005 (two golds), and 2007 (three golds). She also has two silver and three bronze medals from these championships.

In 2007, she made history in her home country, Sweden. She won three gold medals at the World Championships in Åre. This made her the first skier ever to win World Championship golds in all five alpine skiing events!

Anja has won 17 individual medals at World Championships and Olympics. This is more than any other woman in alpine skiing history. Only Kjetil André Aamodt has more in men's skiing.

Later Career and Retirement

After a couple of challenging seasons, Anja returned strong in 2009. She finished third in the overall World Cup.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics, she had a big fall during the downhill race. Luckily, she was not seriously hurt. The very next day, she bravely won a bronze medal in the combined event.

In March 2011, she won a downhill race. This meant she had won at least one race for ten years in a row! This is a very rare achievement in skiing.

On March 12, 2012, Anja Pärson announced she was retiring from skiing. Her last race was the World Cup final that same weekend.

Life After Skiing

After retiring, Anja Pärson became a sports commentator. She worked for Viasat during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Since 2015, she has been a sports expert for Sveriges Television. She also runs a company.

In 2017, Anja competed in the TV dance show Let's Dance 2017 in Sweden.

Personal Life

Anja Pärson's sports club is Fjällvinden in Tärnaby. This is the same club as other skiing legends like Ingemar Stenmark.

She is 170 centimeters (5 feet 7 inches) tall. She received the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal twice, in 2006 and 2007. This is a very important award in Sweden.

After living in Monaco for several years, Anja moved back to Sweden in 2012. She now lives in Umeå.

In 2012, Anja shared that she was expecting a child. Her son, Elvis, was born on July 4, 2012. In August 2014, Anja married Filippa Rådin in Umeå. In January 2015, they announced they were expecting their second child. Their son, Maximilian, was born in May 2015.

World Cup Results

Season Standings

Season Titles

Anja Pärson won 7 World Cup titles in different skiing events:

• 2 Overall titles
• 3 Giant Slalom titles
• 1 Slalom title
• 1 Combined title

Individual Race Wins

Anja Pärson won 42 individual World Cup races:

• 6 Downhill races
• 4 Super-G races
• 11 Giant Slalom races
• 18 Slalom races
• 3 Combined races

Season	Date	Location	Discipline
1999	3 Dec 1998	Mammoth Mountain, USA	Slalom
2002	9 Dec 2001	Sestriere, Italy	Slalom
	29 Dec 2001	Lienz, Austria	Slalom
	5 Jan 2002	Maribor, Slovenia	Slalom
	6 Jan 2002		Slalom
2003	30 Nov 2002	Aspen, USA	Slalom
	15 Dec 2002	Sestriere, Italy	KO-slalom
	19 Jan 2003	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Giant slalom
	25 Jan 2003	Maribor, Slovenia	Giant slalom
	26 Jan 2003		Slalom
	6 Mar 2003	Åre, Sweden	Giant slalom
2004	28 Nov 2003	Park City, USA	Giant slalom
	29 Nov 2003		Slalom
	16 Dec 2003	Madonna di Campiglio, Italy	Slalom
	28 Dec 2003	Lienz, Austria	Slalom
	5 Jan 2004	Megève, France	Slalom
	24 Jan 2004	Maribor, Slovenia	Giant slalom
	25 Jan 2004		Slalom
	7 Feb 2004	Zwiesel, Germany	Giant slalom
	8 Feb 2004		Slalom
	21 Feb 2004	Åre, Sweden	Giant slalom
	14 Mar 2004	Sestriere, Italy	Giant slalom
2005	23 Nov 2004	Sölden, Austria	Giant slalom
	23 Jan 2005	Maribor, Slovenia	Slalom
	25 Feb 2005	San Sicario, Italy	Super-G
	26 Feb 2005		Downhill
2006	11 Dec 2005	Aspen, USA	Slalom
	22 Dec 2005	Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic	Slalom
	28 Dec 2005	Lienz, Austria	Giant slalom
	13 Jan 2006	Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria	Downhill
	27 Jan 2006	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Super-G
	4 Feb 2006	Ofterschwang, Germany	Giant slalom
	11 Mar 2006	Levi, Finland	Slalom
	15 Mar 2006	Åre, Sweden	Downhill
2007	15 Mar 2007	Lenzerheide, Switzerland	Super-G
2008	15 Dec 2007	St. Moritz, Switzerland	Downhill
	16 Dec 2007		Super-G
	9 Mar 2008	Crans-Montana, Switzerland	Combined
2009	19 Dec 2008	St. Moritz, Switzerland	Combined
	18 Jan 2009	Altenmarkt, Austria	Downhill
2010	29 Jan 2010	St. Moritz, Switzerland	Combined
2011	5 Mar 2011	Tarvisio, Italy	Downhill

World Championship Results

Olympic Results

Images for kids

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  Anja Pärson in Aspen in 2006

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  Anja Pärson in Monaco in 2006

See also

In Spanish: Anja Pärson para niños