Tanja Poutiainen


Tanja Tuulia Poutiainen is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from Finland. She specialized in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, and was the silver medalist in the women's giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.
Born in Rovaniemi, Lapland, Poutiainen started skiing at the age of three. She became junior world champion in slalom in 1997 at Schladming, Austria, and also took bronze in the super-G; she made her World Cup debut that March at Vail in the United States. At the 1999 Junior World Championships, she placed third in the giant slalom at Pra-Loup, France.
Poutiainen scored her first World Cup victory – and the first for a female Finnish alpine skier – on 28 February 2004 in a slalom held on home snow in Levi, Finland – the first alpine World Cup race to be held in the country. In the 2005 World Cup season, Poutiainen won the season titles in both the slalom and giant slalom, and placed fifth in the overall standings. Along the way she won three slaloms, a giant slalom and secured ten podium finishes. At the 2005 World Championships, she placed second in the giant slalom behind Anja Pärson of Sweden and second in the slalom behind Janica Kostelić of Croatia – the first alpine World Championship medals for a Finnish female.
The 2009 season saw Poutianen take another World Cup discipline title, in giant slalom, as well as bronzes in slalom and giant slalom at the World Championships in Val d'Isère.
Poutiainen was notable for her consistency, and between January 2007 and March 2011 she successfully completed every World Cup race she entered – a total of 67.
At the end of the 2014 season, Poutiainen had 11 World Cup victories, 48 podiums, and three World Cup discipline titles. She was trained by Michael Bont and lives in St. Gallen, Switzerland. She announced her retirement from the sport in March 2014.

World Cup results

Season titles

Season standings

Race victories

11 wins –
SeasonDateLocationDiscipline
200424 Feb 2004 Levi, FinlandSlalom
200526 Nov 2004 Aspen, USAGiant slalom
200528 Nov 2004 Aspen, USASlalom
200521 Dec 2004 Altenmarkt, AustriaSlalom
200520 Jan 2005 Zagreb, CroatiaSlalom
200710 Mar 2007 Zwiesel, GermanyGiant slalom
200815 Feb 2008 Zagreb, CroatiaSlalom
200913 Dec 2008 La Molina, SpainGiant slalom
201024 Oct 2009 Sölden, AustriaGiant slalom
201024 Jan 2010 Cortina d'Ampezzo, ItalyGiant slalom
201111 Jan 2011 Flachau, AustriaSlalom

World Championship results

Olympic results