Nine Olympic medals, 13 World Cup medals, 59 podium places in the World Cup, and 28 Swedish Championships golds make Charlotte Kalla Sweden’s most successful cross-country skier of all time. With a curiosity about life outside of elite sports, she now chooses to end her elite career.

Charlotte Kalla has decided:

“The Swedish Championships at home in Norrbotten will be my last as an elite skier. Here I took my first steps as a seven-year-old, and it feels good to end my career here,” says one of the country’s most popular and successful athletes of all time.

Charlotte Kalla says in a press release that the decision has emerged in the past month.

“Curiosity about life outside elite sports outweighs what a continued dedication to sport would mean.”

“What I will miss the most is the kick of being in shape,” says Charlotte Kalla.

During the Swedish Championships week in Piteå, four competitions are planned for Charlotte: 10km tomorrow on Wednesday, 15km mass start on Thursday, Relay 3x5km on Sunday, and 30km on Monday. After the 30km race, a fabulous career is over.

Since her debut on the national team in 2006, Charlotte won nine Olympic medals: three gold and six silver. Thirteen World Cup medals: three gold, six silver, and four bronze. The list also includes victory in the Tour de Ski 2008 and a total of 59 podium places in the World Cup, of which 12 individual and relay victories.

Add to that, 28 individual Swedish Championship golds before the end in Piteå.