The Barents Region is proving itself as one of the best recruitment areas for cross-country skiing in the world. In the ongoing Oslo World Championships, as many as seven skiers coming from the region or representing regional clubs have so far won medals. Among them is Charlotte Kalla from Pajala in Swedish Norrbotten County, who on 2 March secured gold in the ladies’ team sprint together with team colleague Ida Ingmarsdotter. The day after, she also got silver in the ladies 4x5 relay. She represents the club IFK Tärendö. In the same ladies’ 4x5 relay, Norway’s Kristin Størmer Steira won gold. She comes from Tana in the Norwegian northernmost county of Finnmark. Also winner of the men’s 15 km individual classic Matti Heikkinen has a background from the Barents Region. He grew up in the northern Finnish municipality of Kajaani. Swedish gold medalist in sprint Marcus Hellner represents the northern Swedish club of Gellivare Skidallians. He also won silver in the 4x10 men’s relay. The Finnish skiers Pirjo Muranen and Riitta-Liisa Roponen both represented Finland in the 4x5 relay and won bronze medals. While Muranen comes from Rovaniemi, Roponen represents a club in Oulo. In addition, several other skiers have secured top results. Among them is Haavard Klemetsen from Kautokeino in northern Norway (4th place in Nordic Combine/Individual Gundersen 10 km) and Sami Jauhojärvi from Ylitornio in Finnish Lapland. Also Sweden’s Jesper Modin (5th place in men’s sprint) represents a Barents regional club – the Pitea Elit.
