Magdalena Forsberg


Magdalena "Magda" Forsberg is a Swedish former cross-country skier and biathlete. She was the dominant female biathlete from 1997 to 2002, when she retired, winning the Biathlon World Cup for six years straight. She is also a six-time world champion, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist, and holds the record for the most World Cup victories in women's biathlon.
She has been married to Henrik Forsberg, also a biathlete and cross-country skier, since mid-1996.

Cross-country skiing

Forsberg competed as a cross country skier from 1988 to 1996, participating in the World Cup. Her best results at the Winter Olympics were in Albertville in 1992 where she finished seventh in the 4 × 5 km relay and 26th in the 15 km event.
Forsberg's best individual finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was tenth in the 30 km event at Lahti in 1989. In 1987 she was in the Swedish team that finished third in the 4 × 5 km relay. Her best World Cup finish was second in a 10 km event in Finland in 1988.
She participated as a celebrity dancer in Let's Dance 2019, which was broadcast on TV4. She placed second.

Biathlon

Competing from 1993 to 2002, Forsberg won six straight overall wins in the Biathlon World Cup from 1997 to 2002. She also won six gold medals in the World Championships, was runner-up once, and placed third five times. At the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, Forsberg won two bronze medals. In her career she managed a total of 42 individual Biathlon World Cup wins, which is more than any other female biathlete to date.
Magdalena Forsberg retired from active sports after the 2001-02 season. After being retired for four years she made a temporary comeback in April 2006 due to losing a bet. The bet said Forsberg would enter the Swedish Championship in Women's Relay with fellow biathlon skier Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek if the latter won an Olympic gold in Turin. The duo went on to win the competition, Forsberg outrunning her competitors in the first leg and Olofsson extending their lead in the second.
During large parts of her career, Forsberg was trained by Wolfgang Pichler, who later took over as coach of the Swedish national biathlon team.

Post retirement

After retirement, Forsberg, along with Peter Forsberg, footballer Mathias Jönsson, and golfer Per-Ulrik Johansson enrolled in a business class at the Johan Cruyff Institute in Stockholm. She received additional education in the field of tax legislation.

Other honours

Forsberg competed at the 1998 Winter Olympics both as a biathlete and as a cross country skier. She is the only Swedish athlete to have been awarded the Jerring Award four times.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

Olympic Games

2 medals
EventIndividualSprintPursuitRelay
n/a

World Championships

12 medals
EventIndividualSprintPursuitTeamRelay
1995 Antholz-Anterselvan/an/a

Individual victories

42 victories
SeasonDateLocationDisciplineLevel
1994–95
1 victory
28 January 1995

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

World Championships

  • 1 medal –
Year Age 5 km 10 km
classical
10 km
freestyle
15 km 20 km 30 km 4 × 5 km
relay
198719Bronze
1989211817104
19912327256

World Cup

Individual podiums

  • 1 podium
No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlace
1 1987–88 27 March 1988

Team podiums

  • 2 podiums
No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlaceTeammates
1 1986–87 17 February 1987ref label|worldcuprace|1