Tanja Poutiainen

{{short description|Finnish alpine skier}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}

{{Infobox alpine ski racer

|name = Tanja Poutiainen

|image = Tanja Poutiainen Semmering 2010.jpg

|image_size = 210

|caption = Poutiainen in 2010

|full_name = Tanja Tuulia Poutiainen

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1980|4|6|df=y}}

|birth_place = Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland

|death_date =

|death_place =

|height = 1.70 m

|disciplines = Giant slalom, slalom

|club = Santa Claus Ski Team

|wcdebut = 16 March 1997 (age 16)

|retired = 16 March 2014 (age 33)

|website = {{URL|http://tanjapoutiainen.com/}}

|olympicteams = 5 – (1998–2014)

|olympicmedals = 1

|olympicgolds = 0

|worldsteams = 9 – (1997–2013)

|worldsmedals = 4

|worldsgolds = 0

|wcseasons = 16 – (1998–99, 2001–14)

|wcwins = 11 – (6 SL, 5 GS)

|wcpodiums = 48 – (28 SL, 20 GS)

|wcoveralls = 0 – (5th in 2005, 2009)

|wctitles = 3 – (2 GS, 1 SL)

|medals =

{{Medal|Sport|Women's alpine skiing}}

{{Medal|Country|{{FIN}}}}

{{Medal|Competition|International alpine ski competitions}}

{{MedalCount

|Olympic Games|0|1|0

|World Championships|0|2|2

|Total|0|3|2

}}

{{Medal|Competition|Olympic Games}}

{{Medal|Silver|2006 Torino|Giant slalom}}

{{Medal|Competition|World Championships}}

{{Medal|Silver|2005 Bormio|Giant slalom}}

{{Medal|Silver|2005 Bormio|Slalom}}

{{Medal|Bronze|2009 Val d'Isère|Giant slalom}}

{{Medal|Bronze|2009 Val d'Isere|Slalom}}

{{Medal|Competition|Junior World Ski Championships}}

{{Medal|Gold|1997 Schladming|Slalom}}

{{Medal|Bronze|1997 Schladming|Super-G}}

{{Medal|Bronze|1999 Pra-Loup|Giant slalom}}

|show-medals = yes

}}

Tanja Tuulia Poutiainen (born 6 April 1980) 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.{{cite Sports-Reference}}

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.fis-ski.com/alpine-skiing/athletes/athlete=poutiainen-tanja-48830/ |title=Alpine Skiing – Athlete: Tanja Poutiainen |author= |website=Fédération Internationale de Ski |accessdate=18 March 2014}}

At the end of the 2014 season, Poutiainen had 11 World Cup victories, 48 podiums, and three World Cup discipline titles.{{cite web |url=http://www.fis-ski.com/alpine-skiing/news-multimedia/news/article=poutiainen-retire-end-season.html |title=Poutiainen to retire at end of season |author= |date=11 March 2014 |website=Fédération Internationale de Ski |accessdate=18 March 2014 |archive-date=9 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409054327/http://www.fis-ski.com/alpine-skiing/news-multimedia/news/article=poutiainen-retire-end-season.html |url-status=dead}} She was trained by Michael Bont and lives in St. Gallen, Switzerland. She announced her retirement in March 2014.