Helena Ekholm (née Helena Jonsson) (born September 6, 1984 in Helgum) is a former Swedish biathlete. She was born in Helgum, Sollefteå Municipality. She is the 2009 world champion in pursuit and the 2011 world champion in individual. She also won the Women's Overall World Cup in the 2008–09 season.

Helena Ekholm
Helena Jonsson in Trondheim, March 2009
Personal information
NicknameLill-Hinken (early career)[1]
NationalitySwedish
Born (1984-09-06) September 6, 1984 (age 39)
Helgum, Sweden
Years active2000–2012
Height172 cm (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Weight59 kg (130 lb)
Professional information
ClubI21 IF (Helgum, Sweden)
SkisFischer
RifleAnschutz
IBU Cup debut30 November 2002
World Cup debut29 November 2005
Retired19 March 2012
Olympic Games
Teams1 (2010)
World Championships
Teams7
Medals8 (3 gold)
World Cup
Seasons7
Individual races160
All races198
Individual victories13
All victories17
Individual podiums33
All podiums43
Overall titles1 (08/09)
Discipline titles4 (SP 08/09, MS 08/09, IN 10/11, IN 11/12)
Medal record
Women's biathlon
Representing  Sweden
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2007 Antholz-Anterselva Mixed relay
Gold medal – first place 2009 Pyeongchang 10 km pursuit
Gold medal – first place 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 15 km individual
Silver medal – second place 2009 Pyeongchang Mixed relay
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Pyeongchang 12.5 km mass start
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk Mixed relay
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 10 km pursuit
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Ruhpolding 15 km individual
Updated on 10 January 2018.

Career edit

Jonsson debuted in 2005 in Östersund in the relay, coming in 15th. In the following World Cup in Hochfilzen she participated in her first individual, coming in 41st. In early 2006 she participated in the Biathlon World Championships Mixed Relay event in 2006 in Pokljuka, coming in sixth. The 2006-07 Biathlon World Cup began very successfully for her. In the World Cup 3 in Hochfilzen, she came in fourth in the Individual, eighth in the Sprint, and was on the relay team which came in fifth. In the Biathlon World Championships 2007 in Antholz she continued her upward trend and placed fourth in the Sprint. As a high point she led the Swedish team to a gold medal in the mixed-relay. She celebrated her first World Cup victory in the 2006-07 Biathlon World Cup, the mass start in the final round at Khanty-Mansiysk. In the 2008–2009 season she won four more races, including the opening in Östersund where she won the individual race. In the 2009 World Championships in Pyeongchang Jonsson came from 5th place after the opening sprint to win the Pursuit.

Due to her marriage to fellow former biathlete David Ekholm, she changed her surname to Ekholm in the summer of 2010.

Biathlon World Cup placings edit

Place Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay Total
1st 4 2 3 4 2 2 17
2nd 1 4 2 2 2 1 12
3rd 3 4 2 2 2 1 14
Podium 8 10 7 8 6 4 43
4th–10th 5 21 11 13 20 5 75
Top 10 13 31 18 21 26 9 118

(Retired 19 March 2012)

References edit

  1. ^ ""Jag är född till skidskytt"" [I was born a biathlete]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). 29 March 2009. Archived from the original on 11 January 2018.
  2. ^ "Helena Jonsson Bio, Stats, and Results | Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". April 17, 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.

External links edit

  Media related to Helena Ekholm at Wikimedia Commons

Awards
Preceded by Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal
2009
Succeeded by
Sweden's men's Olympic 4 × 10 km cross-country skiing relay team: Daniel Rickardsson, Johan Olsson, Anders Södergren & Marcus Hellner