Venla Lehtonen

Venla Lehtonen
Lehtonen in 2024
Personal information
NationalityFinnish
Born (1995-03-10) 10 March 1995 (age 29)
Imatra, Finland
Sport
SportBiathlon

Venla Lehtonen (born 10 March 1995) is a Finnish biathlete. She competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics.[1]

Career

Lehtonen began her athletic career in cross-country skiing, competing in national championships in Finland. Lehtonen made her international debut on March 2, 2017, during the 2016/17 IBU Cup season at a competition held in Kontiolahti, Finland. She participated in the individual, sprint, and pursuit events, but finished outside the points standings in all three races. At the start of the 2017/18 season, Lehtonen competed in the opening IBU Cup races in Sjusjøen, Norway. Following these performances, she was promoted to the Finnish World Cup team. Her first World Cup race took place in Hochfilzen, Austria, in mid-December 2017. In the sprint event, she recorded five shooting misses and finished 95th, missing both the pursuit qualification and points standings. Lehtonen achieved her first World Cup top-10 finish in early January 2018 in Oberhof, as part of the Finnish women's relay team. Competing alongside Kaisa Mäkäräinen, Mari Laukkanen, and Laura Toivanen, she helped secure a 7th-place finish, marking the best result for a Finnish women’s relay team since the 6th place at the 2003 Biathlon World Championships.[2] Lehtonen made her Olympic debut at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. She competed in the sprint event, finishing 79th, and was part of the Finnish women's relay team that secured 15th place. In December 2024, Lehtonen achieved a career-best performance by finishing 7th in the pursuit event at the Biathlon World Cup in Annecy, France.[3][4]

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

Olympic Games

0 medals

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay
South Korea 2018 Pyeongchang — 79th — — 15th —

World Championships

0 medals

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay Single mixed relay
Sweden 2019 Östersund 74th 45th 49th — 22nd 10th —
Slovenia 2021 Pokljuka DNF — — — — — —
Germany 2023 Oberhof — DNF — — — — —
Czech Republic 2024 Nové Město na Moravě 48th 52nd 40th — 17th 20th —
*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

World Cup

Season Overall Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start
Races Points Position Points Position Points Position Points Position Points Position
2017–18 7/22 Did not earn World Cup points
2018–19 10/25 5 96th 5 66th — — — — — —
2019–20 1/21 Did not earn World Cup points
2020–21 7/26
2021–22 3/22
2022–23 8/20 1 87th — — 1 79th — — — —
2023–24 6/21 Did not earn World Cup points

References

  1. ^ "Snowboard - Athlete Profile: Venla LEHTONEN - Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games". www.pyeongchang2018.com. Archived from the original on 2018-02-11. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
  2. ^ "Suomen ampumahiihtonaisille viestipaikka olympialaisiin? Sijoittuivat Oberhofissa seitsemänneksi". Ilta-Sanomat. January 7, 2018.
  3. ^ Henriques, Pablo (December 22, 2024). "Biathlon | "After the last shot, I really realised that I was fighting for a place in the flowers": in the pursuit at Le Grand-Bornand, Venla Lehtonen broke new ground | Nordic Mag | N°1 Biathlon | Nordic skiing". www.nordicmag.info.
  4. ^ "Venla Lehtonen mahtivireessä – lunasti lupauksensa Kaisa Mäkäräiselle". Yle Urheilu. December 21, 2024.


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