Helena Jonsson bio

Parental guidance
That Helena Jonssson would become an elite biathlete was in her blood. Already an experienced skier since the time she could walk (thanks to her mother Eva), she got her first air rifle from her father Hans when she was ten, and her grandfather Yngve taught her how to aim and fire. At first, she struggled hitting the targets, so her father added a little monetary incentive: one Swedish crown (at that time, about 10 cents) per missed shot. Rather than collect a crown after each miss, he kept a mental tab, little knowing that she would at some point be able to pay him back ... and then some.

Korean dream
Heading into the 2008-09 World Cup season, Helena Jonsson was a relative unknown, overshadowed on her own team by 2006 Olympic champion Anna Carin Olofsson-Zidek. A foreshadowing of great things for the young Swede came in the season's very first event, when she won the 15km individual in her hometown of Oestersund. Four more podium finishes - including a victory in the Antholz mass start - led up to a memorable World Championships in February 2009. At Worlds, held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, she came away with three medals, winning gold in the 10km pursuit, taking silver in the mixed relay (her boyfriend, David Ekholm, skied the first of the men's legs for Sweden) and bronze in the 12.5km mass start. With her victory, she became only the third Swede female - after Eva Korpela and Magdalena Forsberg - to capture World Championships gold in an individual event.

Movin' on up?
Jonsson has been dating Ekholm since the two "eloped" at a training camp in northern Sweden in 2003 after years of scoping each other out at local events. Since 2006, they have been living together in a 475-square-foot apartment - all that they could originally afford with student loan-based finances - in Oestersund. The tight living quarters do not seem to affect the couple's relationship. When asked if there was anything about Helena that bothered David, he replied "she doesn't make noise while she's eating, or leave toothpaste stains in the bathroom sink. A lot of people ask, but no, Helena is perfect!" Now that the couple can survive on World Cup prize money and sponsor bonuses, they are considering a move "up" to larger apartment or house soon.

Globe spawns early April Fool's joke
Jonsson followed up her World Championships success with a win in the 7.5km sprint at the Olympic test event at Whistler Olympic Park and took over the World Cup leader's bib for good. However, she did not clinch the overall World Cup title until the season's final race in Khanti Mansiysk, Russia. Her second-place finish in the 12.5km mass start event was enough to hold off hard-charging Kati Wilhelm of Germany for the globe. Upon her return home to Sweden on March 31, Jonsson and several teammates were stopped by customs agents at the Norway-Sweden border and were given a hard time about their biathlon rifles. Pulled aside to a room for further inspections, Helena and her teammates were met by several members of the Swedish Biathlon Federation, a cake and congratulatory cheers!

Straight-shooting sisters
A common problem for biathletes during the standing shoot is shaky legs after several minutes of intensive skiing. Oddly, Jonsson prefers the standing shoot to prone, with statistics to back that up (92% accuracy in standing, 86% in prone). "I think it's easier to shoot standing up. I feel more secure, whereas I get a little nervous in prone sometimes." Jonsson ranked 6th overall among all female biathletes with an 89% shooting percentage during the 2008-09 World Cup season. One of the five biathletes with better overall shooting accuracy during the season was her younger sister, Jenny. Both sisters credit coach Wolfgang Pichler for their success on the range. The elder Jonsson was not always considered a very good shot on the range. Her playful teammates once gave her the nickname "Little Hinken" after former Swedish Olympic cross country skier-turned-biathlete Henrik "Hinken" Forsberg, a renowned miserable shooter. She carries that moniker no longer.