Milla Saari
Milla Saari is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1994 to 2007. She took part in 12 World Cup seasons, with 51 individual starts and 19 team starts. She earned one team World Cup victory and two team podiums, while never reaching an individual World Cup podium. Her best overall World Cup ranking was 26th in 1999.
Saari’s career was marked by a doping scandal at the 2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti. She was part of Finland’s 4 × 5 km relay team, which finished second but was disqualified after testing showed hydroxyethyl starch, a blood plasma expander. She also finished 6th in the 15 km race and received a two-year suspension.
She competed at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, finishing 31st in the 15 km and 50th in the 30 km.
After serving her two-year ban from 2003 to 2005, Saari returned to win four individual World Cup races, all in the 10 km distance. She retired after the 2006–07 season.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:31 (CET).