Mimmi Kotka; (born 12 July 1981) is a Swedish athlete who specialized in ultrarunning.
Running career In a 2016 interview, Kotka talked about her running background: "I have always loved outdoor life and kept active with skiing, biking, hiking, diving, yoga but not running. But in 2010, I signed up to run Lidingöloppet as a challenge and got obsessed with trail running while practicing for it. That was my thing! Then I took it easy in 2012, 2013, and in January 2014, I decided to go all in. Train more focused. It was a little too focused in 2015. I ran a lot and got injured. In 2016, I took it easier, and now I seem to have found a formula that works. It is more fun than ever to run, and my body thrives."
Kotka's major claim to fame is winning the 101 km Ultra-Trail Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix (CCC) in Chamonix, France, in 2016 by a margin of almost half an hour and the 121 km Ultra-Trail Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (TDS) in the same location, and in 2017, by almost two hours and a half, improving the previous course record from 2015 by 46 minutes.
For some years, Kotka suffered from RED-S relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), getting back to normal form at the beginning of 2021.
Personal life Kotka is Swedish and her father is from Finland. She and her husband, Toni Spasenoski, who is a high-tech project manager and amateur photographer, live in Åre, Sweden.
For a living, Kotka works as a nutritionist. In 2018, she started Moonvalley, an online shop dedicated to organic energy bars and sports drinks, together with fellow athletes Ida Nilsson and Emelie Forsberg.
Results
2010 126th Lidingöloppet , Sweden
2011 2nd Lidingö Ultra , Sweden 13th Swiss Alpine Marathon , Switzerland 23rd Lidingöloppet , Sweden
2012 2nd Trail des Balcons d'Azur , France 5th AXA Fjällmaraton , Sweden
2014 2nd Kullamannen Ultra , Sweden 3rd AXA Fjällmaraton , Sweden 2nd Ultravasan , Sweden 1st Coastal Trail Series – Dorset Ultra 44 miles, UK
2015 8th IAU Trail WC Annecy , France
2016 1st Trail des Balcons d'Azur , France 1st Trail du Lac d'Annecy – Marathon Race , France 1st Gran Trail Courmayeur , Italy (2nd overall) 1st Ultra-Trail Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix (CCC) , France 23rd Limone Extreme Skyrace , Italy
2017 1st Run Stockholm , Sweden 1st Marathon du Mont Blanc , Italy 3rd High Trail Vanoise , France 1st Swiss Alpine Marathon , Switzerland 1st Ultra-Trail Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (TDS) , France (new course record) 5th Grand Trail des Templiers , France 1st Kullamannen Dubbel-Döden (English: Double Death) , Sweden
2018 1st Madeira Island Ultra-Trail , Portugal 1st MaXi-Race International – Annecy , France (3rd overall) 1st Samoëns Trail Tour - Tour du Giffre , France 1st Marathon du Mont Blanc , France (second straight victory on a course that was 9k longer than the previous year) 6th, Grand Raid de la Réunion (aka La diagonale des fous) , Réunion, France 3rd, Ultra-Trail Cape Town , South Africa
2019 1st, UTM Marão , Portugal 13th, Madeira Island Ultra-Trail , Portugal 1st, La 6000D , France (5th overall) 20th, Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) , France/Italy/Switzerland 2nd, Ultra Pirineu , Spain
2021 1st, Quartrail des Alpages , Italy 3rd, Lavaredo Ultra Trail , Italy 1st, La 6000D , France (second straight victory) 3rd, Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) , France/Italy/Switzerland
2022 1st, Lavaredo Ultra Trail , Italy 2nd, Ultra-Trail Cape Town , South Africa
References
External links
Mimmi Kotka's profile at Kikourou