Ida Nilsson

Ida Nilsson

Ida Nilsson in 2016
Personal information
Nationality	Swedish
Born	(1981-02-08) February 8, 1981 (age 36)
Residence	Sweden
Medal record Track and field Swedish Championships 2002 5 000 m 2003 5 000 m 2004 5 000 m 2005 5 000 m 2009 5 000 m 2003 Girls 22, 1 500 m 2002 3 000 m steeplechase 2003 3 000 m steeplechase 2004 3 000 m steeplechase 2005 3 000 m steeplechase 2009 3 000 m steeplechase NCAA Outdoor Championships 2002 3 000 m steeplechase 2003 3 000 m steeplechase 2004 3 000 m steeplechase NCAA Indoor Championships 2005 5 000 m Cross country running Nordic Championships 1999 Girls 19, 4.3 km 2000 Girls 19, 4.5 km 2007 4.6 km 2008 7.5 km Swedish Championships 2005 4 km 2006 4 km 2005 8 km 2005 4 km team 2008 4 km 2008 8 km Road running Swedish Championships 2016 10 km 2016 Women 35, 10 km Ski mountaineering Swedish Championships 2015 Vertical 2016 Female team 2017 Female sprint 2017 Female team

Ida Nilsson (born February 8, 1981) is a Swedish long-distance runner who also competes in ski mountaineering. In 2003 - 2006 she won a total of ten gold medals in Swedish championships in track & field and cross country running, plus two NCAA gold medals. After many years away from training Nilsson won the Swedish championship in ski mountaineering in 2016 and a couple of months later won the prestigious Transvulcania ultramarathon.

Nilsson hails from Kalmar in the flat southern Sweden. She grew up in a sports family where both her father Carl-Gustaf ”Calle” and mother Katarina competed at an elite level. Two brothers, Marcus and David, and a sister, Johanna, have belonged to the Swedish national team in athletics. At the 2002 Swedish cross country championships the family walked home with four gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

In 2001 - 2005 Nilsson studied at the Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, USA. She and her sister, Johanna Nilsson, ran for the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks collegiate team and had much success. Nilsson won the 2004 NCAA collegiate outdoor championships in 3000 m steeplechase and 2005 indoor championships in 5000 m. The two sisters were both ranked in the top three of a 2014 poll of greatest women's athletes in the Big Sky Conference. Nilsson won four cross country titles in that regional conference. Both were inducted into the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks hall of fame.

During the first years of the 21st century Nilsson was the Swedish dominant in 5000 metres and 3000 m steeplechase, then a relatively new sport for women. In 2003, she was awarded the prestigious Stora grabbars och tjejers märke for her sports achievements. She finished seventh in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, where she set the Swedish national record at 9:39.24, a personal best. She also participated in the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki. In the summer of 2006 Nilsson ran 3000 m in 9:01.01, the fastest time by a Swedish athlete in more than 10 years. Nilsson's personal best for 5000 m is 15:33.18.