Julija Tchepalova

Yuliya Chepalova

Chepalova in September 2005
Personal information
Born	23 December 1976 (1976-12-23) (age 40) Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russian SFSR
Medal record Women's cross-country skiing Representing  Russia Olympic Games 1998 Nagano 30 km freestyle 2002 Salt Lake City Individual sprint 2006 Turin 4 × 5 km 2002 Salt Lake City 10 km classical 2006 Turin 30 km freestyle 2002 Salt Lake City 15 km freestyle World Championships 2001 Lahti 4 × 5 km 2005 Oberstdorf 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit 2005 Oberstdorf 10 km 2005 Oberstdorf 4 × 5 km 2001 Lahti Individual sprint 2005 Oberstdorf Team sprint

Yuliya Chepalova (Russian: Ю́лия Чепа́лова; born 23 December 1976 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russian SFSR) is a former Russian cross-country skier.

Daughter of a cross-country skiing coach, Chepalova started to ski as soon as she began to walk. Coached by her father, Anatoly Chepalov, Yuliya made her debut in 1986 and continued to move upward through the old Soviet system (and later Russian, following the collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991). Chepalov, a coach of the Russian junior national team, reportedly sold off all of his assets to help finance his daughter's career. Chepalova is currently affiliated with Dynamo Moscow, lives in Syktyvkar with her second husband, Vassili Rotchev and her daughter Olesya, and their daughter Vaselina who was born in February 2007; works as a sports instructor, and speaks, besides her native Russian, also some German.

Debuting on the FIS cross-country circuit in the 1995–1996 season, Chepalova has continually ranked in the Top 15 throughout her career (the lone exception is the 2002–2003 season, where she took maternity leave to have her daughter Olesya), finishing #1 overall in 2000–2001 (#3 in 2005–2006 with #1 in the distance category (greater than 5 km)). This includes success at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, with golds in the 4×5 km (2001) and 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit (2005), silvers in the 4×5 km and 10 km freestyle (both 2005), and bronzes in the Individual sprint (2001) and Team sprint (2005). Additionally, Chepalova has won the women's 30 km at the Holmenkollen ski festival three times (1999, 2004, and 2006), joining fellow Russian cross-country skier Larisa Lazutina as the only three-time winners of the event. She earned the Holmenkollen medal in 2004.