Birgit Skarstein
Skarstein in 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Birgit Lovise Røkkum Skarstein | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Norwegian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 10 February 1989 (age 36) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Para rowing Para cross-country skiing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | PR1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Birgit Lovise Røkkum Skarstein (born 10 February 1989) is a Norwegian former Paralympic athlete and social entrepreneur who competed in para rowing and para cross-country skiing. She is a Paralympic champion and silver medallist, six-time world champion and four-time European champion in single sculls. Skarstein has won a total of twelve World Championships medals, eight in rowing and four in cross-country skiing, and holds the world best time in women's single sculls. She announced her retirement on 1 January 2025.
Skarstein won the gold medal in the women's single sculls at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and the silver medal in the women's single sculls at the 2024 Summer Paralympics. She has won the world cup overall title in both rowing and cross-country skiing and has several individual world cup wins in both sports. Skarstein was in 2018 elected as a member of the International Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Council, where she in 2022 was re-elected for a second term.
Skarstein is a member of World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers, and was a delegate and speaker at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in 2022, as well as a panellist and speaker at the Nobel Peace Prize Nobel Week Dialogue on the topic of "Future of Life".