Petter Karlsson
Petter Karlsson is a competitive dog musher and the breeder of some of the best long distance dogs in the world. He has won Europe’s longest race (Finnmarksløpet, 1200km) four times, and the 650 km Femundløpet two times in record breaking time. He has won the World Championship in Longdistance two times.
The beginning
At the age of 10, Petter harnessed his father’s two moose hunting dogs to a sled and a lifelong passion was born. In the end of the 90s Petter started his professional sleddog career and was able to secure the European Championship title in the middistance in 2005.
Change to Long Distance
After winning the European Championship among others, Petter decided to take on the notoriously difficult La Grande Odyssée 2006. La Grande Odyssée is well known as The Tour De France of dog mushing. A stage race in the Swiss and French Alps, it runs through some of the most extreme terrain on earth. He went on to win it in 2008, but not before putting everything on the line to achieve his goal.
Writing History
In 2016, he made history as the first non-Norwegian to claim victory in Europe’s longest sled dog race, the Finnmarksløpet. The following year saw him triumph in the Femundlopet in record breaking time, and in 2018, he secured another Finnmarkslopet win, crossing the finish line just six minutes ahead of the runner-up team. In 2023 Petter not only clinched his third Finnmarkslopet title but also earned the prestigious title of long-distance world champion.
Best Dog Care Award
In 2024, Petter not only secured another victory in the Finnmarksløpet, but was also awarded the Best Dog Care Award.
The Best Dog Care Award, an honour awarded by the race vets to the musher who has taken the best care of his team throughout the entire race. Receiving this award as the first-place winner sends a strong sign that victory is not achieved at the expense of the dogs’ health, but because of it.
Second World Champion Title
In 2025, Petter consolidated his position once again by not only winning the Femundløpet with a three-hour lead over the next team, but also defending his World Champion title with a new record time for the race.
