Mimmi Kotka

Lill Maria Kotka (called 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 of Finnish descent through her father. who is from Finland. Since 2017, she and her husband, Toni Spasenoski, who is a high-tech project manager and amateur photographer, live mostly in Chamonix.

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 30 km, Sweden

2011
 * 2nd Lidingö Ultra 50 km, Sweden
 * 13th Swiss Alpine Marathon 79 km, Switzerland
 * 23rd Lidingöloppet 30 km, Sweden

2012
 * 2nd Trail des Balcons d'Azur 52 km, France
 * 5th AXA Fjällmaraton 44 km, Sweden

2014
 * 2nd Kullamannen Ultra 54 km, Sweden
 * 3rd AXA Fjällmaraton 44 km, Sweden
 * 2nd Ultravasan 90 km, Sweden
 * 1st Coastal Trail Series – Dorset Ultra 44 miles, UK

2015
 * 8th IAU Trail WC Annecy 84 km, France

2016
 * 1st Trail des Balcons d'Azur 52 km, France
 * 1st Trail du Lac d'Annecy – Marathon Race 43 km, France
 * 1st Gran Trail Courmayeur 90 km, Italy (2nd overall)
 * 1st Ultra-Trail Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix (CCC) 101 km, France
 * 23rd Limone Extreme Skyrace 27 km, Italy

2017
 * 1st Run Stockholm 10 km, Sweden
 * 1st Marathon du Mont Blanc 82 km, Italy
 * 3rd High Trail Vanoise 70 km, France
 * 1st Swiss Alpine Marathon 47 km, Switzerland
 * 1st Ultra-Trail Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (TDS) 119 km, France (new course record)
 * 5th Grand Trail des Templiers 76 km, France
 * 1st Kullamannen Dubbel-Döden (English: Double Death) 44 km, Sweden

2018
 * 1st Madeira Island Ultra-Trail 115 km, Portugal
 * 1st MaXi-Race International – Annecy 116 km, France (3rd overall)
 * 1st Samoëns Trail Tour - Tour du Giffre 33 km, France
 * 1st Marathon du Mont Blanc 91 km, 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) 165 km, Réunion, France
 * 3rd, Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100 km, South Africa

2019
 * 1st, UTM Marão 55 km, Portugal
 * 13th, Madeira Island Ultra-Trail 115 km, Portugal
 * 1st, La 6000D 65 km, France (5th overall)
 * 20th, Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) 170 km, France/Italy/Switzerland
 * 2nd, Ultra Pirineu 94 km, Spain

2021
 * 1st, Quartrail des Alpages 50 km, Italy
 * 3rd, Lavaredo Ultra Trail 120 km, Italy
 * 1st, La 6000D 67 km, France (second straight victory)
 * 3rd, Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) 171.5 km, France/Italy/Switzerland

2022
 * 1st, Lavaredo Ultra Trail 120 km, Italy
 * 2nd, Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100 km, South Africa