Petter Karlsson (musher)

Petter Karlsson (born 6 September 1975) is a Swedish musher and world champion in long-distance sled dog racing. He has won the Finnmarksløpet dog sled race four times (2016, 2018, 2023 and 2024). In 2016, he was the first non-Norwegian to achieve this victory.

Sporting career
Karlsson's mushing career began in the late 1990s. In 2005 he won the European Championship in Hamar, Norway.

Petter has mainly competed in long-distance races for decades. He won the La Grande Odyssée Savoie Mont Blanc in 2008 with a finish time of 36:03:51.

In 2016, he took part in the Europe's longest sled dog race, the Finnmarksløpet, for the first time. He was the first non-Norwegian to achieve this success, breaking the Norwegian dominance in this sport. The following year, he also won the Femundløpet.

In 2018, the Swede returned to Finnmarksløpet and was able to achieve a victory 7 minutes ahead of the Norwegian Birgitte Næss.

Karlsson was in the lead when the race in 2020 had to be stopped due to the covid pandemic. The race was also cancelled in the following years due to the pandemic.

The Finnmarksløpet 2023 was also the world championship in the long distance, which Karlsson won with a time of 6 days 19 hours 35 min.

In 2024, he won the Finnmarksløpet for the fourth time in a time of 7 days 9 hours 30 minutes. In addition to this victory, he was honoured with the Best Dog Care Award by the race vets.

Karlssons dogs have also competed in numerous races with other mushers where they have achieved good results.

Awards and honours
In addition to the various victories in his career, Karlsson has been honoured with several sports awards. In 2024 he was honoured by the Swedish Kennel Club with Segebadenplaketten for his sporting achievements. He is the first in 11 years to receive this award.

At the Finnmarksløpet 2024 Karlsson was also honoured with the popular Best Dog Care Award, an award given by the official race veterinarians to the musher who has shown the greatest care for his dogs throughout the course of the race.

Personal life
Karlsson is also a breeder of Alaskan huskies and runs a tourist kennel in Slussfors, where he offers 5-Day-Tours and expeditions for guests. His kennel currently consists of 90 dogs. In addition to dog sledding, Karlsson is a farmer. He is married and has three children. He lives with his family in Slussfors, Sweden.