On the FIS record
Scored and published by the governing body since January 2022
2022–2026
Cross-Country Skier · India
Bhavani Thekkada
From Kodagu to the world's Nordic tracks.
- World Cup starter
- 2 World Championships
- International medallist
The first Indian woman to win a medal in a FIS cross-country race.
Two bronzes in Chile in 2025, a World Cup start list at Ruka in the December that followed, and a sprint quarter-final at the Asian Winter Games. She reached all of it from a country with no cross-country course, no domestic race calendar and no coach in her discipline.
- 3 World Cup starts Ruka, Trondheim and Davos, inside sixteen days 2025
- 2 World Championships Planica and Trondheim, two editions on the start list 2023 · 2025
- 2 international bronze Sprint and 5 km at Corralco, on the Chilean championship card 2025
Who she is
It started with a film, and a race on television.
She grew up on her family's coffee farm in Kodagu, in the hills of southern Karnataka, where it has never snowed and where neither of her parents had ever seen snow either. In 2013 she watched a Bollywood film with a trekking sequence in it and went looking for the mountains it was set in. That took her to Darjeeling, to a mountaineering qualification, and to a job instructing in Kashmir, which is where she first put on skis.
Cross-country came later, and secondhand. Watching the 2018 Pyeongchang Games she saw the Norwegian Marit Bjørgen race, and decided that was the event she wanted. She left the instructing job to train full time. Her father, who has spent his life on the farm, told her that if it made her happy she should do it.
- Born
- 14 May 1995, Kodagu, Karnataka
- First saw snow
- Aged 20
- Mentored by
- Shiva Keshavan, six-time Olympian
- Trains across
- Kashmir, Europe, South America, New Zealand
Level of competition
-
5 seasons on FIS record -
3 World Cup starts FIS Cross-Country World Cup
Ruka, Trondheim and Davos, inside sixteen days
2025 -
2 World Championships Nordic World Ski Championships
Planica 2023 and Trondheim 2025
2023 · 2025 -
1 sprint quarter-final Asian Winter Games, Harbin
Carried India's flag at the opening ceremony
2025 -
2 international bronze Corralco, Chile
Sprint and 5 km, on the Chilean national championship card
2025 -
3 national medals Khelo India Winter Games, Gulmarg
Gold in the sprint, bronze at 10 km and 15 km, for Karnataka
2026
The sport
There are two techniques and two distance ranges. She races all four.
- 01Classic
Skis run inside two grooves cut into the snow. Her sprint at Harbin was a classical race.
- 02Freestyle
A skating stride on a wide groomed piste, no grooves. Her 5 km at Harbin was freestyle, in 18:10.
- 03Sprint
About 1.3 to 1.5 km, run as knockout heats. She reached the quarter-final at Harbin in 2025.
- 04Distance
10 or 15 km, alone against the clock. Bronze at both distances at Gulmarg in 2026.
There is no permanent snow in India for her discipline, so her year follows it across the hemispheres: Kashmir and Europe from December to March, conditioning on the coast through the Indian summer, then South America or New Zealand in August and September for the southern winter.
01
Kodagu to Davos
Thirty years, one direction. It begins in a district that has never had snow and ends on a World Cup start list at Davos.
1995
Kodagu
Born on 14 May 1995 in Kodagu, the coffee-growing hill district of southern Karnataka. It rains hard there for four months a year and it has never snowed. The nearest snow sits two thousand kilometres north and four thousand metres up.
2014
The mountains came first
She started mountaineering at nineteen, trained at ABVIMAS and at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling, and by 2017 was a qualified mountaineer and instructor. Everything that follows runs through that, not through a ski club.
The Republic Day contingent
Selected for the NCC contingent at the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi, a year after the All India NCC camp. The route into the mountains ran through a uniformed cadet programme.
2018
Snow, and then skis
Alpine skiing arrived as a tool of the instructing job. The same year she climbed Mount Elbrus, at 5,642 m the highest summit in Europe. She had first seen snow only three years earlier.
2019–2020
Certified abroad, then cross-country
An international ski instructor certification in New Zealand, on the slopes of an active volcano, and a season pursuing skiing abroad. She moved to cross-country in 2020: the endurance end of the sport, and the one a mountaineering instructor already has most of the engine for.
2022–
Onto the FIS circuit
Her first FIS-scored races were in Akureyri, northern Iceland, in January 2022. Planica followed in 2023 and Kazakhstan in 2024, then Harbin, Trondheim, Chile, and a first World Cup start at Ruka.
All the records, on the record
Eleven starts, every one of them scored and published by FIS.
2022
First FIS races
Akureyri, IcelandFirst FIS-scored starts, in sprint and 10 km interval start.
Sprint qualification 7th · Interval start 6th
2023
Akureyri, second season
Akureyri, IcelandFourth in both the sprint and the interval start.
4th · 4th
2023
Nordic World Ski Championships
Planica, SloveniaFirst World Championships start, in the 10 km interval start.
104th
2024
Eastern Europe Cup
Schuchinsk, KazakhstanContinental cup racing in sprint and interval start.
42nd · 35th
2024
First Scandinavian racing block
Idre, Sweden · Seefeld, Austria · Lygna, NorwayThree FIS meetings in December, the first sustained block on European snow.
2025
Asian Winter Games
Harbin, ChinaIndia's flag bearer at the opening ceremony. Reached the sprint quarter-finals and finished the 5 km freestyle in 18:10.4.
Sprint 24th, quarter-finalist · 5 km 25th
2025
Nordic World Ski Championships
Trondheim, NorwaySecond World Championships, in the sprint and the 10 km interval start.
Sprint 111th · 10 km 105th
2025
International podium in Chile
Corralco, ChileThird place on consecutive days at Corralco, in the interval start and the sprint. Reported in India as the first international cross-country medals won by an Indian woman.
- BronzeSprint
- Bronze5 km
2025
World Cup debut
Ruka, FinlandFirst FIS Cross-Country World Cup start, at 66°N in northern Finland, about forty kilometres short of the Arctic Circle.
10 km 81st · Sprint 77th
2025
World Cup, Trondheim and Davos
Trondheim, Norway · Davos, SwitzerlandTwo further World Cup weekends in December, closing the 2025 calendar year.
Best 76th
2026
Khelo India Winter Games
Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir, IndiaGold in the 1.5 km sprint in 4:13.91, bronze in the 15 km and bronze in the 10 km, competing for Karnataka.
- Gold1.5 km sprint
- Bronze10 km
- Bronze15 km
The road to 2030
Stated targets, not results. Everything above this point is on the record.
- 2027
A third World Championship
Back to the start list, with two editions already behind her.
- 2028
Asian Winter Games and Worlds
Qualification for both, on stronger international form.
- 2029
Olympic qualification pathway
World Championships, and the points that decide 2030.
- 2030
Winter Olympics
The reason the rest of it is planned the way it is.
The target
2030
Winter Olympics
French Alps, France · 1 to 17 February 2030
Everything above this is arranged around one start list. Qualification runs on FIS points, and points come from starts she has to reach, enter and finish before the window closes.
- Now
- Full FIS calendar, largely self-funded
- 2027–2029
- World Championships and Asian Winter Games
- Decides it
- FIS points across the qualification window
Beyond the finish line
Qualifying is the target. It is not the whole of the ambition.
A sport with no home crowd
India has no permanent cross-country base and almost no domestic race calendar. Every season she competes in is assembled from abroad.
Making the sport legible
Most people in India have never watched a cross-country race. Part of the job is explaining what it is and why the distances are hard.
Athletes behind her
A pathway that exists on paper is different from one somebody has already walked. She would rather not be the last as well as among the first.
Proving the ceiling is higher
An Indian woman on a World Cup start list changes what the next selection meeting thinks is realistic.
02
107 degrees of latitude
Every race location across six seasons, plotted by latitude and longitude. The vertical axis is the point. She races from inside the Arctic Circle to the far side of the Tropic of Capricorn, and started from a district that has never seen snow.
- 66°NRukaFinlandNorthernmost start
- 12°NKodaguIndiaHome
- 41°SAntillancaChileSouthernmost start
- Home
- India
- FIS and championships
- World Cup and podium
All 14 locations as a list
| Location | Event | Years | Best result | Latitude |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kodagu, India | Home district | 1995 | Home district. 12.4°N, below the Tropic of Cancer. | 12.4°N |
| Gulmarg, India | National championships · Khelo India Winter Games | 2022, 2026 | Gold, Nordic sprint, Khelo India 2026 | 34.0°N |
| Akureyri, Iceland | FIS races | 2022, 2023, 2024 | 4th, sprint and interval start, 2023 | 65.7°N |
| Planica, Slovenia | Nordic World Ski Championships | 2023 | World Championships debut, 104th · FIS race, 31st | 46.5°N |
| Schuchinsk, Kazakhstan | Eastern Europe Cup | 2024 | 35th, Eastern Europe Cup, 2024 | 52.9°N |
| Idre, Sweden | FIS races | 2024 | 61st, sprint, 2024 | 61.9°N |
| Seefeld, Austria | FIS races | 2024 | 111th, interval start, 2024 | 47.3°N |
| Lygna, Norway | FIS races | 2024 | 2024 Scandinavian racing block | 60.4°N |
| Harbin, China | Asian Winter Games | 2025 | 23rd, sprint classical, quarter-finalist, 2025 | 45.8°N |
| Trondheim, Norway | World Championships · World Cup | 2025 | World Championships and a World Cup start, 2025 | 63.4°N |
| Antillanca, Chile | FIS race | 2025 | 4th, interval start, 2025 | -40.8°S |
| Corralco, Chile | South American Cup · national championships | 2025 | 3rd, sprint and 5 km, 2025 | -38.5°S |
| Ruka, Finland | World Cup | 2025 | World Cup debut, 76th in the sprint, 2025 | 66.2°N |
| Davos, Switzerland | World Cup | 2025 | 76th, World Cup sprint and interval start, 2025 | 46.8°N |
03
The mountain came first
She was a certified mountaineering instructor before she was a racer, and picked up skiing as part of that job.
5,642 m
Mt. Elbrus
Russia
The highest summit in Europe.
2,797 m
Mt. Ruapehu
New Zealand
An active volcano, and a ski field. She took her international skiing certification here in 2019.
Qualifications
In the order she earned them
- Darjeeling and ManaliStep 012013–2017
Climbing
Qualified on rock and snow first.
- Grade A Adventure CourseABVIMAS
- Special Basic MountaineeringHimalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling
Himalayan Mountaineering InstituteStep 022017Instructing
A teaching qualification, then a year teaching it.
- Method of InstructionHimalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling
- Guest Instructor, one yearHimalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling
Gulmarg, KashmirStep 032018Skiing
Skis arrived as equipment for the instructing job.
- Basic and intermediate skiingJawaharlal Institute of Mountaineering
- Advanced skiingIndian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering, Kashmir
- Mt. Ruapehu, New ZealandStep 042019
Abroad
The first certification earned outside India.
- International skiing certificationSnowsports instructor certification
04
The whole record, 2020 to 2026
| Year | Event | Location | Result | Medal | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Khelo India Winter GamesSprint 1.5 km | Gulmarg | 4:13.91 | gold | Khelo India |
| 2026 | Khelo India Winter Games15 km | Gulmarg | 53:20.44 | bronze | Khelo India |
| 2026 | Khelo India Winter Games10 km | Gulmarg | bronze | Khelo India | |
| 2025 | FIS Cross-Country World Cup10 km interval start | Ruka, Finland | 81st | FIS | |
| 2025 | Nordic World Ski Championships10 km interval start | Trondheim, Norway | 105th | FIS | |
| 2025 | Asian Winter GamesSprint classical, quarter-finalist | Harbin, China | 24th | Asian Winter Games | |
| 2025 | Chilean national championships (FIS)Interval start | Corralco, Chile | 3rd | bronze | FIS |
| 2025 | Chilean national championships (FIS)Sprint | Corralco, Chile | 3rd | bronze | FIS |
| 2023 | Nordic World Ski Championships10 km interval start | Planica, Slovenia | 104th | FIS | |
| 2023 | FIS racesSprint and interval start | Akureyri, Iceland | 4th · 4th | FIS |
05
Media
Press, interviews and the photographic archive in one place. No article text or publisher photography is reproduced here.
- Associated Press Olympic hopeful cross-country skier tries to put India on the winter sports map 2025-12-10 A profile filed during her first World Cup block, on the coffee farm upbringing and the economics of racing without a federation budget.
- Karnataka First Chasing gold through snow 2025-10-20 Regional coverage of the Corralco bronzes and the Kodagu background.
- FIS Athlete biography · Bhavani Thekkada Nanjunda The governing body's complete record of her scored races since 2022.
- Khelo India KIWG 2026 medal tally 2026-02 Official results for the 2026 edition at Gulmarg.
The archive
Six seasons, photographed
All 20 photographs as a grid
06
Athlete, speaker, storyteller
Four talks, all of them drawn from the same decade of doing it. Each one is about a specific problem she had to solve, with the numbers attached. None of them is about believing in yourself.
Starting from zero infrastructure
What it actually takes to reach an international start line from a country with no facility, no calendar and no coaching in your discipline.
The mountain before the medal
Mountaineering, instructing, and how an unglamorous apprenticeship turned into an endurance career.
Being the only one in the room
The practical reality of being the sole woman on a team sheet, and what changes when somebody has gone first.
Endurance, honestly
What a 10 km interval start costs, how a season is planned, and why most of the work is invisible.
The athlete is on the FIS record. The storyteller is what got an Indian woman from a coffee farm onto a World Cup start list with no federation budget behind her, by explaining the point of it to everyone whose yes she needed.
Her race season runs from late November to March. Dates inside it are limited.
07
Partnerships
Bhavani races a full FIS calendar largely at her own expense, with training help borrowed from other nations' teams. A season has a fixed shape, and support lands at particular points inside it.
Current support
Athlete supportAthlete support through their sports programme: sports psychologist, nutritionist and strength coach, and conditioning blocks in Mumbai through the Indian summer.
State supportState backing from her home state, the department that has recognised her results and carried her through domestic selection and the Khelo India programme.
Open to
- Sponsorship
- Brand partnerships
- Campaigns
- Product collaborations
- Athlete partnerships
- Pre-season on snowTraining blocks
- World Cup periodTravel, wax service
- FIS racingTravel
- Khelo India, nationalsTravel
- World ChampionshipsWax service, race skis
Training blocks on snow
The European race season opens in late November, and the athletes on that start list have been on snow since October. A pre-season block in Scandinavia or the Alps decides whether she arrives race-fit or arrives to get fit.
Competition travel
The 2025 December block ran Ruka to Trondheim to Davos in sixteen days. Entry fees and accommodation are sometimes covered by the federation. Getting there rarely is.
Coaching and wax service
Every other athlete on a World Cup start list arrives with a service team reading the snow that morning. Skis waxed wrong for the temperature cost more time than any amount of fitness gets back.
Race skis and kit
Classic and freestyle skis in cold, normal and warm grinds, plus poles, boots and a racing suit. Equipment is graded to conditions, so a single pair does not cover a season.