Kalla, who won individual gold medals at Vancouver 2010 and Pyeongchang 2018, as well as relay gold at Sochi 2014, won a total of nine Olympic medals across three Games.

Her individual gold in Vancouver came in the women’s 10 kilometres freestyle, before she followed it up with gold as part of the women’s 4x5km relay in Sochi, and then claimed another individual gold in the women’s 15km skiathlon in Pyeongchang.

Kalla first competed on the World Cup circuit aged 18 in 2006, and went on to start 266 races in World Cups.

Kalla competed in 35 World Championship races, only finishing outside the top ten on four occasions.

In a social media post announcing her retirement Kalla wrote: "It has not been an easy decision, but in the end, curiosity about life outside elite sports outweighed what a continued investment would entail.

"What I will miss the most is the kick of being in shape!"