Facts

About

Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff, born May 17th 1980 in Nacka, a suburb of the Swedish capital Stockholm. At that time the family lived in Athens, Greece, and continued to do so for the next 7 years. In 1987 the family moved back to Sweden, and stayed there the following three years before heading to Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Fredrik, with his parents and two brothers, moved back to Sweden again in 1993.

At age 14, after working for his father and earning some money (building a garage), Fredrik managed to save some money. He decided to spend his earnings on a brand new mountainbike, a Kona Cinder-Cone. He joined a club, and in 1995 he participated in his first race. In the year after, 1996 he finished 4th in the nationals, and shortly after celebrated his first victory.

In 1997 he moved up to the juniors category, a step which was quite difficult for Fredrik, who finished 20th at the nationals, and afterwards broke his collarbone as he was practicing his jumping skills with some friends. The season was over for Fredrik, he now had to focus on the following season.

The following year was the year when Fredrik started to win races. He won the first two big races in Sweden in the spring, and was selected to represent Sweden at two World Cups in Germany and England. At the first race in St. Wendel, Germany, Fredrik finished 2nd, and the weekend after in the World Cup event in Plymouth, England, Fredrik celebrated his first international victory!
1999 was Fredrik's first year in the Elite category, although raceing in the U23 category at all Championships. He finished second at the Swedish Championships, and 9th at the European Championships.

The winter from 1999 to the 2000 season is a dark period in Fredrik's career, this because Fredrik was hit by a car in Belgium where he stayed at the time for training and cyclo-cross racing. The accident left Fredrik with eight stitches in his face, as well as a broken knee which gave him problems almost an entire year after. The year 2000 was spoiled!

Recovering steadily Fredrik had a good season in 2001, finishing 32:nd at the world cup in Leysin, Switzerland and 10:th at the World Championships in Vail, USA.

2002 is the year when Fredrik celebrated most victories in one season. He won all the Swedish Cup races he raced, as well as overall. He also won the Swedish Championship U-23 race with 9 minutes and 43 seconds!

In 2003 Fredrik was given the opportunity to race for the Motorex-Bianchi team. Unfortunately, the step was not without complications, and Fredrik did not develop as planned. He finished in 40:th place in the World Cup in Scotland, and 60:th in St Wendel.

Siemens Mobile - Cannondale, the team of Alexander Würz and Markus Rainer, became Fredrik's team in 2004. He now had his best season so far. He won the Swedish Championships and finished 4:th at the world cup finals in Livigno, Italy. He also climbed from being outside the top 100 ranked to 20:th position and finished 13:th overall in the world cup. At the Olympics in Athens Fredrik finnished in 11:th place.

Continuing his positive trend from 2004 into 2005, this year added more successes for Fredrik. Winner of the Marathon World Cup in Falun Sweden, finishing 4:th at the World Championships in Livigno, Italy and beeing 3:rd overall in the XC World Cup.

In front of 2006 Fredrik signed for a new team, the Cannondale-Vredestein Racing Team, and he had his mind set: He wanted to win a World Cup! That never happened, due to a lot of problems at the World Cups, he did not succeed to reach that goal.

But Fredrik does not have to be disappointed over the 2006 season. He took the bronze medal at the World Championships in Rotoura, New Zealand. Swedens first medal at a XCO World Championship ever! He won an Italian cup, a Swiss cup, a Portuguese Cup and a German Cup. He also won the German Cup overall and became again Swedish Champion and also Scandinavian Champion! At the European Championships in Italy he was in sololead for half the race but ended up in fourth position after hitting the wall on the last lap.

In 2007 Fredrik finally achieved his long term goal, he won the World Cup final in Maribor, Slovenia!

In 2008 Fredrik represented a new team, Full-Dynamix RSM. The big goal of the season was of course the Olympics in Beijing, but after leading the race the first two laps Fredrik dropped down to a disappointing 17th place. However Fredrik had again a good result at the World Championships in Val di Sole, Italy, by finishing 5th and for the third year in a row, Fredrik finished amongst the top 5 on the UCI ranking list.

Family and friends were not surprised when Fredrik in December 2008 announced he would put the mountainbike career on hold to try it on the road with the Pro Tour Team, Fuji Servetto. The road adventure kicked of well and Fredrik finished 4th overall in his first race, Tour de Langkawi, Malaysia, in February 2009. He continued to show he's ability on the road and earned 6 top-ten results in UCI category races during the season. We was also selected to represent Sweden at the World Championships in Mendrisio, close to Fredriks home in Switzerland.

For the 2010 and 2011 seasons Fredrik will join the American Pro Tour Team Garmin-Transitions.