Mika Antero Laitinen ( Finnish. Mika Antero Laitinen ; born March 5, 1973 ) is a Finnish ski jumper . Olympic champion and two-time world champion in team tournaments.
 Mika Laitinen | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| general information | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Mika Antero Laytinen | |||||||||||||||||||
| Citizenship |  Finland | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of Birth | March 5, 1973 (46 years) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of Birth | Kuopio , Finland | |||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Puijon hiihtoseura | |||||||||||||||||||
| Record | 189 m ( Harrachov , 1996) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Growth | 189 cm | |||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 63 kg | |||||||||||||||||||
| results | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic Games | 5 ( 1992 ) | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Championship |  ( 1995 ) | |||||||||||||||||||
| world Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Debut in the World Cup | March 3, 1990 in Lahti | |||||||||||||||||||
| First podium in the World Cup | December 11, 1994 in Planica (2nd place) | |||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup wins | 5 (11 podiums) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Best position for the season | 6 ( 1995/96 ) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Tour of the Four Springboards | 7 (1996/97) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Career
He made his debut on the international arena on March 3, 1990 at the home stage in Lahti, where he acted as a national team jumper and took 37th place. The first points of the World Cup earned in January 1992, becoming the 12th on the stage in Predazzo .
At the age of eighteen he made his debut at the Olympics . In Albertville acted in all three types of programs . He was fifth on the normal springboard, 19th on the big one. And in the team competition, together with Ari-Pekka Nikkola , Risto Laakkonen and Toni Nieminen won the Olympic gold medal.
In the post-Olympic season of 1992/93, Laitinen practically did not speak, only twice went to the start of the cup stages and did not score points, and he completely missed the 1993/94 Olympic season.
At the end of 1994, at the big springboard in the Slovenian Planica was the second, for the first time in his career, rising to the top three at the World Cup stage. In the same season at the World Championships in the Canadian Thunder Bay won two medals. In a personal tournament on a normal springboard, Finn was third, losing only to two Japanese Takanobu Okabe and Hiro Saito . He was the 13th on the big springboard, and in the team tournament together with Niccola, Jani Soininen and Janne Ahonen won the gold medal, for the first time becoming the world champion.
Mika Laitinen brilliantly started the 1995/96 season . Of the first nine stages, he won five, confidently leading in the overall standings. After the victory in Oberhof at the first stage of the Tourn of four springboards, Finn was the main favorite of Tournai, but at the second stage in Garmisch-Partenkirchen fell, was injured and had to miss almost the rest of the season. In the overall standings, Laitinen was the sixth, which was for him the best result in his career.
In 1997, at the World Championships in Trondheim, the Finnish national team, together with Laitinen, defended the champion title in the team championship at the big springboard. In personal tournaments was twice the 23rd.
At the second Olympics career, the Finnish flying skier was left without medals. In personal tournaments, he took two places at the end of the second ten, and in the team tournament, the Finnish national team became the fifth.
In 1999, he spoke at the World Championships in Ramsau, remained there without medals and at the end of the season he decided to end his sports career.
Links
- Mika Laitinen - FIS website statistics (Eng.)
- Mika Laitinen - Olympic statistics on Sports-Reference.com (English)