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Matti Heikkinen
* December 19, 1983 Kajaani
174 cm, 61 kg
Present residence: Jyväskylä
Club: Vantaan Hiihtoseura
Coach: Toni Roponen
Matti Heikkinen has been the revelation of the year in Finnish crosscountry skiing. He already surprised everyone last season by winning bronze in the 15-kilometre Classical event at the World Championship of 2009 in Liberec, his debut at major international competitions. He started the Olympic season even better, taking his first World Cup victory at the 15-kilometre Freestyle race in Davos in December. Matti studies economics at the University of Jyväskylä. He lists economics also as one of his favourite hobbies, in addition to hunting and sleeping.
Achievements:
2009 WCh 15 km (C) bronze, 2x15 km (C+F/ms) 11th, 50 km (F/ms) 38th, 4x10 km bronze.
World Cup: 1 win.
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Sami Jauhojärvi
* May 5, 1981 Ylitornio174 cm, 69 kg
Present residence: Rovaniemi
Club: Vuokatti Ski Team
Coach: Reijo Jylhä
Sami Jauhojärvi highlighted the return of Finnish men’s cross-country skiing to the world elite in the 2008/09 season after many years in the doldrums. At the World Championship in Liberec he led the Finnish team to two relay medals and in the following month he won the Classical 50-kilometre race at Trondheim, which was Finnish men’s first World Cup victory in eight years. Sami hails from Ylitornio on the border between Finland and Sweden. He is studying for a degree in accounting at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi. His favourite hobbies are hunting, fishing and reading Donald Duck comics.
Previous Olympic Games:
2006 15 km (C) 9th, 2x15 km (C+F/ms) 20th, sprint (F) 61st, 4x10 km 10th.
Other achievements:
2001 WCh sprint (F) 18th. WJCh 30 km (F/ms) gold, 10 km (C) bronze, 4x10 km silver.
2005 WCh 2x15 km (C+F/ms) 11th, 50 km (C/ms) 14th, 15 km (F) 44th, 4x10 km 12th.
2007 WCh 2x15 km (C+F/ms) 16th, 50 km (C/ms) 13th, team sprint (F) 9th, 4x10 km 6th.
2009 WCh 2x15 km (C+F/ms) 8th, 15 km (C) 12th, team sprint (C) bronze, 4x10 km bronze.
World Cup: 1 win.
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Teemu Kattilakoski
* December 16, 1977 Kannus181 cm, 74 kg
Present residence: Jääli
Club: Alavieskan Viri
Coach: Jarmo Riski
Teemu Kattilakoski has been the leading Freestyle specialist in the Finnish men’s skiing team for better part of the new millennium and has carried the baton in every Olympic and World Championship relay race since 2002. On individual level he tied his best World Championship result last year in Liberec by finishing eighth in the 50-kilometre race. In January 2009 Teemu won the classic 60-kilometre Dolomitenlauf race in Austria. He is married, has two children and is co-owner in a business that imports sports footwear.
Previous Olympic Games:
2002 30 km (F/ms) 35th, 4x10 km 11th.
2006 50 km (F/ms) 43rd , 4x10 km 10th.
Other achievements:
2003 WCh 50 km (F) 8th, 4x10 km 6th.
2005 WCh 15 km (F) 9th, 4x10 km 12th.
2007 WCh 15 km (F) 46th, 4x10 km 6th.
2009 WCh 50 km (F/ms) 8th, 4x10 km bronze.
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Juha Lallukka
* October 27, 1979 Kouvola180 cm, 69 kg
Present residence: Kouvola
Club: Kouvolan Hiihtoseura
Coach: Jarmo Punkkinen
Juha Lallukka goes to his first Olympic Games. An avowed Freestyle specialist, he made his breakthrough into the Finnish national skiing team in the 2004/05 season, finishing fourth in a 15-kilometre World Cup race in Lahti. The best result in Juha’s international career so far is eleventh place in 15 kilometres at the World Championships of 2007 in Sapporo, and he also put up a creditable performance in 50 kilometres two years later in Liberec. Juha’s favourite pastime is reading. In his junior years he was a talented player in Finnish baseball.
Achievements:
2005 WCh 15 km (F) 32nd.
2007 WCh 15 km (F) 11th, 4x10 km 6th.
2009 WCh 50 km (F/ms) 15th.
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Kalle Lassila
* January 23, 1985 Veteli179 cm, 77 kg
Present residence: Tampere
Club: Vetelin Urheilijat
Coach: Aki Pulkkinen
Sprint specialist Kalle Lassila finished eleventh in at the World Championships of 2007 in Sapporo. His best World Cup result so far is fourth place from Kuusamo in November 2008. In Vancouver Kalle’s expertise will be needed in the individual sprint event, which will be conducted in Classical style, his favourite technique. Kalle is studying for a sports instructor’s degree and likes to play the guitar in his free time. He is not related to Riitta-Liisa Roponen (née Lassila).
Achievements:
2007 WCh sprint (C) 11th.
2009 WCh sprint (F) 18th.
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Lari Lehtonen
* June 21, 1987 Imatra176 cm, 72 kg
Present residence: Joensuu
Club: Imatran Urheilijat
Coach: Ilkka Jarva
Lari Lehtonen is one of the most promising Finnish male skiers of the younger generation. In 2005 he won gold and silver at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Monthey, Switzerland. Vancouver will be Lari’s major debut in the senior national team. Lari is equally at home in Classical technique and Freestyle races. He studies at the University of Joensuu and lists fishing and ice swimming among his favorite hobbies. He used to play Finnish baseball in his junior years.
No previous major championship events.
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Ville Nousiainen
* 5.12.1983 Kouvola185 cm, 78 kg
Present residence: Kouvola
Club: Kouvolan Hiihtoseura
Coach: Jukka Pätäri
Ville Nousiainen made his international breakthrough in the 2007/08 season, when he finished twice on a podium place in the World Cup. In 2009 he won bronze medals in team sprint and relay at the World Championships in Liberec. At the Vancouver Games his versatility will be put to good use in the pursuit and relay races. Ville used to practice Nordic combined in his early junior years but has concentrated on skiing since the age of twelve. His favourite hobbies are basketball and football, where his favourite team is Real Madrid.
Previous Olympic Games:
2006 50 km (F/ms) dnf.
Other achievements:
2007 WCh 2x15 km (C+F/ms) 24th, 15 km (F) 18th, 50 km (C/ms) 10th, team sprint (F) 9th, relay 6th.
2009 WCh 2x15 km (C+F/ms) 18th, 15 km (C) dnf, 50 km (F/ms) 25th, team sprint (C) bronze,
relay bronze.
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Lasse Paakkonen
* July 8, 1986 Raahe180 cm, 76 kg
Present residence: Jyväskylä
Club: Oulun Hiihtoseura
Coach: Risto Kittilä
Lasse Paakkonen has risen rapidly through the ranks to the Finnish national sprint skiing team, having made his World Cup debut only last season. Selection to the Olympic team in Vancouver actually came as a surprise even for himself: he has set his long-term plans to the 2011 World Championships in Oslo. Lasse studies economics at the University of Jyväskylä and enjoys football and playing the guitar in his freetime.
No previous major championship events.
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Matias Strandvall
* March 15, 1985 Helsinki191 cm, 85 kg
Present residence: Tampere
Club: IF Minken
Coach: Roland Villför
Matias Strandvall’s ninth place in sprint was the best individual result of Finnish male skiers at the World Championships of 2007 in Sapporo. Vancouver will be the first Olympic Games for the sprint expert, who promisingly enough has taken his best World Cup result on Canadian snow, finishing third in Canmore in January 2008. Matias was talented football player in his junior years but decided to concentrate on skiing at high school age. His brother Sebastian plays football in the Finnish championship league. After his skiing career Matias aims to get a college degree in economics.
Achievements:
2007 WCh sprint (C) 9th. WU23Ch sprint (C) bronze.
2009 WCh sprint (F) 24th.
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Jesse Väänänen
* January 6, 1984 Lahti197 cm, 91 kg
Present residence: Jyväskylä
Club: Lahden Hiihtoseura
Coach: Mikko Virtanen
The Vancouver Games will be Jesse Väänänen’s first major assignment in the Finnish senior national skiing team. He earned his Olympic ticket by finishing fourth in the World Cup sprint race in Otepää in January. Jesse took part at the World Junior Championships in 2003 and 2004, but injuries and persistent respiratory problems long hampered his development. Jesse studies sports science and economics at the University of Jyväskylä. He plays the guitar and piano and is also an avid photographer and painter. Jesse’s father Kari Väänänen was a national team skier in the 1980’s.
No previous major championship events.
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Virpi Kuitunen
* May 20, 1976 Kangasniemi
174 cm, 65 kg
Present residence: Espoo
Club: Kangasniemen Kalske
Coach: Jarmo Riski
Virpi Kuitunen has been one of the most successful cross-country skiers of the new millennium. She won three gold medals at the World Championship of 2007 in Sapporo and two more two years later in Liberec. She is also a two-time overall winner of the World Cup as well as of the Tour de Ski. In fact, the only thing still missing from Virpi’s prize collection is Olympic gold. At her only previous Games in Turin 2006 she had to content with bronze in the team sprint. Virpi has studied graphic designing. Her favourite pastimes are reading, gardening and cooking.
Previous Olympic Games:
2006 10 km (C) 9th, 30 km (F/ms) dnf, sprint (F) 5th, team sprint (C) bronze, 4x5 km 7th.
Other achievements:
1995 WJCh 4x5 km bronze.
1999 WCh 5 km (C) 35th.
2001 WCh 5+5 km pursuit gold.
2003 WCh 2x5 km (C+F/ms) 16 th.
2005 WCh 30 km (C/ms) silver, sprint (C) 5th, 4x5 km 5th.
2007 WCh 30 km (C/ms) gold, 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) dnf, sprint (C) bronze, team sprint (F) gold, 4x5 km gold.
2009 WCh 10 km (C) 4th, 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) 13th, 30 km (F/ms) dnf, team sprint (C) gold, 4x5 km gold.
World Cup: 20 wins. Overall champion in 2006/07 and 2007/08.
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Krista Lähteenmäki
* December 12, 1990 Ikaalinen160 cm, 56 kg
Present residence: Vuokatti
Club: Ikaalisten Urheilijat
Coach: Matti Haavisto
Krista Lähteenmäki enhanced her reputation as the brightest young promise in Finnish women’s skiing with her gold medal the World Junior Championships in Hinterzarten in January 2010. She made her debut in the senior World Championships the year before in Liberec. Krista is a student at Sotkamo sports high school at Vuokatti. She has also competed in orienteering and cycling. Her other hobbies include folk dances, scouting and playing the piano.
Achievements:
2008 WJCh relay bronze.
2009 WCh 10 km (C) 37th. WJCh 2x5 km (C+F/ms) silver.
2010 WJCh 5 km (C) gold.
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Pirjo Muranen
*March 8, 1981 Rovaniemen mlk
174 cm, 63 kg
Present residence: Vuokatti
Club: Ounasvaaran Hiihtoseura
Coach: Reijo Jylhä
Pirjo Muranen (née Manninen) has belonged to the world elite in women’s cross-country skiing ever since her conquest of the first ever World Championship sprint title in Lahti 2001. All the more surprising is the fact that Vancouver will be her first Olympic Games. Last season
was one of the best of Pirjo’s long career: she won a World Cup sprint race at Rybinsk and collected individual sprint bronze and relay gold at the World Championship in Liberec. Pirjo will be joined in the Finnish Olympic team by her elder brother Hannu Manninen, the Nordic combined star – they may become the first brother and sister to win Olympic medals for Finland. Pirjo’s favourite hobbies are baking, needlework and snowboarding. After her sports
career she hopes to become a teacher.
Achievements:
1998 WJCh 4x5 km silver.
1999 WJCh 5km (C) silver, 4x5 km gold.
2000 WJCh sprint (F) gold, 5 km (F) silver, 15 km (C) bronze.
2001 WCh sprint (F) gold, 5+5 km pursuit 26th. WJCh 15 km (F/ms) gold, sprint (F) gold,
5 km (C) silver, 4x5 km gold.
2003 WCh 10 km (C) 14th, 30 km (F) 18th, sprint (F) 6th.
2005 WCh 10 km (F) 50th, team sprint (F) silver.
2007 WCh 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) 15th, sprint (C) 7th, 4x5 km gold.
2009 WCh 10 km (C) 7th, 30 km (F/ms) 10th, sprint (F) bronze, 4x5 km gold.
World Cup: 5 wins.
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Kirsi Perälä
* May 6, 1982 Forssa168 cm, 62 kg
Present residence: Jyväskylä
Club: Huhtasuon Hiihto 2000
Coaches: Vesa Mäkipää, Eero Hietanen
Kirsi Perälä is the only sprint specialist in the Finnish women’s skiing team in the Vancouver Games. She won bronze at World Junior Championships back in 2001 but has bloomed into a force to be reckoned with in the world sprint circuit really in the past few years. She made her senior World Championship debut in Liberec 2009. Her best result in the World Cup so far is fifth place in Classical sprint race at Otepää in January 2010. Kirsi is studying at the University of Jyväskylä in order to become a science teacher. In her junior years she also used to compete in track and field athletics. Her favourite hobbies include cooking, baking and reading.
Achievements:
2001 WJCh sprint (F) bronze.
2009 WCh sprint (F) 24th.
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Riitta-Liisa Roponen
* May 6, 1978 Haukipudas161 cm, 54 kg
Present residence: Haukipudas
Club: Oulun Hiihtoseura
Coach: Toni Roponen
Riitta-Liisa Roponen (née Lassila) is a Freestyle specialist and has been was a valuable asset in Finland’s victorious relay teams at the World Championship in Sapporo 2007 and Liberec 2009. Her third gold medal came in the team sprint in Sapporo, where she also took her best individual result thus far, fifth place in the combined mass start race. Riitta-Liisa is actually the skier with most Olympic experience in the Finnish women’s team, as she made her debut already at the Salt Lake Games in 2002. Riitta-Liisa is coached by her husband Toni Roponen. Their daughter Ida was born in 2004.
Previous Olympic Games:
2002 15 km (F/ms) 19th, sprint (F) 36th, 4x5 km 7th.
2006 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) 13th, 30 km (F/ms) 23rd, 10 km (C) 35th, 4x5 km 7th.
Other achievements:
2003 WCh 2x5 km (C+F/ms) 41st, 30 km (F) 35th.
2005 WCh 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) 8th, 10 km (F) 12th, team sprint (F) silver, 4x5 km 5th.
2007 WCh 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) 5th, 10 km (F) 7th, team sprint (F) gold, 4x5 km gold.
2009 WCh 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) 23rd, 30 km (F/ms) 6th, sprint (F) 15th, 4x5 km gold.
World Cup: 1 win.
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Aino-Kaisa Saarinen
* February 1, 1979 Hollola166 cm, 58 kg
Present residence: Hollola
Club: Joutsan Pommi
Coach: Jarmo Riski
Aino-Kaisa Saarinen’s three gold medals at the World Championships in Liberec duly earned her the Finnish Athlete of the Year award. Aino-Kaisa was a track and field athlete in her junior years but decided to concentrate on skiing at 15. She made her debut in the Finnish national team in 2001. Her first Olympic Games in Turin 2006 yielded a bronze medal in the team sprint. Aino-Kaisa won her first World Cup race in the Classical 30-kilometre race in Oslo 2007, but her real breakthough came in the 2008/09 season: in addition to her victories in Liberec she finished third in the overall standings of the World Cup. Aino-Kaisa is studying for a marketing degree at the University of Lapland.
Previous Olympic Games:
2006 10 km (C) 7th, 30 km (F/ms) 17th, sprint (F) 26th, team sprint (C) bronze, 4x5 km 7th.
Other achievements:
1999 WJCh 4x5 km gold.
2001 WCh sprint (F) 11th.
2003 WCh 15 km (C/ms) 25th, 30 km (F) 22nd, sprint (F) 29th.
2005 WCh 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) 30th, 30 km (C/ms) 4th, sprint (C) 8th, 4x5 km 5th.
2007 WCh 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) 6th, 30 km (C/ms) 4th, sprint (C) 18th, 4x5 km gold.
2009 WCh 10 km (C) gold, 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) bronze, 30 km (F/ms) 7th,
team sprint (C) gold, 4x5 km gold.
World Cup: 3 wins.
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Riikka Sarasoja
* February 23, 1982 Lempäälä164 cm, 55 kg
Present residence: Jyväskylä
Club: Lappeen Riento
Coach: Toni Roponen
Riikka Sarasoja has been a member of the Finnish national skiing team for better part of the decade but has really emerged to the foreground only quite recently. Her breakthrough performance came in the Tour de Ski of 2009/10: Riikka was fourth in the penultimate 10-kilometre Classical mass start race in Val di Fiemme and finished the Tour in a creditable fifteenth place. Riikka is a versatile skier and prefers the Freestyle technique even if her best World Cup results tend to have come in Classical races. She studies sports pedagogy at the University of Jyväskylä and likes to draw and paint in her rare spare moments.
Achievements:
2001 WJCh relay gold.
2009 WCh 2x7.5 km (C+F/ms) 24th, sprint (F) 21st, 30 km (F/ms) 25th.
