 Ari Mannio at the 2010 Bislett Games | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 23, 1987 Lehtimäki, Finland |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Weight | 100 kg (220 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Finland |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event | Javelin |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | 86.82 Karis, Raseborg 7 June 2015 |
Ari Pekka Mannio [1] (born July 23, 1987) is a Finnish javelin thrower.
Mannio first represented Finland internationally at the 2003 European Youth Olympic Festival in Paris, France, where he won the bronze medal. [2] The next year, he competed in the 2004 World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy, placing sixth against boys up to two years older and setting a new personal best of 70.63 metres with the men's 800 gram javelin. [3] Mannio's first full year with the men's implement was in 2005. That year, he claimed a bronze medal at the European Junior Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania. [4]
2006 saw Mannio's first successes against adult javelin throwers, as he claimed a bronze medal at the 2006 Finnish Championships. [5] However, even though he entered the World Junior Championships in Beijing, China, as the world junior leader, he was convincingly beaten in the final by South Africa's Robert Oosthuizen. [6] The next year, in 2007, he again failed to claim international gold despite having the best mark coming in; entering the European U23 Championships in Debrecen, Hungary as the only man in the field to have broken 80 metres, [7] Mannio was narrowly pushed out of the medals altogether and had to be content with 4th. [8]
Mannio still had steady development by 2008, as Mannio had recorded a new personal best of 81.54 metres in June 2008. [9] However, he was still only the sixth best thrower in Finland that year and was nowhere near making the three-man team for the Beijing Olympics.
Mannio opened 2009 with a massive personal best of 85.70 metres, an improvement of over four metres on his previous best. [1] This mark was only beaten that year by five throwers worldwide [10] and would remain his season best, even though he also exceeded his 2008 best in all of his next four competitions and either exceeded or equalled it in a total of ten competitions over the year. [1] He also finally struck international gold: again entering the European U23 Championships as the leading favorite, he was passed in the last round by Czech Republic's Petr Frydrych but rebounded with a championship record of 84.57 metres. [11]
Even with these improvements, Mannio missed making Finland's four-man team for the 2009 World Championships. Tero Pitkämäki was named as the defending World Champion and Tero Järvenpää based on his stellar 2008 season, while Teemu Wirkkala, who, like the other two had represented Finland at the Olympics the year before, qualified in the first trial meet at Pihtipudas. [12] This left the fourth spot between Mannio and Antti Ruuskanen. [12] Ruuskanen beat Mannio in many of the remaining meets, crucially including the Finnish Championships, and got the last spot while Mannio was named a reserve. [13]
Mannio qualified for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic games, reaching the final in 2012. [14] In 2015, Mannio beat his personal best again, with his new personal best being at 86.82 metres, an improvement of about 1 metre from his previous best in 2009.[ citation needed ]
Andreas Thorkildsen is a retired Norwegian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He was the Olympic Champion in 2004 and 2008, European Champion in 2006 and 2010, and World Champion in 2009. He is the first male javelin thrower in history to simultaneously be European, World and Olympic Champion. He was also a three-time silver medalist at the World Championships, placing second in 2005, 2007 and 2011. His personal best of 91.59 m, set in 2006, is the Norwegian record.
Tero Kristian Pitkämäki is a Finnish retired track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is a World Champion, having won gold in 2007. His personal best throw of 91.53 m, set in 2005, ranks him eleventh on the overall list.
The 2003 European Athletics Junior Championships was held in Tampere, Finland from 23 to 27 July 2003. A total of 44 events were contested; 22 by men and 22 by women. Germany had the biggest medal haul with nine golds and a total of 26, closely followed by Russia. Great Britain was third with 17 medals, while Romania was fourth with ten medals. Four championship records were set at the competition, although three were as a result of using lighter implements in the men's throwing events.
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Petr Frydrych is a Czech track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. His personal best of 88.32 m was set at the 2017 World Championships, where he won the bronze medal. He is coached by world record holder and three-time Olympic Champion Jan Železný.
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Zhao Qinggang is a Chinese track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. His 89.15 m personal best throw, set in 2014, is the Chinese record. It was also the Asian record until surpassed in 2017. He represented his country at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. He is the 2014 Asian Games champion. At the East Asian Games he was the runner-up in 2009 and winner in 2013. He is a two-time Chinese champion and was the winner of the 2013 National Games of China.
Wang Qingling is a Chinese track and field athlete who competes in the heptathlon and pentathlon. She holds personal bests of 5785 and 4246 points for the events, respectively. She was the gold medallist at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in 2014 and won both the Chinese Championships and National Games of China in 2013.
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Liu Shiying is a Chinese athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in women's javelin throw.
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