Finland at the 1998 Winter Olympics

Finland at the 1998 Winter Olympics
IOC code	FIN
NOC	Finnish Olympic Committee
Website	sport.fi/olympiakomitea  (in Finnish and Swedish)
in Nagano
Competitors	85 (51 men, 34 women) in 10 sports
Flag bearer	Janne Ahonen (ski jumping)
Medals Ranked 11th	Gold 2 Silver 4 Bronze 6 Total 12
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)
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Finland was represented at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan by the Finnish Olympic Committee.

In total, 85 athletes including 51 men and 34 women represented Finland in 10 different sports including alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, snowboarding and speed skating.

Finland won a total of 12 medals at the games including two gold, four silver and six bronze. Three of the medals came in cross-country skiing, two each in freestyle skiing, ice hockey, Nordic combined and Ski jumping and one in biathlon. Cross-country skier Mika Myllylä was the most successful Finnish athlete at the games, winning one gold and two bronze medals.

Competitors

In total, 85 athletes represented Finland at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan across 10 different sports. ^[1]

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Alpine skiing	3	2	5
Biathlon	5	2	7
Cross-country skiing	5	6	11
Figure skating	0	1	1
Freestyle skiing	3	1	4
Ice hockey	22	20	42
Nordic combined	4	–	4
Ski jumping	4	–	4
Snowboarding	4	2	6
Speed skating	1	0	1
Total	51	34	85

Medalists

Finland won a total of 12 medals at the games including two gold, four silver and six bronze. ^[1]

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Mika Myllylä	Cross-country skiing	Men's 30 kilometre classical	9 February
Gold	Jani Soininen	Ski jumping	Normal hill individual	11 February
Silver	Janne Lahtela	Freestyle skiing	Men's moguls	11 February
Silver	Samppa Lajunen	Nordic combined	Individual	14 February
Silver	Jani Soininen	Ski jumping	Large hill individual	15 February
Silver	Samppa Lajunen Hannu Manninen Jari Mantila Tapio Nurmela	Nordic combined	Team	20 February
Bronze	Sami Mustonen	Freestyle skiing	Men's moguls	11 February
Bronze	Mika Myllylä	Cross-country skiing	Men's 10 kilometre classical	12 February
Bronze	Finland women's national ice hockey team Sari Fisk Kirsi Hänninen Satu Huotari Marianne Ihalainen Johanna Ikonen Sari Krooks Emma Laaksonen Sanna Lankosaari Katja Lehto Marika Lehtimäki Marja-Helena Pälvilä Tuula Puputti Karoliina Rantamäki Katja Riipi Päivi Salo Maria Selin Liisa-Maria Sneck Petra Vaarakallio Riikka Nieminen Tiia Reima	Ice hockey	Women's tournament	17 February
Bronze	Jari Isometsä Harri Kirvesniemi Mika Myllylä Sami Repo	Cross-country skiing	Men's 4 × 10 kilometre relay	18 February
Bronze	Ville Räikkönen	Biathlon	Men's sprint	18 February
Bronze	Finland men's national ice hockey team Aki-Petteri Berg Tuomas Grönman Raimo Helminen Sami Kapanen Saku Koivu Jari Kurri Janne Laukkanen Antti Törmänen Jere Lehtinen Juha Lind Jyrki Lumme Jarmo Myllys Mika Nieminen Janne Niinimaa Teppo Numminen Juha Ylönen Ville Peltonen Kimmo Rintanen Teemu Selänne Ari Sulander Jukka Tammi Esa Tikkanen Kimmo Timonen	Ice hockey	Men's tournament	21 February

Alpine skiing

Main article: Alpine skiing at the 1998 Winter Olympics

In total, five Finnish athletes participated in the alpine skiing events – Mika Marila, Kalle Palander, Tanja Poutiainen, Henna Raita and Sami Uotila. ^[1]

Athlete	Event	Race 1	Race 2	Total
		Time	Time	Time	Rank
Mika Marila	Men's giant slalom	DNF	–	DNF	–
Kalle Palander		1:24.02	DNF	DNF	–
Sami Uotila		1:23.43	1:20.02	2:43.45	19
Sami Uotila	Men's slalom	DNF	–	DNF	–
Mika Marila		DNF	–	DNF	–
Kalle Palander		56.37	55.44	1:51.81	9
Henna Raita	Women's giant Slalom	DNF	–	DNF	–
Tanja Poutiainen		1:24.90	1:36.76	3:01.66	26
Tanja Poutiainen	Women's slalom	48.06	49.45	1:37.51	18
Henna Raita		47.18	DNF	DNF	–

Source: ^[2]

Athlete	Slalom		Downhill	Total
	Time 1	Time 2	Time	Total time	Rank
Kalle Palander	DNF	–	–	DNF	–

Source: ^[2]

Biathlon

Main article: Biathlon at the 1998 Winter Olympics

In total, seven Finnish athletes participated in the biathlon events – Harri Eloranta, Vesa Hietalahti, Katja Holanti, Mari Lampinen, Olli-Pekka Peltola, Paavo Puurunen and Ville Räikkönen. ^[1]

Event	Athlete	Misses 1	Time	Rank
10 km Sprint	Harri Eloranta	2	29:21.8	20
	Paavo Puurunen	0	28:44.0	9
	Ville Räikkönen	1	28:21.7

Source: ^[2]

Event	Athlete	Time	Misses	Adjusted time 2	Rank
20 km	Vesa Hietalahti	DNF	–	DNF	–
	Ville Räikkönen	57:25.3	3	1'00:25.3	27
	Paavo Puurunen	57:11.7	3	1'00:11.7	23

Source: ^[2]

Athletes	Race
	Misses 1	Time	Rank
Ville Räikkönen Paavo Puurunen Harri Eloranta Olli-Pekka Peltola	2	1'25:01.4	8

Source: ^[2]

Event	Athlete	Misses 1	Time	Rank
7.5 km Sprint	Katja Holanti	2	25:46.2	46
	Mari Lampinen	0	23:55.2	8

Source: ^[2]

Event	Athlete	Time	Misses	Adjusted time 2	Rank
15 km	Katja Holanti	58:50.9	3	1'01:50.9	45
	Mari Lampinen	55:55.2	5	1'00:55.2	32

¹ A penalty loop of 150 metres had to be skied per missed target.

² One minute added per missed target.

Source: ^[2]

Cross-country skiing

Main article: Cross-country skiing at the 1998 Winter Olympics

In total, 11 Finnish athletes participated in the cross-country skiing events – Juha Alm, Jari Isometsä, Milla Jauho, Harri Kirvesniemi, Mika Myllylä, Anita Nyman, Kati Pulkkinen, Tuulikki Pyykkönen, Sami Repo, Satu Salonen and Kati Sundqvist-Venäläinen. ^[1]

Event	Athlete	Race
		Time	Rank
Men's 10 km C	Sami Repo	28:51.3	18
	Jari Isometsä	28:36.7	15
	Harri Kirvesniemi	28:22.5	13
	Mika Myllylä	27:40.1
Men's 15 km pursuit1 F	Sami Repo	42:38.9	20
	Jari Isometsä	40:55.4	8
	Mika Myllylä	40:26.6	6
Men's 30 km C	Sami Repo	1'42:16.8	34
	Harri Kirvesniemi	1'37:45.9	6
	Jari Isometsä	1'36:51.4	4
	Mika Myllylä	1;33:55.8
Men's 50 km F	Juha Alm	2'25:00.2	54
Men's 4 × 10 km relay	Harri Kirvesniemi Mika Myllylä Sami Repo Jari Isometsä	1'42:15.5
Women's 5 km C	Kati Pulkkinen	19:48.0	57
	Anita Nyman	19:45.0	56
	Satu Salonen	18:43.4	18
	Tuulikki Pyykkönen	18:42.8	17
Women's 10 km pursuit2 F	Kati Pulkkinen	33:43.5	51
	Anita Nyman	32:53.7	44
	Satu Salonen	30:32.0	16
Women's 15 km C	Kati Sundqvist-Venäläinen	52:14.1	41
	Milla Jauho	51:38.6	31
	Satu Salonen	49:27.6	18
	Tuulikki Pyykkönen	49:13.5	12
Women's 30 km F	Milla Jauho	1'35:39.2	50
Women's 4 × 5 km relay	Tuulikki Pyykkönen Milla Jauho Satu Salonen Anita Nyman	57:34.3	7

¹ Starting delay based on 10 km results.

² Starting delay based on 5 km results.

C = Classical style, F = Freestyle

Source: ^[2]

Figure skating

Main article: Figure skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics

In total, one Finnish athlete participated in the figure skating events – Alisa Drei in the women's singles. ^[1]

Athlete	SP	FS	TFP	Rank
Alisa Drei	20	19	29.0	21

Source: ^[2]

Freestyle skiing

Main article: Freestyle skiing at the 1998 Winter Olympics

In total, four Finnish athletes participated in the freestyle skiing events – Janne Lahtela, Lauri Lassila and Sami Mustonen in the men's moguls and Minna Karhu in the women's moguls. ^[1]

Athlete	Event	Qualification			Final
		Time	Points	Rank	Time	Points	Rank
Lauri Lassila	Men's moguls	29.03	24.53	9 Q	26.17	25.43	5
Sami Mustonen		27.47	25.16	3 Q	26.77	25.76
Janne Lahtela		27.58	25.43	2 Q	25.30	26.00
Minna Karhu	Women's moguls	35.40	22.39	10 Q	33.65	23.83	6

Source: ^[2]

Ice hockey

Main article: Ice hockey at the 1998 Winter Olympics

In total, 42 Finnish athletes participated in the ice hockey events – Aki-Petteri Berg, Tuomas Grönman, Raimo Helminen, Sami Kapanen, Saku Koivu, Jari Kurri, Janne Laukkanen, Jere Lehtinen, Juha Lind, Jyrki Lumme, Jarmo Myllys, Mika Nieminen, Janne Niinimaa, Teppo Numminen, Ville Peltonen, Kimmo Rintanen, Teemu Selänne, Ari Sulander, Jukka Tammi, Esa Tikkanen, Kimmo Timonen, Antti Törmänen and Juha Ylönen in the men's competition and Sari Fisk, Kirsi Hänninen, Satu Huotari, Marianne Ihalainen, Johanna Ikonen, Sari Krooks, Emma Laaksonen, Sanna Lankosaari, Katja Lehto, Marika Lehtimäki, Riikka Nieminen, Marja-Helena Pälvilä, Tuula Puputti, Karoliina Rantamäki, Tiia Reima, Katja Riipi, Päivi Salo, Maria Selin, Liisa-Maria Sneck and Petra Vaarakallio in the women's competition. ^[1]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	3	3	0	0	15	6	+9	6	Quarterfinals
2	Czech Republic	3	2	0	1	12	4	+8	4
3	Finland	3	1	0	2	11	9	+2	2
4	Kazakhstan	3	0	0	3	6	25	−19	0

Source: Olympedia

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Czech Republic	3–0	Finland
Russia	4–3	Finland
Finland	8–2	Kazakhstan

Source: ^[2]

Quarter-final

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Sweden	1–2	Finland

Source: ^[2]

Semi-final

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Russia	7–4	Finland

Source: ^[2]

Bronze medal match

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Canada	2–3	Finland

Source: ^[2]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	5	5	0	0	33	7	+26	10	Gold medal game
2	Canada	5	4	0	1	28	12	+16	8
3	Finland	5	3	0	2	27	10	+17	6	Bronze medal game
4	China	5	2	0	3	10	15	−5	4
5	Sweden	5	1	0	4	10	21	−11	2
6	Japan (H)	5	0	0	5	2	45	−43	0

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
(H) Hosts

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Sweden	0–6	Finland
Finland	11–1	Japan
United States	4–2	Finland
Finland	2–4	Canada
Finland	6–1	China

Source: ^[2]

Bronze medal match

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Finland	4–1	China

Source: ^[2]

Nordic combined

Main article: Nordic combined at the 1998 Winter Olympics

In total, four Finnish athletes participated in the Nordic combined events – Samppa Lajunen, Hannu Manninen, Jari Mantila and Tapio Nurmela in the individual competition and the team competition. ^[1]

Athlete	Event	Ski Jumping		Cross-country time	Total rank
		Points	Rank
Hannu Manninen	Individual	207.0	20	43:51.0	11
Jari Mantila		212.0	17	46:10.6	27
Tapio Nurmela		213.5	14	44:31.6	15
Samppa Lajunen		230.5	6	41:48.6

Source: ^[2]

Athletes	Event	Ski jumping		Cross-country time	Total rank
		Points	Rank
Samppa Lajunen Jari Mantila Tapio Nurmela Hannu Manninen	Team	906.0	1	55:30.4

Source: ^[2]

Ski jumping

Main article: Ski jumping at the 1998 Winter Olympics

In total, four Finnish athletes participated in the ski jumping events – Janne Ahonen, Mika Laitinen, Ari-Pekka Nikkola and Jani Soininen in the normal hill individual, large hill individual and the large hill team. ^[1]

Athlete	Event	Jump 1			Jump 2		Total
		Distance	Points	Rank	Distance	Points	Points	Rank
Mika Laitinen	Normal hill	82.5	100.5	17 Q	81.5	98.5	199.0	20
Ari-Pekka Nikkola		83.0	101.5	15 Q	83.5	104.0	205.5	15
Janne Ahonen		86.5	110.0	8 Q	91.5	121.5	231.5	4
Jani Soininen		90.0	118.5	2 Q	89.0	116.0	234.5
Janne Ahonen	Large hill	106.0	91.3	37	did not advance
Ari-Pekka Nikkola		108.5	94.3	31	did not advance
Mika Laitinen		119.5	114.6	9 Q	115.5	107.9	222.5	18
Jani Soininen		129.5	130.6	3 Q	126.5	130.2	260.8

Source: ^[2]

Athletes	Result
	Points	Rank
Ari-Pekka Nikkola Mika Laitinen Janne Ahonen Jani Soininen	833.9	5

Source: ^[2]

Snowboarding

Main article: Snowboarding at the 1998 Winter Olympics

In total, six Finnish athletes participated in the snowboarding events – Markus Hurme, Sebu Kuhlberg, Aleksi Litovaara and Jussi Oksanen in the men's halfpipe and Minna Hesso and Satu Järvelä in the women's halfpipe. ^[1]

Athlete	Event	Qualifying round 1		Qualifying round 2		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Sebu Kuhlberg	Men's halfpipe	33.4	23	39.7	4 QF	76.6	7
Aleksi Litovaara		39.0	5 QF			71.9	14
Jussi Oksanen		39.7	3 QF			73.6	11
Markus Hurme		41.1	1 QF			73.0	13
Satu Järvelä	Women's halfpipe	31.8	11	32.0	9	did not advance
Minna Hesso		34.2	5	35.1	3 QF	70.8	6

Source: ^[2]

Speed skating

Main article: Speed skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics

In total, one Finnish athletes participated in the speed skating events – Janne Hänninen in the men's 500 m and the men's 1000 m. ^[1]

Event	Athlete	Race 1		Race 2		Total
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
500 m	Janne Hänninen	36.58	17	36.46	19	73.04	18
1,000 m						1:12.55	21

Source: ^[2]

External links

• Official Olympic Reports
• International Olympic Committee results database
• Olympic Winter Games 1998, full results by sports-reference.com

References

1. "Finland at the 1998 Winter Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 6 July 2025.
2. "Nagano 1998 Official Report - Volume 3" (PDF). Nagano Olympics Organizing Committee. 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2025– via LA84 Foundation.