| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 6, 1969 Pielavesi, Finland |
Juha Lauri Laukkanen (born 6 January 1969 in Pielavesi) is a retired male javelin thrower from Finland. His personal best throw is 88.22 metres, achieved in June 1992 in Kuortane. Remarkably, two of Laukkanen's throws have resulted in injuries to officials. In the 1994 Bislett Games in Oslo his throw resulted in a judge being impaled in his arm by the javelin. [1] In 1998 at an athletics festival in Riederich, Germany another one of his throws seriously injured an official when it pierced him in the stomach. [2]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing  Finland | ||||
| 1986 | World Junior Championships | Athens, Greece | 19th (q) | 65.02 m |
| 1988 | World Junior Championships | Sudbury, Canada | 10th | 65.54 m |
| 1992 | Olympic Games | Barcelona, Spain | 6th | 79.20 m |
| 1994 | European Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 18th | 75.86 m |
| 1997 | IAAF Grand Prix Final | Fukuoka, Japan | 8th | 81.44 m |
| 1998 | European Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 5th | 84.78 m |
| 2001 | World Championships | Edmonton, Canada | 19th | 78.28 m |
Stephen James Backley, OBE is a retired British track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He formerly held the world record, and his 91.46-metre (300.1 ft) throw from 1992 is the British record. During his career, he was a firm fixture in the British national athletics team. He won four gold medals at the European Championships, three Commonwealth Games gold medals, two silvers and a bronze at the Olympic Games, and two silvers at the World Championships. Currently, he is an occasional commentator for athletics competitions, especially the field events.
Finland competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. 88 competitors, 60 men and 28 women, took part in 85 events in 16 sports.
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.
Sergey Aleksandrovich Makarov is a retired Russian track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. His personal best throw of 92.61 m, set in 2002, is the Russian record. Facing tough competition throughout his career from Jan Železný, Steve Backley and others, Makarov did not win any major competition until 2003, when he became World Champion at the age of 30.
Seppo Henrik Räty is a retired Finnish track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He was a World Champion, having won gold in 1987. He was also an Olympic medalist. He was nicknamed Tohmajärven karhu and Tohmajärven tykki.
Kimmo Paavali Kinnunen is a Finnish former javelin thrower. He won gold at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo and silver at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart.
Aki Uolevi Parviainen is a retired Finnish track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He won the gold medal at the 1999 World Championships and the silver medal at the 2001 World Championships. His best throw of 93.09 m, set in 1999, is the Finnish record and ranks him fourth on the overall list. His best Olympic placing was fifth, which he achieved in 2000.
Konstadinos Gatsioudis is a retired Greek track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. His personal best throw of 91.69 m, achieved in 2000, is the Greek record.
Peter Esenwein is a German javelin thrower.
Peter Blank is a German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. Early on in his career, he was a decathlete. In 1992, he set the world record for longest javelin throw in a decathlon with a distance of 79.80 m.
Raymond Hecht is a German track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. His personal best throw is 92.60 m, achieved in 1995. This places him eighth on the all-time rankings.
Juha Matti Närhi is a Finnish javelin thrower.
Michael Christopher Hill is a male English former javelin thrower who was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Gavin Brian Lovegrove is a retired New Zealand track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. His personal best of 88.20 m, set in 1996, is the New Zealand record. During his career, he twice represented his homeland at the Summer Olympics, won a bronze medal at three consecutive Commonwealth Games and participated in five World Championships. He also twice broke the world junior record and was a six-time national champion.
Yukifumi Murakami is a Japanese javelin thrower. He was the first Japanese athlete to win a World Championship medal in the javelin, taking bronze at the 2009 edition with a throw of 82.97 metres.
Thomas Paul Pukstys is a former American track and field athlete who was a javelin thrower. Pukstys was a six-time U.S. javelin champion, and represented the United States at the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics.
Vítězslav Veselý is a Czech javelin thrower. He won two bronze medals at the Olympic games, in 2012 and 2020.
Thomas Röhler is a German track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He is the 2016 Olympic Champion and 2018 European Champion. His personal best of 93.90 m for the event ranks him third on the overall list.
Johannes Vetter is a German athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He won gold at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. His personal best of 97.76 m is the German record, and ranks him second on the overall list. Vetter currently trains under Boris Obergföll and is a member of LG Offenburg's track and field squad. He was previously with SV Saar 05 Saarbrücken and Dresdner SC.
Julian Weber is a German track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. He won the European Junior Championship in 2013.
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