Toni Nieminen

Last updated
Toni Nieminen
CountryFlag of Finland.svg  Finland
Full nameToni Markus Nieminen
Born (1975-05-31) 31 May 1975 (age 48)
Lahti, Finland
Personal best 203 m (666 ft)
Planica, 17 Mar 1994
World Cup career
Seasons 19911999
20012003
Individual wins9
Team wins1
Indiv. podiums12
Team podiums3
Indiv. starts96
Team starts3
Overall titles1 (1992)
Four Hills titles 1 (1992)
Medal record
Men's ski jumping
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1992 Albertville Individual LH
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1992 Albertville Team LH
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1992 Albertville Individual NH
Updated on 19 June 2017.

Toni Markus Nieminen (born 31 May 1975) is a Finnish former ski jumper who competed from 1991 to 2004, with a brief comeback in 2016. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers from Finland, having won both the World Cup overall title and the Four Hills Tournament in 1992, and three medals at the 1992 Winter Olympics. He remains the youngest ever Winter Olympic gold medalist, at 16 years and 261 days. [1] Additionally, he is known for being the first male ski jumper to land a jump surpassing 200 metres (660 ft), which he achieved in 1994 with a world record of 203 m (666 ft) on the ski flying hill in Planica.

Contents

Career

Nieminen's biggest success came in his first World Cup season in 1991/92. At the time, the transition from the parallel style to the V-style was taking place and Nieminen was one of the first to master the new technique.

Nieminen took his first World Cup victory in Thunder Bay, in December 1991. Then he went on to win the Four Hills Tournament with 3 victories and one 2nd place. At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, Nieminen won the large hill and the Team large hill, placing third in the normal hill. In the World Cup, Nieminen took a total of 8 victories securing also the overall title. Additionally, Nieminen won the World Junior Championship in both the Individual and the Team competitions. Nieminen was chosen as the Finnish Sports Personality of the Year 1992.

In the following seasons, Nieminen showed only glimpses of his great talent. In 1994, he became the first ever ski jumper to break the 200 metre barrier at Planica, with a world record of 203 m. Out of his total of 9 individual World Cup victories, only one came after the 1991/92 season, in Kuopio 1995. In World Cup team competitions, Nieminen scored one victory, in Villach 2001.

After retiring from ski jumping in 2004, Nieminen has worked as a sports commentator for Finnish MTV3. He has also competed as a driver in harness racing.

Nieminen made a comeback on 30 January 2016 finishing 17th in normal hill Finnish championship. Nieminen said that his target is to make a comeback to the World Cup.

World Cup

Standings

 Season Overall4HSFNTJP
1990/91 N/AN/A
1991/92 Gold medal icon.svgGold medal icon.svgN/AN/A
1992/93 50N/AN/A
1993/94 527N/AN/A
1994/95 11831N/AN/A
1995/96 93N/A
1996/97 925689
1997/98 672863
1998/99 69
2000/01 21153749N/A
2001/02 3133N/AN/A
2002/03 54N/AN/A

Wins

No.SeasonDateLocationHillSize
1 1991/92 1 December 1991   Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Thunder Bay Big Thunder K90NH
229 December 1991   Flag of Germany.svg Oberstdorf Schattenbergschanze K115LH
34 January 1992   Flag of Austria.svg Innsbruck Bergiselschanze K109LH
46 January 1992   Flag of Austria.svg Bischofshofen Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K120LH
529 February 1992   Flag of Finland.svg Lahti Salpausselkä K90NH
61 March 1992   Flag of Finland.svg Lahti Salpausselkä K114LH
711 March 1992   Flag of Norway.svg Trondheim Granåsen K120LH
815 March 1992   Flag of Norway.svg Oslo Holmenkollbakken K110LH
9 1994/95 1 February 1995   Flag of Finland.svg Kuopio Puijo K90 (night)NH

Ski jumping world record

First standing jump over 200 metres in history.

DateHillLocationMetresFeet
17 March 1994   Velikanka bratov Gorišek K185 Planica, Slovenia 203666

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References

Records
Preceded by
Martin Höllwarth
196 m (643 ft)
World's longest ski jump
203 m (666 ft)

17 March 1994 – 18 March 1994
Succeeded by
Espen Bredesen
209 m (686 ft)