Remembering Finnish Ski Jumping legend Niilo Halonen

Finnish Ski Jumping pioneer Niilo Halonen died this past weekend at the age of 84.

Born in Kouvola on Christmas Day 1940, Halonen was just 17 when he finished 14th at the 1958 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships on home snow in Lahti.

Two years later, while still a teenager, he took silver at the Olympic Winter Games Squaw Valley (USA) 1960. Halonen also won Large Hill bronze at the 1962 Nordic WSC held in Zakopane (POL).

After tearing ankle ligaments in 1967, he was unable to recapture his best form. Halonen retired from competition in 1969, and started work as a physical education teacher. But in 1976, he received a phone call from the Finnish Ski Association and subsequently became their head coach for Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined.

Over the next 12 years, he oversaw Finland’s dominance of Ski Jumping starting with Tapio Räisänen winning Large Hill gold at the Lahti 1978 Nordic WSC. Halonen brought a new discipline to the team, banning alcohol from team meetings, and introduced innovations such as a sports psychiatrist and meditation techniques.

Jouko Törmänen won gold at the Lake Placid 1980 Olympics and, in 1981, Halonen was named Finland’s Coach of the Year. That was the year in which Matti Nykänen made his international breakthrough.

Nykänen went on to become arguably the greatest athlete in Ski Jumping history, winning a total of 10 global gold medals (four Olympic, five Nordic WSC, one Ski Flying World Championship).

Jari Puikkonen also claimed world and Olympic medals, with Finland clinching the first Olympic team gold in Ski Jumping at Calgary 1988. In that team was Tuomo Ylipulli whose brother Jukka took Olympic bronze in Nordic Combined at Sarajevo 1984, also under Halonen’s stewardship.

After those Calgary Games, where Nykänen won both individual titles as Finland took all three golds, Halonen joined FIS to act as its first Race Director in Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined. The foundations he put in place continued to serve the Finnish team well with the likes of Ari-Pekka Nikkola, Toni Nieminen, Jani Soininen, and Janne Ahonen keeping them on top.

Halonen later served as a Ski Jumping judge, including at the Trondheim 1997 Nordic WSC. He retired in 2000, the year in which he lost his first son Kari to a jet ski accident.

In his later years, Halonen became a keen golfer alongside his good friend and former teammate, 1964 Olympic gold medallist Veikko Kankkonen.

As well as his own sporting achievements, he will be remembered as the man who masterminded Finland’s Ski Jumping supremacy for close to three decades.

FIS extends its deepest condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time.