Jay William Hakkinen (born July 19, 1977) is a former

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and shooting sports, rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into sh ...

. He is a four-time American Olympian, and his 10th-place finish in the 20-kilometer individual race at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Turin, Italy Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

was the best finish ever by an American biathlete. Hakkinen retired from the sport at the end of the 2013–14 season.

Background

At the age of three, Hakkinen learned how to skate. Soon after, he picked up

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

, where he won the Junior 5 km freestyle. He got involved in

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not tim ...

when in 1994, he went for a year to a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

town in a student exchange program. His host parents were able to arrange for him to trade with a local

club. Within three years of returning home to Alaska, he was the Junior World Champion of

Performance in Turin

Hakkinen placed 10th in the 20-kilometer individual race at the

. He had the 2nd fastest skiing time of anyone in the competition, but failed to medal because of penalties he earned while shooting. He vowed to medal in his next event, but instead missed all five targets and fell quickly out of contention. Hakkinen was the lead biathlete for the United States in the relay, and was in first place when he handed off to his teammate; ultimately, however, the United States finished in 9th in the relay.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; german: Internationale Biathlon-Union) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the ...

Olympic Games

:''*Pursuit was added as an event in 2002, with mass start being added in 2006.''

World Championships

:''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.'' :''**Team was removed as an event in 1998, and mass start was added in 1999 with the mixed relay being added in 2005.''

References

External links

* * *
NBCOlympics.com – Athletes – Jay Hakkinen Bio

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hakkinen, Jay 1977 births Living people American people of Finnish descent Sportspeople from Alaska American male biathletes Biathletes at the 1998 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes for the United States