Joni Mäki (born 24 January 1995) is a Finnish

cross-country skier 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 ...

. He is a silver medalist in the team sprint at both the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

and the

2021 World Championships 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

Career

As a junior, Mäki won bronze in the sprint event at the 2014 U20 World Championships in Val di Fiemme. He made his World Cup debut in 2014 and placed in the top thirty for the first time in January 2016. So far, he has three podiums in the World Cup, one from team sprint (Planica 2020) and one from relay (Lahti 2021), and his best individual result is a 2nd place at the classical sprint in the 2021-22 season finale in

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabita ...

. In 2019, at his first World Championships in Seefeld, Mäki placed 13th in the freestyle sprint event, being the first athlete not to qualify into the semi-finals. In the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf, he again placed thirteenth in the individual sprint, held this time in the classic style. Only three days later, though, Mäki won his first World Championships medal when he and teammate

Ristomatti Hakola Ristomatti Hakola (born 15 April 1991) is a Finnish cross-country skier. He represented Finland at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2015 in Falun and at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2017 in Lahti where he finished sixth in the spr ...

placed second at the team sprint event. Mäki secured them the silver medal with a solid last leg, where he lost to Norwegian

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (born 22 October 1996) is a Norwegian cross-country skier who represents Byåsen IL. He holds multiple records, most notably for being the youngest male in history to win the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, the Tour de Ski, ...

but overtook the Russian

Gleb Retivykh Gleb Sergeyevich Retivykh (russian: Глеб Сергеевич Ретивых; born 30 December 1991) is a Russian cross-country skier specializing in sprint. On 3 February 2017, Retivykh won his first World Cup title in Pyeongchang, South Kore ...

, who had had a head start in the beginning of the last leg. In the 4 x 10 kilometre relay, he placed sixth along with teammates Hakola,

Iivo Niskanen Iivo Henrik Niskanen (born 12 January 1992) is a Finnish cross-country skier who has competed in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup since 2011. He is a three-time Olympic champion. Career Iivo Niskanen made his individual World Cup debut on 12 Marc ...

and

Perttu Hyvärinen Perttu Hyvärinen (born 5 June 1991) is a Finnish cross-country skier. Born and raised in Kuopio, he has represented Finland in four World Championships and twice in the Olympic Games. He is a silver medalist from the 4 × 10 kilometre relay at ...

, with whom he'd reached the podium in Lahti earlier in the season. Mäki started his 2021-22 season well, succeeding in domestic competitions. He followed this by reaching his first World Cup sprint final in the classical sprint event in Ruka, where he finished sixth. In the weeks after, though, he began suffering from health problems and missed the Tour de Ski, among other World Cup events. Mäki was again in good form in the Beijing Olympics, reaching the final in the freestyle sprint. Mäki, who has never reached a freestyle sprint final in World Cup competitions, placed fourth, only a second short of the bronze medal. In the classical team sprint, Mäki won his first Olympic medal when he and the 15-kilometre Olympic champion

took the silver medal. In the final sprint of the World Cup season at Falun, Mäki reached his first individual WC podium when he placed second after Sprint World Cup winner

Richard Jouve Richard Jouve (born 25 October 1994) is a French cross-country skier who has competed since 2015. He won the 2021-22 Sprint World Cup as the first Frenchman to win a discipline globe at the FIS Cross-Country World Cup. Career Jouve, having co ...

. Mäki has recently won several medals in Finnish National Championships and represents Pohti Ski Team in national competitions. He won the 2020-21 Suomen Cup, Finland's highest-level domestic cross-country competition tournament.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

*1 medal (1 silver) Distance reduced to 30 km due to weather conditions.

World Championships

*1 medal – (1 silver)

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 1 podium – (1 , 0 )

Team podiums

*2 podiums – (1 , 1 )

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maki, Joni Living people 1995 births Finnish male cross-country skiers Sportspeople from Vaasa FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Cross-country skiers at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic cross-country skiers of Finland Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Finland Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing 21st-century Finnish people