Jussi Aleksi Samuli Kanervo (born 1 February 1993) is a Finnish

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

. He won silver in the

400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ar ...

at the 2015 European U23 Championships and bronze in the

110 m hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hurd ...

at the

2010 Youth Olympic Games The 2010 Summer Youth Olympics ( ta, 2010 கோடைக்கால இளையோர் ஒலிம்பிக் விளையாட்டுக்கள் ms, Sukan Olimpik Belia Musim Panas 2010), officially known as the I Summer ...

Biography

Kanervo was born in

Tornio Tornio (; sv, Torneå; sme, Duortnus ; smn, Tuárnus) is a city and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is ...

in northern Finland and set national age group records from an early age, breaking the national under-11 record for boys' 150 metres in 2003 and the national indoor under-12 record for

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior at ...

the following year. He competed in both the 110 m hurdles and the 400 m hurdles at the 2009 World Youth Championships in

Brixen Brixen (, ; it, Bressanone ; lld, Porsenù or ) is a town in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano. Geography First mentioned in 901, Brixen is the third largest city and oldest town in the province, and the artistic and ...

, Italy, but was eliminated in the early rounds in both events. In 2010 Kanervo's family relocated to

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, and he joined the training group of national hurdles coach Anatoly Mikhailov. Kanervo represented Finland at the inaugural

Youth Olympic Games The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in August 2010, winning bronze in boys' 110 m hurdles (91.4 cm) in 13.53 and breaking his own national youth record; he was the first Finn to win a Youth Olympic medal. Kanervo placed fifth in the 110 m hurdles at the 2011 European Junior Championships. He won his first senior-level medals at the Finnish championships in 2012, winning bronze indoors in the

60 m hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds ( Susanna K ...

and gold outdoors in the 110 m hurdles. At the 2012 World Junior Championships in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

he again competed in the 110 m hurdles, setting a national junior record (13.61/99 cm) in the semi-finals; in the final he ran 13.62 and placed fifth. Kanervo repeated as Finnish champion in the 110 m hurdles in 2013; he represented Finland in that event at the European U23 Championships in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

, but was eliminated in the heats. After the 2013 season Kanervo became a student at South Carolina University, coached by

Curtis Frye Curtis Frye (born October 20, 1951, in Vass, North Carolina) is the head coach for the University of South Carolina Track and Field teams. He served as an assistant coach for the United States women's track and field team at the 2004 Summer Olympic ...

. He took up the

again in 2014, running 51.52 in his first race over the senior (91.4 cm) hurdles; the time broke

Ossi Mildh Sven Osvald "Ossi" Mildh (12 May 1930 – 16 September 2015) was a Finnish hurdler. Mildh won bronze medals at the 1954 European Championships in the 400 metres hurdles and the 4 × 400 metres relay. Career Mildh was Finnish champion thre ...

's HIFK club record from 1954 and was the fastest ever debut by a Finn. He won his third consecutive Finnish championship title in the 110 m hurdles that year, but his times in that event had stagnated and the 400 m hurdles became his main event; at the

2014 European Athletics Championships The 2014 European Athletics Championships was held in Zürich, Switzerland, between 12 and 17 August 2014. It was the first time that Switzerland had hosted the European Athletics Championships since 1954. Great Britain headed the medal table, w ...

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

he competed only in the 400 m hurdles, setting a personal best 50.35 in the heats but withdrawing from the semi-finals due to an injury. Kanervo broke 50 seconds in the 400 m hurdles for the first time on 11 April 2015 in

Greenville, North Carolina Greenville is the county seat of and the most populous city in Pitt County, North Carolina, Pitt County, North Carolina, United States; the principal city of the Greenville, North Carolina metropolitan area, Greenville metropolitan area; and th ...

, running 49.78. He suffered from a persistent groin injury through the 2015 collegiate season, but stayed in good form; he qualified for his first NCAA championship final, placing sixth in 50.20. At the 2015 European U23 Championships in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

Kanervo improved his personal best to 49.66, winning silver behind

Patryk Dobek Patryk Dobek (born 13 February 1994) is a Polish athlete and soldier. He is specialising in the 400 metres, 800 metres and 400 metres hurdles. He won the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the 800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( U ...

of Poland; he was Finland's only medalist.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kanervo, Jussi 1993 births Living people People from Tornio Finnish male hurdlers South Carolina Gamecocks men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Sportspeople from Lapland (Finland)