Jaakko Tommi Kristian Evilä (born 6 April 1980 in Tampere) is a Finnish former long jumper. He gained fame following his surprise bronze in the 2005 Helsinki World Championships, which was Finland's only medal in the championships. He won the bronze medal in a wind-aided 8.25 metre jump. Before the 2005 World Championships he had finished tenth at the

1998 World Junior Championships 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and fourth at the 2005 European Indoor Championships. He then improved his personal best jump to 8.19 metres in August, and finished sixth at the

2005 World Athletics Final The 3rd IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on September 9, and September 10, 2005. The hammer throw event for men and women had to take place in Szombathely, Hungary on September 3 as the Monaco stad ...

. Years troubled by injuries then followed. He did achieve a wind-aided result of 8.41 metres at the 2007 Finland-Sweden international. In June 2008 he set a Finnish national record of 8.22 metres in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. He competed at the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, but did not reach the final round. In 2009, Evila rediscovered some of his best form. He competed in the 2010

Finnish Elite Games Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

and came close to winning the jackpot, having won the long jump at four out of five meetings. It was not to be, however, as he finished third in the final competition. This dropped him into fourth place overall and Levern Spencer of

St. Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerin ...

topped the rankings to win the prize.Sonninen, A-P (2010-08-22)
Spencer takes the Finnish Elite Games jackpot in Joensuu

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

. Retrieved on 2010-08-24.

Competition record

References

* 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Tampere Finnish male long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Finland World Athletics Championships medalists 20th-century Finnish people 21st-century Finnish people {{Finland-athletics-bio-stub