Matti Antero Hautamäki (; born 14 July 1981) is a Finnish former

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fin ...

who competed from 1997 to 2012. He is one of Finland's most successful ski jumpers, having won sixteen individual

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

competitions; multiple medals at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

, Ski Jumping World Championships and Ski Flying World Championships; the Nordic Tournament twice; and four ski flying world records.

Career

Ski jumping

Hautamäki started ski jumping at the age of seven near his hometown of

Oulu Oulu ( , ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Ostrobothnia. It is located on the northwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Oulujoki, River Oulu. The population of Oulu is approximately , while the Oulu sub-regio ...

. When his older brother Jussi and friend Lauri Hakola moved to

Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...

, Matti joined them. At first he found it difficult to be independent at the age of sixteen, but he received much help and support from his brother, with whom he was living at the time. The help of his new coach Pekka Niemelä, whom he met at the sports school in Kuopio, also helped him advance quickly. In the same year Matti had his first real successes and won medals at the 1997 and 1999 FIS Junior World Ski Jumping Championships. At the Four Hills Tournament in 2001/02, Hautamäki finished second, his highest ever place in that tournament. In

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

he won the Nordic Tournament, with a clean sweep of all four events in the latter. It was during the 2004–05 season that he won six individual events in a row, including the pre-

rehearsal in

Pragelato Pragelato (also ''Pragelà''; Vivaro-Alpine dialect, Vivaro-Alpine: ''Prajalats'', French: Prajalats) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italy, Italian region Piedmont, located about west of Turin, in the uppe ...

, and the first

ski flying Ski flying is a winter sport discipline derived from ski jumping, in which much greater distances can be achieved. It is a form of competitive individual sport, individual Nordic skiing where athletes descend at high speed along a specially de ...

event in Planica; this matched the record for the most consecutive victories set by countryman Janne Ahonen in the same season. Hautamäki also won the ski jumping event at the 2005

Holmenkollen Ski Festival The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. History It takes place in March and has been arranged every ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Ski flying

Hautamäki was regarded as a specialist at ski flying, with the majority of his personal best distances being achieved in Planica. An early sign of things to come was showcased on 23 March 2002 when he jumped 224.5 metres, nearly equalling the then-world record of 225 m set two years prior by Andreas Goldberger. At the 20–23 March 2003 event, Hautamäki set three consecutive world records of , , and ; the latter making him the first to ever officially land a jump over 230 m."Finn breaks ski jump record"
''

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

''.

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. 2003-03-23. Retrieved 2015-05-21. His record stood until 20 March 2005, a day on which it was equalled once by Tommy Ingebrigtsen and later broken a further three times in spectacular fashion: Bjørn Einar Romøren first jumped during the morning training round, followed by Hautamäki momentarily reclaiming the record with in the afternoon event. This was then shattered again by Romøren only minutes later, who jumped . Some minutes after that, Janne Ahonen jumped , but this was rendered invalid due to him falling hard upon landing.

World Cup

Standings

Wins

Ski jumping world records

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hautamaki, Matti 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Oulu Skiers from North Ostrobothnia Finnish male ski jumpers Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Olympic ski jumpers for Finland Olympic silver medalists for Finland Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Ski jumpers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in ski jumping FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in ski jumping Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics World record setters in ski flying 21st-century Finnish sportsmen