The World Championship would elevate the Lions to a truly small number of successful Finnish clubs.
Matti Nykänen won the 1984 Olympic and World Championship gold. AOP
The lion has a chance to repeat Matti Nykänen trick in the World Cup final.
Of the Finns, only Nykänen and speed skater have previously won Olympic and World Championship gold in one and the same calendar year. Clas Thunbergalthough summer and winter races are included.
Statistics enthusiasts tell Iltalehti about it Harri Piironen and Vesa-Matti Peltolawho have rummaged through the data.
Nykänen achieved this in 1984. That year, the legend won the gold medal at the Sarajevo Olympics and the world championship at the Engelberg World Championships.
Only hill jumping and combined team competitions, which were not on the program for the Sarajevo Olympics, were competed in Engelberg. Nykänen also won the Normal Hill silver from Sarajevo.
– I can’t say how seriously the best hill jumpers in the world took the World Championship championship in 1984, Piironen says.
Clas Thunberg won five Olympic golds in speed skating. IL ARCHIVE
Thunberg won his medal in 1928.
He celebrated 500 and 1,500 meters of gold at the St. Moritz Olympics. In the same year, Thunberg won the World Championships, the European Championship gold in joint points and the European Championship gold medalist.
– Thunberg won the World Cup and European Championship gold in the 1928 joint points competition, which was an Olympic sport in 1924, but no longer in 1928. Thunberg’s 1928 Olympic gold medals of 500 and 1500 meters were not in the World Championships and European Championships in 1928. They were participants in the joint points competition, Piironen says.
The statistics speak of the official and separately organized competitions of the name itself.
For example Verner Weckman won the 1906 wrestling Olympic gold and World Championship gold, but both were unofficial medals. The World Championship medals in the 1956–1980 World Championships in skiing were also awarded.
– These World Cup titles awarded at the Olympics are hardly remembered anywhere.
The golden season
The lions reached a small club. Jussi Saarinen
In February, the Lions celebrated the first hockey Olympic gold in Finnish history at the Beijing Olympics.
A rare achievement would be complete if the World Championships were left in the World Cup.
At the same time, it would be the first time in 36 years that a country that has hosted the World Hockey Championships alone has won the World Championships at home. The Soviet Union last did the same in 1986.
Sweden won the 2013 World Cup. The competition was organized together with Finland.
FACTS
Official Olympic gold and official World Cup gold in the same year:
Clas Thunberg, speed skating 1928 (also official European Championship gold)
Matti Nykänen, hill jumping 1984
Unofficial Olympic gold and unofficial World Cup gold in the same year:
Verner Weckman, wrestling 1906
Official Olympic gold and youth World Cup gold in the same year:
Toni Nieminen, hill jumping 1992
Official Olympic gold and unofficial European Championship gold in the same year:
Emil Väre, wrestling 1912
In connection with skiing, the World Cup titles were awarded at the 1956–1980 Olympic Games. In other words, Eero Mäntyranta became both a two-time Olympic winner and a two-time world champion at the Innsbruck Olympics.
Kaarlo Kangasniemi has also been awarded the World Weightlifting Championships at the 1968 Mexican Olympics, where he won Olympic gold. In addition to the Olympic medals, the World Championship value was also given in these games.