Akseli Kokkonen

Akseli Kokkonen
Akseli Kokkonen 2007
Full name	Akseli Ensio Kokkonen
nation	Finland Norway
birthday	February 27, 1984
place of birth	Oslo, Norway
size	172 cm
Weight	56-64 kg
job	Diving instructor
Career
society	Stårheim IL
Trainer	Aril Carlsson Kimmo Kykkänen
Pers. Best	213.5 m ( Planica 2004)
status	resigned
End of career	2011
Medal table
JWM medals 2 × 0 × 0 × EYOF medals 1 × 0 × 1 ×
European Youth Olympic Festival gold 2001 Vuokatti team bronze 2001 Vuokatti Normal hill  Ski jumping junior world championship gold 2001 Karpacz-Szklarska team gold 2002 Schonach team
Ski jumping world cup / A class jumping
Debut in the World Cup	2001
Overall World Cup	19th ( 2003/04 )
Four Hills Tournament	25th ( 2003/04 )
Nordic Tournament	14th (2004)
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Team jumping 0 2 0

Akseli Ensio Kokkonen (born February 27, 1984 in Oslo ) is a Norwegian ski jumper of Finnish descent who began his career in the Finnish Ski Association , but has been training in the Norwegian Ski Association since 2007 and has been part of the national team since 2009 after being naturalized.

Kokkonen started in Finland for the ski club of the city of Lahti, the Lahden Hiihtoseura . He made up for his military service, which he had prematurely ended due to back problems, in summer 2006. He then returned to ski jumping. In the summer of 2007 he moved to Lillehammer , Norway, joined the Lillehammerhopp team and enrolled with his new club, Søre Ål . Since November 2008 he started for the club Stårheim IL , in which he is the only ski jumper.

Career

Akseli Kokkonen was born in Oslo in 1984. His grandmother is Norwegian; however, when he was one year old, his family moved to Lahti in Finland , where they lived until 2006. In 2004 he graduated from the Rudolf Steiner School in Lahti (a Waldorf school ). Kokkonen originally planned to start studying at the Vierumäki Sport Institute in April 2005 in order to train as a sports teacher by 2008. In the end, however, Kokkonen decided to train as a diving instructor and pursue an active ski jumping career .

Kokkonen started ski jumping at the age of eleven. At the Junior World Championships in 2001 in Karpacz , Poland , he won the gold medal with the Finnish team. A year later he was fifth in the individual competition in Schonach in the Black Forest and successfully defended the world title with the team. Since 2003 he can be seen in international competitions for adults. At the Finnish Championships in 2002/03 he took third place on the normal hill in Kuopio . In 2003/04 in Kuopio on the large hill he was second and in 2003/04 in Rovaniemi on the normal hill he also achieved third place. Kokkonen achieved his personal best on February 22nd, 2004 in Planica on the ski flying hill (K-185). It reached a width of 213.5 m.

During a training jump in Kuopio (August 2004) Kokkonen broke his collarbone. This was followed by a 4 week break from training and a long-lasting low form. In mid-January 2006, Akseli Kokkonen announced a break from ski jumping that will probably last until summer 2006. He lived in Egypt since January 31st to complete his instructor training, which he passed on March 1st, 2006. In the summer of 2006, Kokkonen did his military service.

In the summer of 2007 Kokkonen left his original residence in Lahti and moved to Lillehammer, Norway to train there. Having received far more support from the Norwegians than from the Finnish Ski Association, he finally decided to stay there. He has had Norwegian citizenship since summer 2009 and starts for the Norwegian team.

Sporting successes

Success in the ski jumping world cup

2003/2004 : In the 2003/04 Ski Jumping World Cup , Kokkonen finished 19th overall with 280 points. The best results were fifth in Kuusamo (Finland) and seventh in Zakopane, Poland .

2004/2005 : Less successful was the 2004/2005 season . Kokkonen only took part in seven competitions and had to end the season early. He was only 64th in the overall ranking.

2005/2006 : In the Ski Jumping World Cup 2005/06 Kokkonen was only in the squad for the Finnish B-team. In Rovaniemi he competed in a Continental Cup competition.

2006/2007 : In the exclusively Finnish Finlandia Veikkaus Tour , Kokkonen was able to record first successes again. In the ski jumping World Cup , however, he has not yet been used again.

Success at the Ski Jumping Grand Prix

• 1st place in the Summer Continental Cup in Garmisch / Germany 2003
• 1st place Summer Continental Cup in Velenje / Slovenia
• 1st place in the Summer Grand Prix in Val di Fiemme / Italy 2003
• 1st place Summer Grand Prix in Hinterzarten / Germany 2003 (team competition)

Success at BUFF Norges Cup 2007/08

• 1st place Granåsen (January 6, 2008)
• 1st place Sprova (January 27, 2008)
• 1st place Rena (February 2nd, 2008)
• 1st place Lillehammer (February 10, 2008)
• 1st place Meldal (February 16, 2008)

With this unexpected winning streak, Akseli won the overall standings.

Success at the BUFF Norges Cup 2008/09

• 1st place Vikersund (November 29, 2008)
• 1st place Sprova (January 17, 2009)
• 1st place Meldal (January 31, 2009)
• 1st place Meldal (February 1st, 2009)
• 1st place Trondheim (February 7, 2009)
• 1st place Trondheim (February 8, 2009)
• 1st place Stryn (March 1st, 2009)
• 2nd place Vikersund (November 30, 2008)
• 2nd place Trondheim (January 4th, 2009)
• 2nd place Stryn (February 28, 2009)

Another overall victory

Individual Grand Prix victories

No.	date	place	country
1.	August 29, 2003	Pragelato	Italy

Web links

Commons : Akseli Kokkonen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Akseli Kokkonen in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Up close and personal: Akseli Kokkonen skispringen.com, accessed on February 25, 2014