Erkki Lauri Johannes Antila (born July 14, 1954 in Jurva ) is a former Finnish biathlete . Around 1980 he was one of the world's best in biathlon.
Erkki Antila started for Jurvan Urheilijat . At the Junior World Championships in Minsk in 1974 , he won the silver medal behind Steffen Thierfelder in the sprint and was world champion with the Finnish relay. A year later he won relay bronze with Keijo Kuntola and Arto Sutinen in Antholz . Between 1977 and 1983 he took part in all major biathlon events of the respective years. With his first participation in the Biathlon World Championships in 1977 in Vingrom , he won the silver medal in the relay race with Raimo Seppänen , Simo Halonen and Heikki Ikola . A year later, eighth place in the individual was the best result in Hochfilzen . In 1979 he won the silver relay medal again in Ruhpolding together with Halonen, Seppänen and Ikola. The high point of his career was the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid . Antila was 12th in the sprint, fifth in the individual and on the side of Keijo Kuntola, Kari Saarela and Raimo Seppänen seventh with the Finnish relay. The most successful year was 1981 . In his home town of Lahti , the Finn won the silver medal in the sprint race behind Frank Ullrich and the bronze medal in the individual behind his compatriot Heikki Ikola and Ullrich. In 1982 in Minsk he just missed another medal in individual as fifth. Antila decided his international career in Antholz at the 1983 World Championships , where he again ran close to the medal ranks with the relay in fifth place.
Antila is the father of the Finnish biathlete Timo Antila and the cousin of the cross-country skier Hilkka Riihivuori .
Web links
Erkki Antila in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
Finland
