Jani Lakanen

Jani Lakanen, 2007

Jani Ensio Lakanen (born December 11, 1976 in the municipality of Lohja ) is a Finnish orienteer .

After two bronze medals over the long distance at the Junior World Championships in 1995 and 1996, Lakanen started in 1999 for the first time at the World Championships of the Elite. In Inverness , Scotland , he missed a medal by just one second on the short distance as fourth. In the relay he won the silver medal behind the Norwegian relay with Juha Peltola , Mikael Boström and Janne Salmi . In 2000 he finished the World Cup season as the overall winner. At the 2001 World Championships in Finland he was fourth in the middle distance. The Finnish relay, in which he ran with Jarkko Huovila , Juha Peltola and Janne Salmi, won the gold medal ahead of Norway and the Czech Republic. In a newly established relay with Pasi Ikonen and Mats Haldin , Lakanen also won gold with the relay at the European Championships the following year. In 2003 the Finns won the relay silver at the World Championships in Rapperswil . After a rather mixed season in 2004, he reported back in 2005 with a bronze medal in the sprint at the World Championships in Aichi , Japan . In 2006 he achieved his two greatest triumphs: In Otepää , Estonia , he won gold in the long distance with a two-minute lead over the Swiss Daniel Hubmann . Later he also won the gold medal in the long distance at the World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark . After this successful year there were no more titles. It was not until 2013 at the World Championships in Vuokatti , Finland , that he made a surprising comeback in the long distance with silver behind Thierry Gueorgiou from France.

Lakanen ran up to and including 2004 for the Finnish orienteering club Delta , with whom he was twice third and once second at the Jukola . He has been working for Vaajakosken Terä since 2005 . With this club he finished third at the Jukola in 2010. As a track and field athlete he ran for the clubs VihdVie (until 1997), Karhulan Katajaiset (until 2003), Sjundeå IF (until 2007) and Jyväskylän Kenttäurheilijat .

Placements

World championships sprint medium Long Season 1999 Inverness 4th 2. 2001 Tampere 4th 2. 1. 2003 Rapperswil 7th 2. 2004 Västerås 10. 4th 2005 Aichi 3. 18th 2006 Aarhus 1. 2. 2007 Kiev nq 2010 Trondheim 28. 9. 2013 Vuokatti 2. 5. Junior World Championship sprint medium Long Season 1994 Gdynia 7th 14th 1995 Horsens 6th 3. 1996 Govora 50. 3. 7th

European championships sprint medium Long Season 2000 Truskavets 9. 10. 2002 Sümeg 28. 8th. 1. 2004 Roskilde 22nd 14th 2006 Otepää 11. 1. 7th 2008 Ventspils 12. 2012 Falun 13. 7th Overall World Cup 1998 12. 2000 1. 2002 5. 2004 33. 2005 5. 2006 5. 2007 68. 2008 86. 2010 99 2012 45.

Web links

• Jani Lakanen World of O Runners
• Jani Lakanen athletics profile
• Homepage of Jani Lakanen (Engl./Finn.)