Jari Joutsen

Jari Joutsen
nation	Finland
birthday	13th August 1978 (age 42)
place of birth	Jyväskylä , Finland
size	190 cm
Weight	83 kg
Career
job	Master in Sports Science
society	Joutsan Pommi
Trainer	Jussi Mikkola
status	active
Placements in the cross-country skiing world cup
Debut in the World Cup March 20, 2003 in Borlänge   Overall World Cup 46th (04/05)  Sprint World Cup 23rd (04/05)
last change: March 3, 2009

Jari Joutsen (born August 13, 1978 in Jyväskylä ) is a Finnish cross-country skier whose strengths are particularly in the sprint.

In 2000, Joutsen made his international debut when he first started in the Continental Cup with 47th place. In December of the following year he reached the top 30 for the first time with a 23rd place in the sprint. After the Finn in December 2002, compared the entire national competition in Lapinlahti enforced and his first success in a FIS race had celebrated, the Association nominated him on 20 March 2003 as one of six sprinters of his country to the World Cup of Borlänge . There he narrowly missed the top ten in eleventh place, but already collected some World Cup points that brought him to 41st place in the Sprint World Cup. Thanks to this convincing performance, the Finn was also used in the 2003/04 season opener at the World Cup in Düsseldorf , where he had to pay hardship and only placed 61st in the prologue, which meant he didn't even qualify for the sprint. This was followed by further missions in lower-class competitions, all of which he finished in good ranks, so that he was given another chance in the World Cup. In both Trondheim and Lahti , however, he missed qualifying for the sprint.

At the season opener for winter 2004/05, which again took place in Düsseldorf, Joutsen did not repeat his good result from the first World Cup race two years earlier, instead he was penultimate in the team sprint with his partner Ari Palolahti . It was not until December 2004 in Bern that the Finn made it back to the quarter-finals of the sprint, in which he was eliminated in 29th place. In the team sprint on the same weekend, he placed 18th out of 21 relay teams. Nevertheless, its shape rose even further towards the end of the year; In Asiago in mid-December he even managed to place second in the prologue and finally eighth place - his best World Cup result ever - making him the best Finn. With this good performance, he traveled to East Asia at the turn of the year, where he competed in two sprints in the cross-country Far East Cup , both of which he won. Since Joutsen also impressed in three other appearances in the top competition class, the association nominated him for the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2005 in Oberstdorf . As 25th in the sprint, he was the worst athlete in his country in this race, but still achieved a decent result. At the end of the season he got more points for the Sprint World Cup , including a twelfth place, which he finished 23rd with 95 points, and he also won a sprint in the Scandinavian Cup .

In the World Cup 2005/06 Joutsen started with difficulties. Neither in Dusseldorf nor in Vernon he reached the top thirty, he only succeeded in Nové Město na Moravě with a 24th place. More points followed, but he never made it into the top 20. In the Scandinavian Cup he was also eighth. At the beginning of the 2006/07 season , the Finn survived the qualification two more times, but then he was only used once in the World Cup. Instead, he now took part in some competitions in the Scandinavian Cup, in which, however, he no longer made the top ten. At the start of the 2007/08 World Cup , Joutsen was allowed to start again in Düsseldorf, but after that he limited himself mainly to the regional racing series. In the cross-country Far East Cup he won a sprint for the third time, in the Scandinavian Cup he reached the podium once. The Finn seldom took part in long-distance races, but remained weak. In two World Cup appearances towards the end of winter, he just missed points as 31st and 32nd. In Kuusamo Joutsen reported back to the international top with a 21st place in the World Cup sprint, but after that he only got two more appearances, both of which he finished outside of the points. At the national sprint championship, he just missed a medal in fourth.

Web links

• More website Joutsens (English)
• Jari Joutsen in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)