Riikka Honkanen grew up in Klaukkala in the Nurmijärvi municipality a few kilometers northwest of Helsinki . She skied for the first time at the age of four and joined the Vihti ski club when she was six . Since the family only had a couple of skis, they initially had to share them with their twin brother . Honkanen graduated from Tahkon Alppikoulu (alpine school) at Nilsiä high school .
At the age of 16, she completed her first FIS races at Pyhätunturi and immediately placed in the top ten. In the same winter, she competed at the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Malbun and finished 27th in slalom. At her first Junior World Championship in Hafjell , she was 39th in giant slalom. In the 2015/16 season , she first entered and competed in the European Cup several giant slaloms and slaloms. In February she competed at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer and finished seventh and eleven in the technical disciplines. With the Finnish team, she won the bronze medal in the team competition . At the Junior World Championships in Sochi , she secured the silver medal in her favorite discipline, slalom, and at the end of the season her first national title. She won another JWM medal in Davos in 2018, also in the giant slalom.
On January 30, 2016, she made her World Cup debut in the giant slalom in Maribor . A year later she competed for the first time in a world championship in St. Moritz . In giant slalom she finished 34th, in slalom she was eliminated. At the 2019 World Cup , she competed with the Finnish team in the team competition, but had to admit defeat to the later bronze winners from Italy. In the giant slalom she improved to 29th place, in the slalom she was eliminated again. In March she won her first World Cup point by finishing 30th in the giant slalom in Špindlerův Mlýn .
Finland
