Soini Nikkinen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Soini Nikkinen ( Soini Mikael Nikkinen ; born July 19, 1923 in Kiuruvesi , † June 2, 2012 in Nastola ) was a Finnish javelin thrower who was successful between 1948 and 1956. The Finnish champion in 1952 and runner-up in 1951, 1954, 1956 and 1957 set world records and won bronze at the European Championships.

He was able to improve his performance from year to year:

year 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956
Width (m) 66.68 68.89 68.90 69.88 75.92 72.29 78.26 78.37 79.64 83.56

Career

After he had already thrown two Finnish records with 79.60 m (1954) and 79.64 m (1956), he managed a throw of 83.56 m on June 26, 1956 in Kuhmoinen . The joy that the world record was back in Finnish hands after almost three years - record maker Yrjö Nikkanen had been replaced by American Bud Held in 1953 - only lasted for a short time, because just six days later it was lost again to a non-Finnish person Pole Janusz Sidło Nikkinen exceeded by 10 cm.

Soini Nikkinen took part in two Olympic Games. In 1948 in London he was twelfth with 58.05 m (victory distance of his compatriot Tapio Rautavaara : 69.77 m). 1952 in Helsinki was eighth with 68.80 m (victory distance of the American Cy Young : 73.78 m).

He achieved international success at the European Athletics Championships in 1954 in Bern. There he won the bronze medal with a throw of 73.38 m behind the Poles Janusz Sidło (gold with 76.35 m) and Vladimir Kuznetsov from the USSR (silver with 74.61 m).

He did not take part in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Nikkinen, Soini
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nikkinen, Soini Mikael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish javelin thrower
DATE OF BIRTH July 19, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiuruvesi
DATE OF DEATH June 2, 2012
Place of death Nastola