Yrjö Nikkanen

Yrjö Nikkanen

Jouko Yrjö Nikkanen (born December 31, 1914 in Kanneljärvi , South Karelia , today Pobeda; † November 18, 1985 in Suoniemi near Nokia ) was a Finnish athlete who was one of the world's top javelin throwers in the 1930s and 1940s. He set two world records and won a total of three silver medals at the Olympic Games and European Championships.

successes

• XIII. 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin : SILVER with 70.77 m behind the German Gerhard Stöck with 71.84 m and in front of his compatriot Kalervo Toivonen with 70.72 m
• European Championships 1938 in Paris : SILVER with 75.00 m behind his compatriot Matti Järvinen with 76.87 m and in front of the Hungarian József Várszegi with 72.78 m
• European Championships 1946 in Oslo : SILVER with 67.50 m behind the Swede Lennart Atterwall with 68.74 m and in front of his compatriot Tapio Rautavaara with 66.40 m
• World records
  • 77.87 m on August 25, 1938 in Karhula (improvement of Matti Järvinen's 2-year-old record by 64 cm)
  • 78.70 m on October 16, 1938 in Kotka . This world record was to become one of the longest-lasting in the history of athletics: it was only 15 years later that the American Bud Held screwed it to 80.41 m.

Performance development

year	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1946
Width (m)	57.78	66.44	66.44	72.15	74.78	78.70	72.59

Web links

• Yrjö Nikkanen in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Men's javelin in major championships ( Memento from August 5, 2003 in the Internet Archive )