Matti Hautamäki

Matti Antero Hautamäki (; born 14 July 1981) is a Finnish former ski jumper who competed from 1997 to 2012. He is one of Finland's most successful ski jumpers, having won sixteen individual World Cup competitions; multiple medals at the Winter Olympics, Ski Jumping World Championships and Ski Flying World Championships; the Nordic Tournament twice; and four ski flying world records.

Career

Ski jumping Hautamäki started ski jumping at the age of seven near his hometown of Oulu. When his older brother Jussi and friend Lauri Hakola moved to Kuopio, Matti joined them. At first, he found it difficult to be independent at the age of sixteen, but he received much help and support from his brother, with whom he was living at the time. The help of his new coach Pekka Niemelä, whom he met at the sports school in Kuopio, also helped him advance quickly. In the same year, Matti had his first real successes and won medals at the 1997 and 1999 FIS Junior World Ski Jumping Championships.

At the Four Hills Tournament in 2001/02, Hautamäki finished second, his highest ever place in that tournament. In 2002 and 2005, he won the Nordic Tournament, with a clean sweep of all four events in the latter. It was during the 2004–05 season that he won six individual events in a row, including the pre-Winter Olympics rehearsal in Pragelato, and the first ski flying event in Planica; this matched the record for the most consecutive victories set by countryman Janne Ahonen in the same season. Hautamäki also won the ski jumping event at the 2005 Holmenkollen Ski Festival in Oslo.

Ski flying Hautamäki was regarded as a specialist at ski flying, with the majority of his personal best distances being achieved in Planica. An early sign of things to come was showcased on 23 March 2002 when he jumped 224.5 metres, nearly equalling the then-world record of 225 m set two years prior by Andreas Goldberger. At the 20–23 March 2003 event, Hautamäki set three consecutive world records of , , and ; the latter making him the first to ever officially land a jump over 230 m. His record stood until 20 March 2005, a day on which it was equalled once by Tommy Ingebrigtsen and later broken a further three times in spectacular fashion: Bjørn Einar Romøren first jumped during the morning training round, followed by Hautamäki momentarily reclaiming the record with in the afternoon event. This was then shattered again by Romøren only minutes later, who jumped . Some minutes after that, Janne Ahonen jumped , but this was rendered invalid due to his falling hard upon landing.

World Cup

Standings Season Overall1997/98 39 44 — 33 371998/99 101 — — — 99 1999/00 17 15 27 16 162000/01 6 6 4 11 N/A2001/02 N/A N/A2002/03 8 17 N/A N/A2003/04 7 23 N/A 11 N/A2004/05 10 N/A N/A2005/06 11 5 N/A 11 N/A2006/07 9 20 N/A 7 N/A2007/08 19 13 N/A 14 N/A2008/09 12 9 9 10 N/A2009/10 27 37 15 22 N/A2010/11 8 7 10 N/A N/A2011/12 49 35 — N/A N/A

Wins No. Season Date Location Hill Size1 2000/01 2 December 2000 Kuopio Puijo K120 (night) 2 2001/02 19 January 2002 Zakopane Wielka Krokiew K116 LH3 13 March 2002 Falun Lugnet K115 (night) LH4 15 March 2002 Trondheim Granåsen K120 (night) LH5 2002/03 22 March 2003 Planica Velikanka bratov Gorišek K185 6 23 March 2003 Planica Velikanka bratov Gorišek K185 FH7 2003/04 28 November 2003 Kuusamo Rukatunturi K120 (night) LH8 23 January 2004 Hakuba Hakuba K120 (night) LH9 2004/05 11 February 2005 Pragelato Stadio del Trampolino HS140 LH10 6 March 2005 Lahti Salpausselkä HS130 LH11 9 March 2005 Kuopio Puijo HS127 (night) LH12 11 March 2005 Lillehammer Lysgårdsbakken HS138 (night) LH13 13 March 2005 Oslo Holmenkollbakken HS128 LH14 19 March 2005 Planica Letalnica bratov Gorišek HS215 FH15 2005/06 28 January 2006 Zakopane Wielka Krokiew HS134 (night) LH16 29 January 2006 Zakopane Wielka Krokiew HS134 LH

Ski jumping world records