Jani Lakanen
Jani Ensio Lakanen ( born December 11, 1976 in the town of Lohja ) is a Finnish orienteer.
After two bronze medals on the long distance at the Junior World Championships in 1995 and 1996 Lakanen started in 1999 for the first time at the World Championships the elite. In Scotland Inverness he missed in the sprint in fourth only by one second a medal. In the season he won with Juha Peltola, Mikael Boström and Janne Salmi behind the squadron Norway a silver medal. In 2000 he joined the World Cup season as overall winner. At the 2001 World Championships in Finland, he was middle distance fourth. The Finnish season in which he ran with Jarkko Huovila, Juha Peltola and Janne Salmi, won the gold medal ahead of Norway and the Czech Republic. In a newly formed squadron with Pasi icons and Mats Haldin Lakanen also won at the European Championships the following year with the relay gold. 2003 brought the Finns relay silver at the World Championships in Rapperswil. After a rather mixed season in 2004 he enlisted in 2005 returned with a bronze medal in the sprint at the World Championships in Aichi, Japan. In 2006 he succeeded the two greatest triumphs: In the Estonian Otepaeae won with a two-minute lead over the Swiss Daniel Hubmann gold on the long distance. Later he also won the gold medal at the long distance at the World Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. After this successful year were from other tracks. It was not until 2013 at the World Championships in Finland Vuokatti he succeeded with silver behind Thierry Gueorgiou from France to the long distance a surprising comeback.
Lakanen ran until 2004 for the Finnish Orienteering Club Delta, with whom he was third twice and second once in the Jukola. Since 2005 he start for Vaajakosken Terae. With this club he was in 2010 as the final runners third at the Jukola. As an athlete, he ran for the clubs VihdVie (until 1997), Karhulan Katajaiset (until 2003), Sjundeå IF (until 2007) and Jyväskylä Kenttäurheilijat.