Paavo Puurunen

Paavo Puurunen ( born August 28, 1973 in Kuhmo, Finland) is a Finnish biathlete.

Career

Puurunen first came in the 1994/95 season to a few missions in Biathlon World Cup. From the following season he was used regularly and was also at the 1996 World Championships at the start. With the Finnish season he reached the final runner to 6th place, with the 11th place in the sprint race he managed to be so far the best individual result. Over the next two years Puurunen came to several World Cup inserts, but could rarely ranked among the 30 best athletes. Only at the 1998 Winter Olympics he achieved a 9th place, which at the same time also meant the first top- 10 ranking in the career of the Finn in the sprint race.

For the first time intense attention to themselves made ​​Puurunen at the World Championships in 1999. The discharged in domestic Kontiolahti sprint and pursuit races, he finished in 11th and 16 in individual races of Oslo 9th place just short of his first medal by scraping the Finn in the mass start race, in which he, as fourth-placed just over six seconds short of the bronze medal. At the World Championships a year later held he could repeat his top- 10 finishes in 8th place in the mass start and 10th place in the sprint.

Despite occasional good individual results of the World Champion title for Puurunen about 20 km at the Biathlon World Championships 2001 in Pokljuka for many was a surprise. Twenty years after winning the title of his fellow countryman Heikki Ikola won with Puurunen again a Finn, a World Championship gold medal. The next podium succeeded Puurunen then time for the 2003 World Championships, when he won the bronze medal in the pursuit. His other top - 10 finishes reached the Finn with space 6 in the mass start (2003) and the squares 8 and 7 in Sprint and Pursuit (2004) for the most part in the World Championships.

His first last major race of the mass start at the Olympic Winter Games 2006: With a flawless shooting result, the Finn only position ahead of him stronger runners Michael Greis, Tomasz Sikora and Ole Einar Bjørndalen had to admit defeat and reached 4th place his best Olympic result. This was in addition to the two World Championship medals, the third best result of his career, which he finished after the 2005/06 season. Puurunen reached more than half of its top - 10 finishes at World Championships or Olympic Winter Games.

Prior to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games of Vancouver Puurunen returned again in the active competition. At the end of the season 2008/ 09 he won the sprint title at the Finnish Championships. In Olympia, it was Puurunens fourth part, he was 73rd in the Sprint and 53 of the Single Page.

Biathlon World Cup rankings

The table shows all placements (depending on the year, including hosting the Olympic Games and World Championships ).

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