Veikko KANKKONEN

Veikko Kankkonen was the best Finnish ski jumper of the 1960s. He made his first international appearance at the 1960 Winter Olympics, where he placed only 40th, but his prime came at the next Olympics in 1964, where he won a gold on the Normal Hill and silver on the Large Hill. The 1964 season was probably Kankkonen’s best, as before the Olympics, he had won the Four Hills Tournament and after the Olympics recorded his third victory at the Lahti Ski Games and won a ski jumping event at Holmenkollen, also earning a Holmenkollen medal that year. In 1966 Kankkonen again won the Four Hills Tournament, and eventually won at Lahti five times – 1960-61, 1964, and 1967-68. Kankkonen also played baseball in the Finnish Championships in 1963-64 with Maila-Veikot Lahti, and played golf, his best place at the Finnish Golf Championships being fourth. By profession Kankkonen was a turner and also later worked as a ski jumping coach. His son Anssi Kankkonen is a golfer, through 2009 the only Finn to win a tournament (in 1995 and twice in 1997) on the European PGA Tour. Anssi Kankkonen also won a Finnish ski jumping team title in 1985.