Allar LEVANDI

Allar Levandi rose to be one of the top Soviet Nordic combined athletes as a junior. From 1981-83 he won three Soviet junior titles in a row and won gold in 1985 and bronze in 1984 in the World Junior Championships team event. Levandi made his début at a major international at the 1985 World Championships, where he was fourth in the team event and 19th individually. At the 1987 World Championships, Levandi won his first major international medal, a bronze in the team event and was fourth individually. The high point of Levandi’s career was the 1988 Winter Olympics, where he won a bronze in the individual. Levandi also competed at the 1989, 1991 and 1993 World Championships and 1992 and 1994 Olympic Winter Games, but failed to medal. Levandi won silvers at the 1989-90 World Cup. Domestically Levandi won only two bronzes at the Soviet Championships, in 1985 and 1989, but he was 1985 Estonian Champion in the team event and in ski jumping in 1981 and 1984. In 1993 Levandi won his only Estonian title in the individual. After finishing his sporting career, Levandi worked as a children’s coach in Norway from 1994-98, also coaching the Norwegian junior Nordic combined team. From 1998-2002 Levandi worked as the head coach of the Estonian national Nordic combined team. He owns a chain of sporting goods stores across Estonia, and married figure skater Anna Kondrashova, who competed at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Winter Games.