Hannu Manninen

Who is Hannu Manninen?

Hannu Kalevi Manninen is a retired Finnish nordic combined athlete. Debuting at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer at the age of 15, he took his first medal three years later at the age of 18 when he won silver in the 4 × 5 km team event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, he won a gold medal in the 4 × 5 km team event at the age of 23. He has five other Nordic skiing World Championships medals, earning three golds and two bronzes. He has two other Olympic team medals as well.

Manninen has the record for most wins and most championship titles, after passing Kenji Ogiwara's records during the 2006-07 season, in the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup. He also has won the 7.5 km sprint event of the Nordic combined three times at the Holmenkollen ski festival.

As a cross country skier, he finished 8th in the individual sprint event at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Manninen announced his retirement from competition on May 29, 2008 to focus on his family and a future career as an airline pilot. He made his comeback to World Cup on November 28, 2009 in Ruka, Finland, where he finished 2nd. Day after he won his first race after comeback. The first race in 2010 took place in Oberhof Germany where Manninen won for the 47th time in his sporting career.