Joni Mäki

Joni Mäki
Mäki in 2019
CountryFinland
Born (1995-01-24) 24 January 1995 (age 29)
Vaasa, Finland
Ski clubPohti Skiteam
World Cup career
Seasons8 – (2016–present)
Starts58
Podiums1
Overall titles0 – (31st in 2022)
Discipline titles0
Medal record
Men's cross-country skiing
Representing  Finland
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2022 Beijing Team sprint
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2021 Oberstdorf Team sprint
Junior World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Val di Fiemme Individual sprint
Updated on 28 March 2023.

Joni Mäki (born 24 January 1995) is a Finnish cross-country skier. He is a silver medalist in the team sprint at both the 2022 Winter Olympics and the 2021 World Championships.

Career

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As a junior, Mäki won bronze in the sprint event at the 2014 U20 World Championships in Val di Fiemme. He made his World Cup debut in 2014 and placed in the top thirty for the first time in January 2016. So far, he has three podiums in the World Cup, one from team sprint (Planica 2020) and one from relay (Lahti 2021), and his best individual result is a 2nd place at the classical sprint in the 2021-22 season finale in Falun.

In 2019, at his first World Championships in Seefeld, Mäki placed 13th in the freestyle sprint event, being the first athlete not to qualify into the semi-finals. In the 2021 World Championships in Oberstdorf, he again placed thirteenth in the individual sprint, held this time in the classic style. Only three days later, though, Mäki won his first World Championships medal when he and teammate Ristomatti Hakola placed second at the team sprint event. Mäki secured them the silver medal with a solid last leg, where he lost to Norwegian Johannes Høsflot Klæbo but overtook the Russian Gleb Retivykh, who had had a head start in the beginning of the last leg.[1][2] In the 4 x 10 kilometre relay, he placed sixth along with teammates Hakola, Iivo Niskanen and Perttu Hyvärinen, with whom he'd reached the podium in Lahti earlier in the season.

Mäki started his 2021-22 season well, succeeding in domestic competitions. He followed this by reaching his first World Cup sprint final in the classical sprint event in Ruka, where he finished sixth. In the weeks after, though, he began suffering from health problems and missed the Tour de Ski, among other World Cup events. Mäki was again in good form in the Beijing Olympics, reaching the final in the freestyle sprint. Mäki, who has never reached a freestyle sprint final in World Cup competitions, placed fourth, only a second short of the bronze medal. In the classical team sprint, Mäki won his first Olympic medal when he and the 15-kilometre Olympic champion Iivo Niskanen took the silver medal. In the final sprint of the World Cup season at Falun, Mäki reached his first individual WC podium when he placed second after Sprint World Cup winner Richard Jouve.

Mäki has recently won several medals in Finnish National Championships and represents Pohti Ski Team in national competitions. He won the 2020-21 Suomen Cup, Finland's highest-level domestic cross-country competition tournament.[3][circular reference]

Cross-country skiing results

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All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).[4]

Olympic Games

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  • 1 medal (1 silver)
 Year   Age   15 km 
 individual 
 30 km 
 skiathlon 
 50 km 
 mass start 
 Sprint   4 × 10 km 
 relay 
 Team 
 sprint 
2022 27 [a] 4 6 Silver

a Distance reduced to 30 km due to weather conditions.

World Championships

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  • 1 medal – (1 silver)
 Year   Age   15 km 
 individual 
 30 km 
 skiathlon 
 50 km 
 mass start 
 Sprint   4 × 10 km 
 relay 
 Team 
 sprint 
2019 24 52 13
2021 26 DNF 13 6 Silver
2023 28 19 11

World Cup

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Season standings

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 Season   Age  Discipline standings Ski Tour standings
Overall Distance Sprint U23 Nordic
Opening
Tour de
Ski
Ski Tour
2020
World Cup
Final
Ski Tour
Canada
2014 19 NC NC NC
2015 20 NC NC NC
2016 21 148 99 19
2017 22 NC NC NC NC
2018 23 130 72 20 DNF 54
2019 24 44 79 19 DNF 36
2020 25 76 NC 39 37
2021 26 37 42 28 12
2022 27 31 83 10
2023 28 45 101 21
2024 29 33 72 11 DNF

Individual podiums

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  • 1 podium – (1 WC, 0 SWC)
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place
1 2021–22 11 March 2022 Sweden Falun, Sweden 1.4 km Sprint C World Cup 2nd

Team podiums

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  • 2 podiums – (1 RL, 1 TS)
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place Teammate(s)
1 2019–20 22 December 2019 Slovenia Planica, Slovenia 6 × 1.2 km Team Sprint F World Cup 3rd Hakola
2 2020–21 24 January 2021 Finland Lahti, Finland 4 × 7.5 km Relay C/F World Cup 2nd Hyvärinen / Hakola / Niskanen

References

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  1. ^ FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2021 results
  2. ^ "Ristomatti Hakola ja Joni Mäki MM-hopealle romurallissa – Tätä mitalia kannattaa juhlia, koska…". elmomedia.fi. 28 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Maastohiihdon Suomen Cup".
  4. ^ "MÄKI Joni". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
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