Ari Salin

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Ari Juhani Salin (born 20 January 1947) is a Finnish former hurdler and sprinter. Salin set Finnish records in both the 110 metres hurdles and the 400 metres hurdles and competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Career[]

Salin won his first title at the national championships in 1968, when he won the 110 m hurdles in 14.7.[1] The same year he broke the Finnish record for the first time, running 14.2 and improving the previous record by one-tenth of a second.[2] He repeated as national champion in 1969[1] and represented Finland in the 1969 European Athletics Championships in Athens, but was eliminated in the first round.[3] Originally the 110 m hurdles were his main event, and he only dabbled in the 400 m hurdles; in 1970, however, he seriously took up the longer event as well.[2] He broke the national records in both events several times that year, setting his best times of 13.8 and 49.9 in Prague in a dual meet against Czechoslovakia;[1][2] Track & Field News ranked Salin fourth in the world in the 400 m hurdles that year.[4]

In 1971 Salin improved his national record in the 400 m hurdles to 49.6 and was national champion in both hurdling events.[1] At the 1971 European Championships in Helsinki he qualified for the final in the 400 m hurdles, placing sixth in 50.57;[3] he remained the last Finn to qualify for a European Championships final in men's 400 m hurdles until Oskari Mörö did it in 2014.[5] In 1972 Salin won his third consecutive national title in the 400 m hurdles[6] and set his personal best and last Finnish record, 49.5, in Helsinki.[2] At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich Salin represented Finland in the 400 m hurdles, as well as (with Stig Lönnqvist, Ossi Karttunen and Markku Kukkoaho) in the 4 × 400 m relay; in the hurdles he was eliminated in the first round, but the Finnish relay team placed sixth in the final and set the still-standing national record of 3:01.12.[7][8]

In total, Salin won eight individual national championship titles between 1968 and 1974 – four in the 400 m hurdles, three in the 110 m hurdles, and one in the 60 m indoor hurdles. In addition, he ran for Viipurin Urheilijat when they won the 1976 national championship in the 4 × 400 m relay.[1]

Personal life[]

Salin is married to Riitta Salin, former world record holder in women's 400 metres.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e Ari Salin at Tilastopaja (in Finnish) (registration required)
  2. ^ a b c d "Löpning" (in Swedish). Uppslagsverket Finland. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  3. ^ a b Jalava, Mirko (2014). "European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014: Statistics Handbook" (PDF). European Athletics. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  4. ^ "World Rankings — Men's 400 Hurdles" (PDF). Track & Field News. Retrieved 28 December 2014.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Hänninen, Petri (15 August 2014). "Mörö lähtee aitojen EM-finaaliin jalkapöytä teipattuna" (in Finnish). Yleisradio. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  6. ^ "Finnish Championships". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  7. ^ a b "Ari Salin Bio, Stats and Results". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  8. ^ Jalava, Juhani. "Suomen kaikkien aikojen tilasto" (in Finnish). Tilastopaja. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
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