The Most Famous
SKATERS from Finland
Top 7
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Finnish Skaters of all time. This list of famous Finnish Skaters is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity.
1. Clas Thunberg (1893 - 1973)
With an HPI of 61.99, Clas Thunberg is the most famous Finnish Skater. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages on wikipedia.
Arnold Clas ("Classe") Robert Thunberg (5 April 1893 – 28 April 1973) was a Finnish speed skater who won five Olympic gold medals – three at the inaugural Winter Olympics held in Chamonix in 1924 (along with a silver and a bronze medal) and two at the 1928 Winter Olympics held in St. Moritz. He was the most successful athlete at both of these Winter Olympics, sharing the honour for 1928 Winter Olympics with Johan Grøttumsbraaten of Norway. No other athlete ever won such a high fraction of all Olympic events at a single Games. He was born and died in Helsinki.
2. Walter Jakobsson (1882 - 1957)
With an HPI of 61.13, Walter Jakobsson is the 2nd most famous Finnish Skater. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Walter Andreas Jakobsson (6 February 1882 – 10 June 1957) was a Finnish figure skater, and the oldest figure skating Olympic champion (at age 38). As a single skater, he won the Finnish national championship in 1910 and 1911. In 1910, he partnered with German figure skater Ludowika Eilers. As pairs skaters, they won the World Championship in 1911, 1914, and 1923, and the Olympic gold in 1920. They finished second at the 1924 Olympics and fifth in 1928. Jakobsson studied engineering in Berlin, where he met Eilers in 1907. They married in 1911, and in 1916 moved to Helsinki, where Jakobsson got a job of the technical director of Kone OY (now Konecranes), a leading manufacturers of cranes. He held that post until retiring in 1947. He was also an amateur photographer and member of the Fotografiamatörklubben i Helsingfors (Helsinki Amateur photography Club). His specialty was dark city scenes with special light effects like rain or mist.
3. Kaija Mustonen (b. 1941)
With an HPI of 55.67, Kaija Mustonen is the 3rd most famous Finnish Skater. Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Kaija Marja Mustonen (born 4 August 1941 in Helsinki) is a former speed skater from Finland. After winning silver and bronze at the 1964 Winter Olympics of Innsbruck, Mustonen went on to win gold and silver at the 1968 Winter Olympics of Grenoble. This was the only Finnish gold medal at those games and the last Olympic gold for Finland in speed skating up to at least 2015. Her Olympic performance was acknowledged by naming her Finnish female athlete of the year in 1964 and 1968. She competed in ten World Allround Championships from 1958 to 1968 (every year except 1959), but never won a medal in the final classification, a fourth place in 1964 being her best result. She did win four distance medals though, all bronze, in the days when there was not yet a separate world championship for each distance. Nationally, she won seven all-around titles between 1962 and 1968.
4. Lassi Parkkinen (1917 - 1994)
With an HPI of 54.11, Lassi Parkkinen is the 4th most famous Finnish Skater. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Lauri ("Lassi") Rikhard Parkkinen (8 May 1917 – 3 October 1994) was a Finnish speed skater. Lassi Parkkinen was born in Varkaus, an industrial town in the southeast of Finland. He made his debut at the World Allround Championships in 1938, finishing ninth. He also participated the next year, 1939, in what would turn out to be the last World Championships before World War II, but his results on the first three distances were not good enough to qualify for the final distance. Due to the war, it took eight years before the World Championships were held again. At these first World Championships since World War II, Parkkinen was crowned the 1947 World Champion. His success continued the next year at the 1948 Winter Olympics of St. Moritz, when he won Olympic silver on the 10,000 m. His final speed skating successes came in 1952 when he won silver at the World Championships and became Finnish Allround Champion for the fifth and last time. He also skated at the 1952 Winter Olympics of Oslo, but his 10,000 m time of 17:36.8 – almost identical to the time that won him silver in 1948 – was only good for the eighth place. His best result at those 1952 Winter Olympics was a sixth place on the 1,500 m. The next year, 1953, Parkkinen finished only twelfth at the World Championships and he retired from speed skating soon afterwards. He kept involved in speed skating though, being vice-chairman of the Suomen Luisteluliitto (Finnish Skating Association) from 1954 to 1960, as well as being a committee member of the International Skating Union from 1957 to 1964. Parkkinen died in 1994, aged 77.
5. Kiira Korpi (b. 1988)
With an HPI of 44.96, Kiira Korpi is the 5th most famous Finnish Skater. Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Kiira Linda Katriina Korpi (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈkiːrɑ ˈkorpi]; born 26 September 1988) is a Finnish figure skater. She is a three-time European medalist (bronze in 2007 and 2011, silver in 2012), the 2010 Trophée Eric Bompard champion, the 2012 Rostelecom Cup champion, a two-time Cup of China medalist, and a five-time Finnish national champion (2009, 2011–2013, 2015). She retired from competitive skating in August 2015.
6. Laura Lepistö (b. 1988)
With an HPI of 40.40, Laura Lepistö is the 6th most famous Finnish Skater. Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Laura Anneli Lepistö (born 25 April 1988) is a Finnish former competitive figure skater. She is the 2010 world bronze medalist, the 2009 European champion, and a two-time (2008 and 2010) Finnish national champion. After missing two seasons with various injuries, Lepistö announced on March 25, 2012, that she would not return to competitive skating.
7. Pekka Koskela (b. 1982)
With an HPI of 34.13, Pekka Koskela is the 7th most famous Finnish Skater. His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.
Pekka Koskela (born 29 November 1982) is a retired Finnish speed skater, specialised on the sprint distances 500 m and 1000 m. He is the former world record holder on the 1000 m with the time 1:07.00. In December 2001 he set a junior world record on the 500 m with the time 35.89. Since that time he has established himself as one of the best speed skating sprinters in the world. He won his first medal, a bronze, on the 1000 m in the 2005 World Single Distance Championships. Koskela was number 10 in the 500 m of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Koskela was one of the two dominating skaters at the 2007 World Sprint Championship in Vikingskipet, Hamar. He won both 500 metres, and set a rink record with 34.80, and was leading the proceedings up to the last distance, where he lost the world championship title to Lee Kyou-hyuk. Skating in the last 1000m pair, Koskela needed 1:09.03 to equal Lee, which by coincidence was the exact time Koskela achieved on the first day of the championships. Koskela was 0.14 seconds too late to become world champion, however. Koskela has won four medals in World Championships. As of August 2013, he has won the 500 m 11 times and the 1000 m 3 times in the Speed Skating World Cup. He has been at the podium of World Cup competition 29 times altogether (500 and 1000 m) and he has been in the top ten 70 times at World Cup competitions. He has also two Finnish championship gold medals in track cycling. Koskela's brother Pasi Koskela was also world cup-level speed skater, and he is now head coach of the Finnish national speed skating team.
People
Pantheon has 7 people classified as Finnish skaters born between 1882 and 1988. Of these 7, 4 (57.14%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Finnish skaters include Kaija Mustonen, Kiira Korpi, and Laura Lepistö. The most famous deceased Finnish skaters include Clas Thunberg, Walter Jakobsson, and Lassi Parkkinen. As of April 2024, 1 new Finnish skaters have been added to Pantheon including Pekka Koskela.
Living Finnish Skaters
Go to all Rankings
Kaija Mustonen
1941 - Present
HPI: 55.67
Kiira Korpi
1988 - Present
HPI: 44.96
Laura Lepistö
1988 - Present
HPI: 40.40
Pekka Koskela
1982 - Present
HPI: 34.13
Deceased Finnish Skaters
Go to all RankingsClas Thunberg
1893 - 1973
HPI: 61.99
Walter Jakobsson
1882 - 1957
HPI: 61.13
Lassi Parkkinen
1917 - 1994
HPI: 54.11
Newly Added Finnish Skaters (2025)
Go to all RankingsOverlapping Lives
Which Skaters were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Skaters since 1700.
