FLYING FINN HANNU MANNINEN"THE FINNISH STAR"

Nordic Combined ace Hannu Manninen retires at age of 30

Nordic Combined athlete Hannu Manninen announced his retirement from the sport on Thursday.
“One important reason for my retirement is the birth of my son after three years of difficult waiting. This proved that having a child is not a matter of course and cannot be taken lightly”, Manninen explained.
Manninen’s son Niila is just under three months old.
The fact that Manninen was accepted to the Finnish Aviation Academy to prime his future career as an airline pilot was, of course, a second important reason. The decision to hang up his skis had been widely anticipated from the end of last season.

Manninen’s life is now facing a complete change of direction. Previously Manninen has studied marketing at the University of Lapland, but “this did not feel like the right career”.
Manninen, who turned 30 in April, could have considered continuing his Nordic Combined career until the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, but the Aviation Academy only allows the postponing of studies by one year.

During his active career, Manninen won several World Championship medals in the discipline of Nordic Combined, including three gold medals (4x 5 km team in 1999 and 2007 and 7.5 km individual sprint in 2007).
From the Olympics, Manninen has brought home three team event medals (gold 2002, silver 1998, bronze 2006), but like his ski-jumping colleague Janne Ahonen (who also retired from the sport earlier this year), Manninen never quite managed to deliver the goods in individual Olympic competitions.
In the Nordic Combined World Cup, Manninen nevertheless showed he could win and win again almost at will: he holds the records for most wins (45) and most championship titles (4, from successive years in 2004-2007).