Ari Paunonen (born 10 March 1958) is a Finnish male former middle- and

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running comes two d ...

who competed over distances from

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since th ...

up to

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

. His best international performances at a major event were bronze at the 1977 European Cup and fifth at the

1983 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1983 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at Sportcsarnok in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, on 5 and 6 March 1983.Nordic Indoor Athletics Championships The Nordic Indoor Athletics Championships was an international athletics competition between four Nordic countries – Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. It was held twice, in 1986 and 1987.mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance running, middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived trac ...

is a Finnish record. He also set a European under-20 record of 7:43.20 minutes for the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

in 1977. As a junior athlete he won back-to-back 1500 m titles at the

European Athletics Junior Championships The European Athletics U20 Championships (formerly named the European Athletics Junior Championships up to 2015) are the European championships for athletes who are under-20 athletes, which is the age range recognised by World Athletics as jun ...

in 1975 and 1977, as well as a junior race bronze at the 1977 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. At national level he won a middle-distance double at the Finnish Athletics Championships in 1977, won a second 1500 m title in 1979 and took three short course cross country titles between 1977 and 1980. He was also a four-time national indoor champion. Born in

Sulkava Sulkava is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Juva, Puumala, R ...

, he later became editor of ''

Juoksija ''Juoksija'' ( Finnish: ''Runner'') is a Finnish language sports magazine which focuses on endurance sports, fitness, healthy living and running. Founded in 1971, the magazine is one of the earliest publications in this category in Europe. His ...

'', a Finnish sports and fitness magazine. He married Alia Virkberg, also a former distance runner.

International competitions

National titles

* Finnish Athletics Championships **800 metres: 1977 **1500 metres: 1977, 1979 **Cross country short course: 1977, 1979, 1980 * Finnish Indoor Athletics Championships **1500 m: 1981 **3000 m: 1978, 1983 **5000 m: 1987

Personal bests

– 1:47.74 (1977) *

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

– 3:38.07 (1977) *

Mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance running, middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived trac ...

– 3:55.65 (1977) *

– 7:43.2 (1977) *

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

– 13:31.56 (1987) *

– 28:25.16 (1987)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paunonen, Ari Living people 1958 births People from Sulkava Finnish journalists Finnish male long-distance runners Finnish male middle-distance runners Finnish male cross country runners