Ari Juhani Salin (born 20 January 1947) is a Finnish former hurdler and sprinter. Salin set Finnish records in both the

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten ...

and the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...

and competed in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972 ...

Career

Salin won his first title at the

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, i ...

in 1968, when he won the 110 m hurdles in 14.7. 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. He repeated as national champion in 1969 and represented Finland in the 1969 European Athletics Championships in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

, but was eliminated in the first round. 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. He broke the national records in both events several times that year, setting his best times of 13.8 and 49.9 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

in a dual meet against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

; ''

Track & Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runnin ...

'' ranked Salin fourth in the world in the 400 m hurdles that year. In 1971 Salin improved his national record in the 400 m hurdles to 49.6 and was national champion in both hurdling events. At the 1971 European Championships in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

he qualified for the final in the 400 m hurdles, placing sixth in 50.57; 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. In 1972 Salin won his third consecutive national title in the 400 m hurdles and set his personal best and last Finnish record, 49.5, in Helsinki. At the

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Salin represented Finland in the

400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

, as well as (with Stig Lönnqvist,

Ossi Karttunen Ossi Karttunen (born 17 March 1948) is a Finnish sprinter. He competed in the men's 400 metres at the 1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into ...

and

Markku Kukkoaho Markku Juhani Kukkoaho (born 11 November 1946) is a Finnish former sprinter. Kukkoaho placed fourth in men's 400 metres at the 1971 and 1974 European Championships and sixth at the 1972 Summer Olympics, where he set the still-standing Finnish n ...

) in the

4 × 400 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smalles ...

; 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. 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.

Personal life

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salin, Ari 1947 births Living people People from Lohja Finnish male hurdlers Finnish male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Finland Sportspeople from Uusimaa