The tragic death of the world youth champion. He died in a boat accident – Sport.cz

“It is with great sadness that we have to announce that Joonas Ikonen, the 2005 World Junior Champion and our long-time coach, has died in a boating accident. We will miss his friendship and knowledge. We want to express our deepest condolences to Joonas’ family and loved ones. We want to ask for peace of mind for the bereaved loved ones,” read the club’s statement on their Facebook page.

Ikonen was expected to have a bright future in ski jumping. As a youngster, he beat his peers and later great players such as Kamil Stoch, Severin Freund and Gregor Schlierenzauer.

He made his World Cup debut shortly before his golden victory at home MSJ in Rovaniemi. The following season, he finished twice in the SP race in the top ten. But as it turned out later, this was also his last season in the World Cup.

Back in 2006, he reached the Olympics in Turin as a substitute, despite his teammates, such as Janne Ahonen, Janne Happonen, Matti Hautamäki, Risto Jussilainen and Tami Kiuru, but then he didn’t make it the races.

And then there was a quick slide. Leaving the toilet, suffering in the Continental Cup and in 2010 the definitive end of an active career. After that, he worked as a construction worker and club coach.

“It was a combination of many things that my career started to take a bad turn quickly,” he told the Finnish media several years later about the premature end of his sports career. He announced, for example, problems with injured knees or constant struggle with reducing body weight as reasons.