Kristian Bäck

Bäck at the 2018 Finnish championships.

Kristian Bäck (born 18 July 1996) is a Finnish long jumper. He competed at two European Championships, a fifth place there being his best performance in competition, and won three Finnish titles.

Career

As a 2015 Finnish U20 indoor champion he finished seventh at the 2015 European Junior Championships. He won the Finnish Junior Championships in a wind-assisted 7.61 metres and legal 7.50 metres, being his new personal best, followed by a wind-assisted 7.52 metre victory at the Nordic U20 championships.[1][2][3]

Bäck is from Vasa and represented the club Vasa IS. As a son of Mikael Bäck and long jumper Natalia Kilpeläinen, Bäck decided to become an elite athlete after the seventh place at the 2015 European Junior Championships. Another factor was his military service at Sandhamn, which steered him away from "partying". After his service finished in 2016 he enrolled in the Novia University of Applied Sciences in Vaasa.[4]

The 2016 athletic season started well with Bäck winning his first and only Finnish Indoor Championships, in another personal best of 7.63 metres, followed by a lifetime best in his first outdoor competition of the year: He jumped 7.95 metres in Formia.[5][6] Declining lengths in the following competitions were followed by 7.79 metres at the Kuortane Games before entering the European Championships. He qualified for the final round in a 7.96 metres leap and finished fifth in 7.91, both wind-assisted.[1] At the same time as reaching his all-time highest placement in athletics, he was disappointed with being just 2 centimetres behind the bronze medal.[7] Bäck rounded off his 2016 season with only a bronze medal at the Finnish Championships, but then a triple victory at the Finnish U23 Championships, Nordic-Baltic U23 Championships and Finland–Sweden International.[1]

Bäck matched his best lengths in 2017, jumping 7.95 metres in Jämsä on 1 July.[8] Two weeks later he competed at the 2017 European U23 Championships, later also at the 2017 Summer Universiade, without reaching the final in either.[1] With a goal of jumping 8 metres that he deemed realistic, his first and third jump at the 2017 European U23 Championships were invalid. His second jump measured 7.53, but was marred by getting too little time to prepare, 18 seconds instead of 60; Bäck successfully handed in a protest and was allowed to redo his second jump in the evening. This, however, was an overstep and hence not valid.[9][10] After that he became Finnish U23 champion again, and won his first Finnish Championships in a wind-assisted 7.91 metres, but only finished fifth at the Finland–Sweden International.[11][12]

Bäck took his second straight Finnish title in 2018, jumping in a season's best of 7.93 metres. He became runner-up at the Finland–Sweden International and competed at the 2018 European Championships without reaching the final.[1][13][14]

By 2018 Bäck had lost some of the spontaneity in his jumping, especially finding 2017 "a bit stressful". He first lost much of the indoor season, then failed to reach his goals of surpassing 8 metres or winning the 2017 European U23 Championships.[15][16] Pollen allergy also took a toll.[17][18] Feeling his performance stagnate, after the 2018 season Bäck decided to change coaches from his father to Frank Attoh, the British coach of Greg Rutherford. The plan was to conduct monthly training sessions with Attoh in London, and the day-to-day training in Helsinki under Suren Ghazaryan's guidance.[19] The next two years Bäck was injured "constantly", including a few illnesses.[20][21]

Bäck competed only twice each in 2019 and 2020, one of the competitions being a silver medal at the 2020 Finnish Championships with a 7.77 metres jump. He then matched his former lengths in 2021, jumping 7.92 at the Kuortane Games, and managed to take his third Finnish title as well as compete at the European Team Championships First League.[1] Changing clubs to Viipurin Urheilijat and training together with Kristian Pulli, Bäck's goal was the Summer Olympics held in 2021.[22][23] This did not come to fruition, and by 2024, Kristian Bäck had become an agent. Being one of only three with a WA licence in Finland, he started by managing Samuli Samuelsson, later adding athletes such as Lotta Harala, Senni Salminen and Krista Tervo.[24]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Kristian Bäck at World Athletics
  2. ^ Isaksson, Janne; Lampenius, Leif (17 July 2015). "Från ingenstans till EM-sjua – "Har gått ganska snabbt"" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  3. ^ Isaksson, Janne (30 August 2015). "Kristian Bäck nordisk mästare – Nummi ny världstrea" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  4. ^ Isaksson, Janne (2 September 2016). "Lämnade festandet för friidrotten – Kristian Bäck in i Europaeliten på nolltid" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  5. ^ Långkvist, Carl-Magnus (28 February 2016). "Lyckad dag för Kristian Bäck: Guld och personligt rekord" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  6. ^ Lampenius, Leif (30 May 2016). "Kristian Bäcks vår: Full utdelning" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  7. ^ Långkvist, Carl-Magnus; Isaksson, Janne (7 July 2016). "Debutanten Bäck två centimeter från medalj – ska fira i skogen" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  8. ^ Salenius, Samuel (1 July 2017). "Bäck satte upp egen EM-gräns och slog den stort: "Tror det var den bästa serien jag någonsin gjort"" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  9. ^ Isaksson, Janne; Långkvist, Carl-Magnus (13 July 2017). "Finland lämnade in protest efter Bäcks finalmiss – fick göra nytt kvalhopp" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  10. ^ Isaksson, Janne (13 July 2017). "Karriärens märkligaste dag för Kristian Bäck: "Hoppas jag aldrig upplever det igen"" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  11. ^ Långkvist, Carl-Magnus (5 August 2017). "Bäcks dubbel: Två FM-guld på två veckor" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  12. ^ Isaksson, Janne (2 September 2017). "Sköldpaddan Bäck måste finna farten – veteranen Nygård behöver omskakning" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  13. ^ Isaksson, Janne; Andersson, Ludvig (6 August 2018). "On/off-säsong ledde till EM-besvikelse för Kristian Bäck – övervägde protest efter kvalmissen" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  14. ^ Isaksson, Janne (31 August 2018). "Kristian Bäck gör stora förändringar efter "skitsäsong" – Saga Andersson samlade ännu ett gott minne" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  15. ^ Isaksson, Janne (14 June 2017). "Frustrerad Kristian Bäck: Inte har man annat att skylla på än sig själv" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  16. ^ Nyman, Marianne (30 May 2018). "Längdhopparen Kristian Bäck – från "får se hur långt man kan komma" till seriös satsning" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  17. ^ Isaksson, Janne (20 July 2018). "EM-gräns viktigare än FM-medalj – allergi frustrerar Kristian Bäck, som inte njuter av hettan" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  18. ^ Isaksson, Janne (6 August 2018). "Kristian Bäck vill bara ha roligt: "Jag är underdog och har inga förväntningar"" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  19. ^ Vuojärvi, Christian (16 October 2018). "Kristian Bäck suktar efter nytändning – byter till brittisk succétränare" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  20. ^ Långkvist, Carl-Magnus (29 July 2019). "Motgångarna fortsätter för Kristian Bäck – missar Kalevaspelen och ger upp hoppet om VM" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  21. ^ Vuojärvi, Christian (6 August 2020). "Kristian Bäck ser ljuset i tunneln efter skadehelvetet: "Då det var som värst orkade jag knappt ta mig från soffan till köket"" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  22. ^ Henrichson, Niklas (28 April 2021). "Längdhopparen Kristian Bäck tror att han kan fixa en OS-biljett: "Det krävs mellan 790 och 810 i åtminstone tre större tävlingar"" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  23. ^ Backman, Sebastian (8 June 2021). "Bäck hämtade sig från bokstavligt magplask – säger att OS-drömmen fortfarande lever: "Måste verkligen hoppa bättre"" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  24. ^ Kronqvist, Walter (30 June 2024). "Luften har gått ur Kristian Bäcks längdkarriär – nu njuter han av nya livet som stjärnornas manager: "Ger mig glädje"" (in Swedish). YLE. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
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