Kalle Heikkinen

Kalle Heikkinen was a Finnish cross-country skier. Heikkinen was drafted as a conscription officer and took part in the 1929 Military Scout Skiing World Championships in Zakopane, Poland. In 1932 Heikkinen joined the Lapland border guard (“Lapin rajavartiosto”) and won the 10 and 50 kilometre races in Ounasvaara.

Heikkinen won two races at the Holmenkollen Games, the first in the 10 kilometres sprint in 1933, and the second in the 50 kilometres in the following year. Heikkinen competed in the 50 kilometres at the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics. He finished in 14th place.

In December 1938 Heikkinen was training for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, which took place the following February. He was out jogging with another skier at night when they both fell into a sewer. Heikkinen was taken to the Helsinki Surgical Hospital, but he sadly died the next morning. He was 30. In 1945 a series of Finnish postage stamps were issued with Heikkinen depicted on one of them.