There are many world stars from different countries among the participants of the 2018 Arctic Curling Cup, which will be held in Dudinka from May 24 to 27. But even among them Markku Uusipaavalniemi from Finland stands out for his unique career.

Markku (born in 1966) made his debut at international level when many of his rivals for the upcoming tournament were not even born yet. For the first time at the European Championships Markku played in 1985 at the age of 19. After 10 years, he first brought the national team of Finland as a team skip. And it was from the mid-1990s that the best years began in the Markku’s career. In 1999, he won the bronze of the European Championship among men’s teams, and the next year in a brilliant style he won this tournament, having won 11 wins in 11 matches. In 2001 he again became the bronze medalist of the European Championship. At the World Championship among men’s teams Markku debuted in 1992, and in 1998 and 2000 he won two bronze medals.

In 2002 Markku made his debut at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. There the team Uusipaavalniyami took the fifth place in the group stage (4 wins and 5 losses) and could not reach the semifinals. Winter Games 2006 in Turin were much more successfull for Markku. The Finns unexpectedly won the group stage (7 wins and 2 losses) and met in the semifinals with the United Kingdom (skip David Murdoch). In an equal game in the last end luck smiled at the Finns, and Markku brought his team a decisive point (4-3). However, in the final against the Canadians, whom the Finns defeated earlier in the group stage (8-7), the game did not go with the Europeans. The fate of Olympic gold was decided in the 6th end, where the Finns made several gross mistakes and lost with a rare 0-6 score. Nevertheless, Olympic silver has become a huge achievement for Finnish curling and remains the only award for this country in curling at the Winter Games. Moreover, in addition to the team of Uusipaavalniemi, not a single Finnish team has even managed to be selected for the Olympic Games either in the men’s or women’s tournament (in 2018 the Finns played in the mixed doubles tournament).

After Olympic silver, Markku’s results gradually began to decline, in part this is due to the fact that in 2007 he became a member of the Finnish parliament from the party of the Finnish Center. In 2010, he moved to the faction of the party “True Finns”. Markku did not participate in the 2011 elections. The results in curling in the last are not as high as before, but in 2016 Markku reminded himself at the national level, becoming the bronze medalist of the national championship among men’s teams. In 2014 he won the Finnish championship and performed at the World Championships among mixed pairs with Eszter Juhasz, but the Finns took only 14th place (4 wins and 4 losses). Markku is also a curling coach, in particular he worked with the teams of Poland and Estonia. Among the unusual achievements of the famous curling, one can note his title “Markku of 2002”, which is awarded by the association of people named Markku.

Markku on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/markku.uusipaavalniemi

Eszter Juhasz (born in 1988), of course, does not have such experience as her team-mate. She won the Finnish Championships among female and mixed doubles, three times took part in European championships among women’s teams, but she could not rise above the 10th place. Markku and Eszter has been paired since the beginning of 2010, but their main achievements are linked to the national championship, where they regularly win medals.

Welcome to the Finnish pair in Dudinka!