Juha Haukkala is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 freestyle skier

Freestyle skiing

Freestyle skiing is form of skiing which used to encompass two disciplines: aerials, and moguls. Except the two disciplines mentioned earlier Freestyle Skiing now consists of Skicross, Half Pipe and Slope Style...

 who specializes in the skicross

Skicross

Ski Cross is a type of skiing competition. It is based on the snowboarding discipline of boardercross...

 discipline.

He made his World Cup debut in February 2003 in Les Contamines, and collected his first World Cup points in January 2004, with a 25th place in Laax

Laax

Laax is a municipality in the district of Surselva in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.-Geography:Laax has an area, , of . Of this area, 35.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.6% is forested...

 and a 22nd place in Spindleruv Mlyn

Špindleruv Mlýn

Špindlerův Mlýn is a town in the Czech Republic in the Krkonoše. It received its name after a mill belonging to Spindler's family, where neighbours used to meet...

. The next year he won a gold medal at the 2005 Winter Universiade

2005 Winter Universiade

The 2005 Winter Universiade, the XXII Winter Universiade, took place in Innsbruck, Austria....

 and finished seventh at the 2005 World Championships

FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships 2005

The 2005 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships took place at the Rukatunturi ski resort in Kuusamo, Finland, between March 17th and March 20th. Five events were held for each sex, including half-pipe, skicross, ariels, moguls and dual moguls.-Half-Pipe:...

. He placed among the top World Cup twenty for the first time in January 2006, with a fifteenth place in Les Contamines, and successively improved to fourteenth and eleventh before the season was over. He continued with decent placements in 2007, 2008 and 2009, with a fifth place from January 2008 in Kreischberg as his best result. He finished eleventh at the 2007 World Championships

FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships 2007

The 2007 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships were held in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, from March 5th-11th. Five events were supposed to be held for each sex, but the half-pipe was canceled.-Skicross:-Moguls:-Dual Moguls:-Aerials:-Skicross:...

.

He was born in Seinäjoki

Seinäjoki

Seinäjoki is a city located in Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bruk iron and gunpowder factories founded in 1798. Seinäjoki became a municipality in 1868, market town in 1931 and town in 1960...

, but resides in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 where he works as a radiologist. He represents the sports club Seinäjoen Hiihtoseura.