Paavo Puurunen 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...

 biathlete

Biathlon

Biathlon is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting...

. Puurunen debuted on the World Cup

Biathlon World Cup

The Biathlon World Cup has been held since the winter seasons of 1977/78 and 1982/83, for men and women, respectively ....

 scene in the 1995/96 season. His best overall placing is from 1997/98 season when he finished 13th. He won his lone world cup victory in Pokljuka

Pokljuka

Pokljuka is a foresty plateau at the altitude of around 1300 metres, situated partly in the municipality of Bled and partly in municipality of Bohinj in northwestern Slovenia. It is part of Triglav national park...

 in 2001, in the World Championship

Biathlon World Championships 2001

The 36th Biathlon World Championships were held in 2001 for the second time in Pokljuka, Slovenia.-10 km sprint:-12,5 km pursuit:-15 km mass start:-20 km individual:-4 x 7.5 km relay:-7.5 km sprint:-10 km pursuit:...

, on the 20 km. His second world cup medal bronze in a pursuit is also from world championship that happened in 2003 in Khanty-Mansiysk

Khanty-Mansiysk

Khanty-Mansiysk experiences a subarctic climate . The climate is extreme, with temperatures as low as -49 C° and as high as 34.5 C°. On average, however, the region is very cold, with an average tempurature of -1.1 C°...

. At the 2006 Olympics

Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics consisted of ten biathlon events. They were held at the Cesana-San Sicario arena. The events began on 11 February and ended on 25 February 2006. Approximately 6,500 spectators were expected by the organizing committee...

 in Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, he took a fourth place in the mass-start competition his best Olympic result. In an ordinary world cup competition he has no better placing than 6th.