Ari Paunonen (born 10 March 1958) is a Finnish male former middle- and long-distance runner who competed over distances from 800 metres up to 10,000 metres.
[1][2] He was also the 1500 m silver medallist at the Nordic Indoor Athletics Championships in 1986.
[3] His personal best time of 3:55.65 minutes for the mile run is a Finnish record.
[5][6] At national level he won a middle-distance double at the Finnish Athletics Championships in 1977, won a second 1500 m title in 1979 and took three short course cross country titles between 1977 and 1980.
[8] Born in Sulkava, he later became editor of Juoksija, a Finnish sports and fitness magazine.