Pitkamaki defeats Formula 1 world champion to Finnish Sportsman of the Year Award! 19. December 07

European Athlete of the Year, Tero Pitkamaki, has shown just how important athletics is in his native Finland by being crowned Finnish Sportsman of the Year by the country's top sports journalists.

Pitkamaki, who won the world javelin title in Osaka in August, faced some stern competition for the award but beat among others Kimi Raikkonen who brought Finland its first Formula One world championship since 1999.

The Ferrari driver had been expected to take the annual accolade, but in the end he could manage no better than third place in the rankings.

Pitkamaki was voted into first place by 203 journalists and collected a total of 4,724 points.

The Runner-up spot went to cross-country skier Virpi Kuitunen, who won medals at the Nordic World Ski Championships as well as took victory in the 2006/7 Cross-Country Skiing World Cup.

Kuitunen was elected in first place by 118 journalists, while Raikkonen was elected in first place by 149. However, the skier accumulted more points than the Ferrari driver - 4,088 compared with 4,021 to Raikkonen.

european-athletics.org