Markkanen is the first basketball player to be chosen as the best athlete of the year.
A basketball player Lauri Markkanen was the best athlete in Finland last year. This was decided by the members of the Finnish Sports Journalists' Association, who voted Markkanen, who plays for the NBA's Utah Jazz, as the Athlete of the Year.
The selection was announced on Thursday at the Sports Gala.
Markkanen thanked his family, coaches and fellow competitors.
“I never thought the day would start like this.”
Markkanen said that he strives to give his all to sports.
“This award means a lot to me. In the early days of your career, you probably didn't set out to pursue this.”
Markkanen received 126 first place votes and 1,998 points. The pole vaulter, bronze medalist of the World Championships, took second place in the voting Wilma Murto (1,879 points and 48 first places) and third world rally car champion Kalle Rovanperä (1,645 points, 29 first places).
Although the difference in points between Markkanen and Murro was small, in the Athlete of the Year selection, first places are decisive, and Markkanen clearly had more of them.
The list of ten with the most points is completed by soccer players Lukas Hradecky (17 first places), judoka Martti Puumalainen (6 first places), golfer Sami Välimäki (4 first places), ice hockey player Mikko Rantanen (1 first place), hurdler Reetta Hurskea skier Kerttu Niskanen (1 first place) and a tennis player Harri Heliövaara.
First places were also won by a para-athlete Amanda Kotaja (1 first place, ranking 13th in the vote) and a baseball player Roope Korhonen (2 first places, 16th). A total of 28 athletes received votes.
Markkanen made history at the Sports Gala, as he became the first basketball player to be chosen as Athlete of the Year. The last time a representative of a team sport was chosen as Athlete of the Year was in 2020, when a soccer player took first place Lukas Hradecky. In total, the footballer has been awarded four times. An ice hockey player has never been chosen as Athlete of the Year in Finland.
Last year, Markkanen finished fourth in the Athlete of the Year voting. At that time, his placing “only” in fourth caused harsh criticism.
Markkanen the selection is based on a strong season in the NBA. In the 2022-2023 season, he scored an average of 25.6 points and grabbed an average of 8.6 rebounds in the jersey of the Utah Jazz.
He was selected for the NBA all-star game and there in the starting five. At the end of the season, Markkanen received more honor: he was chosen as the NBA's most developed player.
In the World Cup, Finland's success was muted, but Markkanen was the third best scorer at the World Cup with 24.8 points per game. However, Finland made it to next summer's Olympic qualifying tournament.
The season that started has also gone well for the Utah Jazz, as they have accumulated about 24 points per game.
Markkanen got a lot of attention, especially in Finland, last spring when he started his conscript service in Santahamina.
A year the men's tennis Davis Cup team was chosen as the team, the coach of the year who coached Germany to the World Cup gold Gordon Herbert and the seventh runner-up for Young Athlete of the Year for the third time Saga Vanninen.
Read more: Lauri Markkanen is Sportsman of the Year
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