Iivo Niskanen is Sportsman of the Year

Cross-country skier Iivo Niskanen was awarded Athlete of the Year for the fourth time. Only Veikko Hakulinen has been able to do the same.

Cross-country skier Iivo Niskanen is Sportsman of the Year. Niskanen, 31, was awarded on Thursday at the Finnish Sports Gala.

Niskanen received the Athlete of the Year award for the fourth time. Niskanen’s previous awards are from 2014, 2017 and 2018. In 2014, he presented the award Sami Jauhojärvi with.

Along with Niskanen, only a cross-country skier Veikko Hakulinen has been awarded Sportsperson of the Year four times. Hakulinen received the award in 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1960.

The sportsperson of the year is voted on by the members of the Sports Journalists’ Association. Niskanen received 2,563 points in the vote and was voted number one by 166 journalists.

Pole vaulter came second Wilma Murtowho scored 2,305 points (40 first places) and third in the steeplechase Top Raitanen with 1,818 (7) points.

Niskanen’s sports year 2022 was quite a one. He won the 15 km Olympic gold at the Beijing Olympics. The prize cabinet also received a silver from the pair sprint and a bronze from the 30 kilometers from the same games.

In the World Cup, Niskanen made Finnish skiing history. He won the distance cup, i.e. the cup for normal distances. No other Finnish male skier has won the current distance cup, which has been skied since the 2003–2004 season.

In the overall World Cup competition, Niskanen was third.

Murto and Raitanen, who finished second and third in the voting, won the European championship in athletics at the European Championships in Munich.