Kalle Rovanperä was third in the vote.
The readers of Urheilu have voted that basketball is currently outstanding in the European Championships Lauri Markkanen Finland’s brightest sports star at the moment. Markkanen was overwhelming in the vote with 53.9 percent of the vote (686 voters). Cross-country skier Iivo Niskanen was second in the vote (12.2 percent).
On Urheilu’s website, you could vote for Finland’s brightest sports star for 24 hours. Voting ended on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.
After Markkanen and Niskanen, the drivers for the World Rally Car Championship received the most votes Kalle Rovanperäwinner of the European pole vault championship Wilma MurtoNHL hockey players Alexander Barkov and Mikko Rantanen and defensive in Bayern Leverkusen Lukas Hradecky. Winner of the 3,000-meter steeplechase gold in Munich Top Raitanen ranked only eighth in the voting.
The vote was therefore looking for the brightest Finnish sports star, not the best. A total of 1,272 votes were cast.
Lauri Markkanen’s choice was justified, among other things, by the size of the sport.
“Basketball is such a big sport worldwide that an athlete who hits its absolute peak shines as a star more brightly than other Finns,” explained arto97.
– Globally, big names of a big sport, timo181 wrote.
On the other hand, Iivo Niska was justified as follows.
– Iivo has won Olympic and World Championship gold and Olympic gold three times. Superior, Merkuurius commented.
Of course, the result is not the absolute truth. The timing has definitely had a lot to do with the result. If the voting had been done at the time of the Beijing Olympics, for example, Iivo Niskanen, who won gold and a total of three medals, would probably be strong. This would probably also be the case in Wilma Murro’s pole vault European championship.
However, the conclusion can be drawn from the vote that Lauri Markkanen, who led Susijeng to the quarterfinals with 43 points, has made a great impression on the Finns.