Thursday December 4th, 2003

Women's 100-metres freestyle swimming world champion Hanna-Maria Seppala was named Finland's athlete of the year on Thursday, beating Alpine skier Kalle Palander and Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen.

Chosen by Finland's sportswriters, the 18-year-old took 3,904 votes while Palander gathered 3,755.

McLaren's Raikkonen, who challenged Ferrari's Michael Schumacher for the title right to the last race and finished Championship runner-up, was third with 2,273 votes.

Published at 19:57:28 GMT

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