Nurmi and Lillak the best Finns of the past 100 years

Paavo Nurmi and Tiina Lillak have been voted the Finnish athletes of the past century in a poll arranged by the Finnish Federation which itself was born in 1906 and as such has been celebrating its own century in 2006.

More than 2500 fans voted on the federations’ website - www.sul.fi - with Nurmi taking 55% of the votes well clear of Lasse Virén, with Hannes Kolehmainen, Ville Ritola and Seppo Räty sharing third place.

Tiina Lillak took a 47% share of the women’s vote to win from Riitta Salin and Sari Essayah.

Virén’s coach Rolf Haikkola took 26% of the vote in securing the top-trainer title.

Finnish Athletics 1906-2006

Best Overall Male Athlete
1) Paavo Nurmi (55,3 %), 2) Lasse Virén, 3-5) Hannes Kolehmainen, Ville Ritola ja Seppo Räty.

Best Overall Female Athlete
1) Tiina Lillak (46,9 %), 2) Riitta Salin, 3) Sari Essayah, 4) Heli Rantanen, 5-7) Nina Holmén, Mona-Lisa Pursiainen ja Anne-Mari Sandell-Hyvärinen.

Best Coach: 1) Rolf Haikkola (26,3 %), 2) Armas Valste, 3) Leo Pusa, 4) Kari Sinkkonen, 5) Lauri Pihkala.

Event categories

Best Hurdler / sprinter: 1) Arto Bryggare (61,4 %), 2-3) Voitto Hellstén ja Riitta Salin.

Best Distance runner: 1) Paavo Nurmi (56,5 %), 2) Lasse Virén, 3) Ville Ritola.

Best Race Walker: 1) Valentin Kononen (80,5 %), 2-3) Sari Essayah ja Reima Salonen.

Best Jumper: 1) Ville Tuulos (32,7 %), 2-3) Antti Kalliomäki ja Pentti Nikula.

Best Thrower: 1) Seppo Räty (48,3 %), 2) Matti Järvinen, 3) Tiina Lillak.

Best Multi-eventer: 1) Paavo Yrjölä (59,3 %), 2) Akilles Järvinen, 3) Eero Lehtonen.