The winners will be announced at the official award ceremony, to be held on Friday evening, December 29 and broadcast by commercial TV station Kanal2.

There are three shortlisted nominees for men's sportsperson of the year: Biathlete Kristjan Ilves, hurdler Rasmus Mägi and decathlete Karel Tilga (all pictured).

The sportswoman of the year shortlist has yet to be reported.

Sportspeople, coaches and teams of the year are determined by tallying the voting results from the public, sports journalists and from sports organizations. 

The youth athlete of the year is picked by sports journalists and the major sports organizations alone.

The public phone-in vote for sportsman of the year will take place while the broadcast is live, from 8 p.m. Friday.

Last year's winner was decathlete Janek Õiglane.

Estonia has been choosing a sportsman of the year for nearly 100 years now, including during the Soviet occupation.

Cyclist Aavo Pikkuus holds the record for winning the award, which he did a total of five times, 1974-1978.

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