Swiss tennis superstar Roger Federer lost out to cross-country mountain bike legend Nino Schurter in this year’s Swiss Sports Personality of the Year award.

>>> The story behind THAT Nino Schurter photo

The award is much like the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. Having said that, it has been running since 1950 so it’s no copycat affair. Much like the Beeb’s award, the Swiss award is now voted for by the public.

Nino Schurter said of his victory over Federer: “To beat him in such a vote, in which the audience decides who wins, is a great honour.”

A lot of people expected Roger Federer to win this year because, well… he wins it all the time. This would have been the eight time Federer would have been the Swiss Sports Personality of the Year award. No one has won the award eight times. And they still haven’t. Because Federer he was beaten by Nino Schurter this time. And it wasn’t even that close of a battle; Schurter earned approximately one third of the total votes cast.

This was the tenth time that Nino Schurter had been in the running for the Swiss Personality of the Year awards. Ten times nominee, despite only being 32 years old.

It wasn’t the first time that Federer has been beaten by a cyclist however. In 2016 he lost out to road racing legend Fabian Cancellara who had recently announced his retirement that year.

Nino Schurter had another typically excellent race season in 2018 with an overall vitory in the World Cup Series and topping the podium in the World Championships to boot.