Helsinki  - Frenchman Sylvain Quimene is the new Air Guitar World Champion after winning the finals held late Friday in the town of Oulu, northern Finland.

Quimene, 28, who uses the stage name "Gunther Love," won a real, hand-made Flying Finn guitar as first prize.

The 2008 world champion Craig "Hot Lixx Hoolahan" Billmeier, from the United States, shared second place with his US compatriot Andrew "William Ocean" Litz.

Quimene scored 35.1 points, some 0.3 points more than the two Americans.

Air guitar performers pretend to play rock or heavy-metal electric guitar solos without an instrument. Their skills are assessed by a jury.

In all 21 contestants entered this year. In the first phase of the finals, they played a 60-second song of their own choice. The 10 best then played a compulsory song - Animal from Finnish band Sweatmaster.

Litz was awarded extra points by the five-member jury when he jumped off the stage and joined the enthusiastic crowd on the Oulu market square during his rendition of Animal. (dpa)