In a poll of 3000 German journalists, the discus thrower won in the men's category for his gold medal performance at this year's IAAF World Championships in Moscow.
Vettel, who has won the award just once after his first F1 title in 2010, was beaten for the second consecutive year by Harting, who became Sportsman of the Year for the first time in 2012 following his gold-medal winning performance at the London Olympics.
The German F1 driver, however, was not left empty-handed, having collected the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award on the same evening. Not being able to attend the ceremony in Leeds, the 26 year old from Heppenheim accepted the award via video link.
"Thank you very much for the award," Vettel said. "It's something very special if I look at the list of previous winners. It's been a fantastic year."
