The Laureus World Sports Awards found their winners
At the ceremony held in Paris, the capital of France, the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards were announced, which the Laureus Foundation has awarded since 2000 and are considered one of the most prestigious awards in the world of sports.
The award ceremony, which has been held online for two years due to Covid-19 measures, was held in 2023 with audience participation. Many famous names from the sports world like Sebastian Coe, Nawal El Moutawakel, Edwin Moses, Boris Becker, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Chris Hoy, Fabio Capello, Luis Figo, Carles Puyol, Patrice Evra, Robert Lewandowski attended the event.
The winner of the male athlete of the year award was Messi once again after 2020. The 35-year-old footballer who starred in the victory of the Argentine National Team in the 2022 FIFA World Cup with 7 goals scored, the American basketball player Stephen Curry, Swedish athlete Armand Duplantis, French soccer player Kylian Mbappe, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal and Dutch Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen were honored with the award.
Jamaican athlete Fraser-Pryce, who won the fifth-time world champion in the women’s 100m last year and completed the Diamond League at the top, won the female athlete of the year award for the first time in her career. Fraser-Pryce, 36, beat American swimmer Katie Ledecky, American athlete Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Spanish soccer player Alexia Putellas, American alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin and Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek in the vote.
The team of the year award went to the Argentina National Soccer Team, which won its first FIFA World Cup title in 36 years.
The best revelation athlete of the year was the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, who became the youngest male tennis player to reach number 1 in the world rankings, by winning his first Grand Slam championship of his career at the US Open in 2022.
The prizes distributed are the following:
Male Athlete of the Year: Lionel Messi (Argentina) – Soccer
Female Athlete of the Year: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica) – Athletics
Team of the Year: Argentina National Team – Soccer
Breakthrough Athlete of the Year: Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) – Tennis
Comeback of the year: Christian Eriksen (Denmark) – Soccer
Disabled Athlete of the Year: Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) – Para athletics
Extreme Athlete of the Year: Eileen Gu (China) – Freestyle skiing
Sports for good: TeamUp – Support for refugee children (AA)