This time without Vlhova. European Athletes of the Year is ruled by a woman – Other sports – Sport

Polish tennis player Iga Swiateková became the best European athlete in 2022. In the traditional poll of European news agencies, the winner of two Grand Slam tournaments this year received a total of 118 points.

The winner of the poll beat Sweden’s elite representative Armand Duplantis, the world record holder in the pole vault, by just 12 points. Just like last year, Dutch Max Verstappen finished third defending his title in the F1 motor racing series.

Representatives of 20 European agencies, including SITA, participated in the 65th edition of the survey, traditionally organized by the Polish PAP agency.

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Last year, Petra Vlhová was the 15th Slovak representative in alpine skiing in this poll, in the new edition no Slovak athlete came to the evaluation.

The other two spots in the standings were shared by Spanish tennis players: young Carlos Alcaraz finished fourth and experienced Rafael Nadal finished fifth.

Sixth place goes to the French footballer Kylian Mbappé, seventh to the Norwegian biathlete Johannes Thingnes Bö, eighth to his compatriot Therese Johaugová, winner in cross-country skiing, ninth to the Romanian swimmer David Popovici and tenth to the winner of the Tour of this year of France – the Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard.

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In addition to two Grand Slam titles, Iga Swiateková won four WTA 1000 tournaments in 2022 and is the undisputed leader of the world rankings, of which she reached the top in the spring after the unexpected end of Australian Ashleigh Barty’s career.

In 2022, Armand Duplantis managed to clear the six-meter mark 23 times and triumphed in eighteen out of nineteen starts. The 23-year-old Swede set a new world record of 621cm at the World Championships in July in Eugene, USA.