Review 2020: The Top 5 international editorial staff

The year 2020 was, despite everything, rich in sporting events. Sports stars, French or foreign, have impressed or disappointed us. On Christmas Eve, the editorial team delivers its international Top 5 of 2020 (excluding football).

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N ° 1: Hamilton in seventh heaven

If the 2020 season has been special, upset by the health crisis, there is something that has not changed in F1: Lewis Hamilton was once again the strongest. Eleven wins, fourteen podiums and a single white result, following his coronavirus contamination, in the 17 races this season, Lewis Hamilton was absolutely unattainable behind the wheel of a Mercedes W11, which was almost untouchable all season and faced with poor competition as rarely. We could easily multiply the superlatives to qualify this season carried out by Lewis Hamilton… A season in which Michael Schumacher’s records will have either been equaled or broken. A total of 95 victories and, above all, a seventh world title acquired following a driving lesson on the asphalt unworthy of F1 posed on a circuit of Istanbul watered by rain, the Briton has almost nothing left to nobody, except at the end of a Sakhir Grand Prix quite simply incredible and disputed without him. In 2020, Lewis Hamilton was alone in the world. Valtteri Bottas, too crumbly especially at the end of the season, has once again shown that he is not a rival. Max Verstappen, valiant and combative but often betrayed by his mechanics, could not fight for anything other than runners. 2020 was Lewis’ season Hamilton… And the British domination is far from over.

N ° 2: The Lakers, for Kobe

Ten years later, the Lakers are back on top in the NBA. For this, LeBron James will therefore have taken two seasons to end this long scarcity after a necessarily special season, marked in particular by the death of Kobe Bryant, one of the biggest stars of the franchise, in January. Well helped by the arrival of Anthony Davis, “King James” wasted no time in putting one of the Los Angeles teams in its place, after a first season without play-offs, a rare fact for him. Leaders of the Western Conference (52 wins for 19 losses), Californians have been slow to adapt to the Orlando bubble. If the end of the regular season was rather average for them at Walt Disney World Resort, they then flew over the final phase, and in particular to the West. Alternately, Portland, Houston and Denver, beaten 4-1 each time, could not do anything against the gang at James. In the final, the diminished Miami Heat could only delay the deadline (4-2), facing a team on a mission and in search of the 17th Lakers title. With an average of 29.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists against the Floridians, the native of Ohio was then logically elected MVP of the Finals. Now, Frank Vogel’s team is aiming for the back-to-back and has made the offseason it takes to dream of an 18th banner at Staples Center.

# 3: Nadal, 20 out of 20

In a particular year, the king of clay did not change his ways. Despite a preparation on truncated ocher with only three games played before arriving in Paris, Rafael Nadal won a thirteenth title at Roland Garros. To do this, the Spaniard had to wait for the fall. This change could have destabilized him but this edition postponed due to the Covid-19, which finally took place straddling September and October, made it enter a little more into history. By crushing Novak Djokovic in the final (6-0, 6-2, 7-5), Nadal signed his hundredth victory at Porte d’Auteuil, and lifting the Musketeers Cup also allowed him to accumulate a twentieth Grand Slam title, thus equaling his biggest rival, Roger Federer. The 34-year-old southpaw can now claim to overtake the one who is five years his senior and who is struggling to return to his top level due to physical glitches. Over the past year, Rafael Nadal has a record of 27 wins and 7 losses and has exceeded 1,000 career victories. He was also titled for the third time in Acapulco. However, the native of Manacor still failed to win at the end of the season at the Rolex Paris Masters and the Masters in London. A disappointment certainly, but it does not weigh very heavily next to the new feat of the world n ° 2 at Roland Garros.

N ° 4: The golden age of Slovenian cycling

It is a country of barely 2 million inhabitants, but it can boast of having two of the three Grand Tours 2020 winners! While Colombia had shone with a thousand lights in recent years, Slovenia came to steal the show this year, by placing Tadej Pogacar on the top step of the Tour de France podium, and Primoz Roglic de la Vuelta. While victory on the Great Loop seemed promised to the older of the two (Roglic is 31, Pogacar 22), the young UAE Emirates rider tamed La Planche des Belles Filles to pick up the yellow jersey on the eve of the arrival in Paris, which caused mixed feelings in him, between the joy of winning the biggest race in the world and the embarrassment of shattering the dream of the one he encouraged on television not so long ago. But Roglic, finally second, rebounded magnificently, going to win his first Monument, Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Pogacar finishing third), then the Vuelta, of which he was the defending champion, at the end of a race in which he won. wore the red jersey for 13 days out of 18 possible.

N ° 5: Duplantis, always higher

When World Athletics recently named him Male Athlete of the Year, the International Federation got it right. Armand, also known as Mondo, Duplantis, amazed everyone. The 20-year-old Swedish-American, who represents the Scandinavian country in competition, did it brilliantly and in three stages. The turning point in his career begins in Düsseldorf, Germany for his first meeting of the season, on February 4. ATfter having crossed all the bars of the competition, he raised the level to 6.17m, one centimeter more than the absolute record of Renaud Lavillenie, achieved in Donetsk in 2014. The second attempt thrills the German stadium. Although missed, this mark remains in people’s minds because of the tiny space required for the athlete to pass this bar. Four days later, in Torun in Poland, everyone has in mind the baby face of Mondo Duplantis, ready to downgrade his idol, Renaud Lavillenie, on the roof of the world. Better physically, the Swede is not going four ways. He saves himself by leaving a few marks where he jumps only four times (5.52m, 5.72m, 5.92m, 6.01m) before setting the bar at 6.17m. His first attempt is unsuccessful but the second is successful. A few cold sweats slide down the face of the 2019 vice-world champion who touches the bar when falling but it was written that the world record would fall today. Several months later, Duplantis launched into the Olympic stadium in Rome, this time in the open air and dusted off Sergei Bubka’s unofficial record (6.14m in July 1994 in Sestriere) with a 6.15m jump. Whatever the conditions, the Swede is already the king of the skies.

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