Verstappen and Thompson-Herah win top Laureus awards

Monday, 25 April 2022 11:02

By Reuters

Formula One champion Max Verstappen was named the 2022 Laureus Sportsman of the Year while Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah bagged the top women's honour at the virtual awards ceremony in Seville on Sunday.

Verstappen became the first Dutch driver to win the world championship when he clinched his maiden crown by beating seven-times winner Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the last race of the 2021 season in Abu Dhabi in December.

Jamaica's Thompson-Herah became the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic sprint doubles when she retained her 100m and 200m titles in Tokyo last year and capped a memorable Games with gold in the 4x100m relay.

"I know Usain (Bolt) has won Laureus Awards before, so to bring this trophy back home to the Caribbean, also in Jamaica, is very special," Thompson-Herah said.

"I have watched that (100m) race about a thousand times now. I would say I am very, very proud, but I cannot dwell on the past... My motivation is to be even better. I told myself that I want to be the greatest female sprinter."

Italy's football team were named Team of the Year for the second time after winning the 2020 European Championship, having previously received the honour after winning the World Cup in 2006.

British teenager Emma Raducanu took the Breakthrough of the Year prize after her fairytale New York triumph in September when she claimed the US Open title as a qualifier.

NFL great Tom Brady, who made a U-turn on his retirement plans this year, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award after winning a record seventh Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Polish striker Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich won the Exceptional Achievement award after scoring a German Bundesliga record of 41 goals last season to break Gerd Muller's 49-year-old mark.

Seven-times MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi, who called time on a career spanning more than two decades last year, won the Sporting Icon award -- his third Laureus honour having scooped the Comeback of the Year (2011) and Spirit of Sport (2006) awards.

List of winners