Jamaican athletics star Elaine Thompson-Herah and Polish striker Robert Lewandowski have been named the AIPS Best Athletes of 2021. This is the result of a poll by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), where a panel of 529 journalists from 114 countries voted for the Champions of 2021.
This is the first time Thompson-Herah, who won three gold medals at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, is winning the award having topped the AIPS poll for the female category with 605 points, ahead of Barcelona and Spain’s women’s Ballon d’Or winner, Alexia Putellas (490 points) and triple jump world record holder, Yulimar Rojas, who received 346 points.
In Tokyo she produced head-turning performances to become the first woman to ever win the 100m, 200m sprint double at consecutive Olympics: she won the 100 meters race with a time of 10.61 – an Olympic record and the 200 meters race in 21.53. She also scooped the 4x100m gold medal with her national team for her third gold medal in Tokyo.
Only Usain Bolt had ever achieved the feat of defending the 100 and 200 metres sprint double at the Olympic Games
Lewandowski amassed 435 points to retain the AIPS crown he won for the first time last year, ahead of 2021 Formula One World Champion, Max Verstappen, with 349 points and seven-time Balon D’or winner, Lionel Messi, with 314 points.
He broke the record that had lasted 50 years in the history of German football with his 43rd Bundesliga goal of the year on December 17 in Bayern Munich’s 4-0 win over Wolfsburg.
With that goal, Lewandowski now holds the record of the most goals in a calendar year in the Bundesliga, which was previously held by legendary German striker Gerd Müller, who scored 42 Bundesliga goals in 1972.
This year the Polish striker won the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time in his career, getting also the FIFA Club World Cup Best Player award. For the seventh consecutive year, he won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, along with the German Super Cup. Lewandowski scooped the Bundesliga Player of the Season for the fifth time in his career.
UEFA Euro 2020 champions Italy Men’s National Football Team were voted the Best Team, while the award for the Best Press Facilities went to Tokyo 2020.
Source: AIPS media
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