Laureus Awards: Messi, Hamilton share Sportsman of Year; Biles gets third title
Formula One great Lewis Hamilton and arguably the world's greatest footballer Lionel Messi, on Monday (February 16), jointly won the prestigious Laureus World Sportsman of the year in Berlin.
Formula One great Lewis Hamilton and arguably the world’s greatest footballer Lionel Messi, on Monday (February 16), jointly won the prestigious Laureus World Sportsman of the year in Berlin.
This is the first time in the 20-year history of the awards that the legendary duo acquired the same number of votes and the jury was unable to Hamilton and Messi.
With ?????? World Championships and Ballon d'Ors between them, @LewisHamilton and Lionel Messi share the #Laureus20 World Sportsman of the Year award – a moment of sporting history!
Congratulations guys!#SportUnitesUs pic.twitter.com/7akYcykux2
— Laureus (@LaureusSport) February 17, 2020
Messi, the six-time FIFA World Player of the year, is the first team-player to bag the award. He though was not present to receive the award on Monday and sent a video message.
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They pipped golfing great Tiger Woods, Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge, tennis legend Rafael Nadal and MotoGP champion Marc Marquez.
Snowboarding sensation Chloe Kim won the World Action Sportsperson honour, her second straight in the same category.
She's done it again! ??@Simone_Biles is your 2020 Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year ?#Laureus20 pic.twitter.com/criJykhJV7
— Laureus (@LaureusSport) February 17, 2020
American gymnast Simone Biles, who won five gold medals at the 2019 World Championships, grabbed the World Sportswoman of the year award, her third in four years after winning it in 2017 and 2019. She beat a strong challenge from Jamaican sprinting great Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who missed out on the honour for the fifth time. She was nominated in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016 also but did not win it.
The most decorated gymnast also beat competition from American footballer Megan Rapinoe, Japanese tennis sensation Naomi Osaka, American track and field athlete Allyson Felix and skier Mikaela Shiffrin.
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The awards ceremony was hosted by actor Hugh Grant. A tribute was paid to American basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who recently died in a helicopter crash.
In the Sportsperson of the year with a disability category, Oksana Masters, born with limb impairments caused by radiation from Chernobyl and adopted by an American single parent, was recognised for an outstanding year in 2019. She won five gold medals and a silver at the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships.
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South Bronx United (SBU), a football programme based in New York, was honoured with the Sport for Good Award. The programme uses football to achieve educational outcomes for young people from underserved communities.
An incredible Rugby World Cup triumph which showed the unique power of sport to unite ?
Congratulations @Springboks on winning the Laureus World Team of the Year ??#Laureus20 #SportUnitesUs pic.twitter.com/MHOupckGv4
— Laureus (@LaureusSport) February 17, 2020
The 2019 Rugby World Cup winners South Africa won their second Laureus World Team of the Year Award, beating Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and the US Women’s Football Team, among others.
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For the 2020 Laureus World Comeback of the Year, Germany’s gritty F3 driver Sophia Florsch was the winner.
It takes an incredible human to do what @SophiaFloersch has done ?
Which is why she’s the deserving winner of the Laureus World Comeback of the Year ?#Laureus20 pic.twitter.com/jXJhVUlobG
— Laureus (@LaureusSport) February 17, 2020
Travelling at 276km per hour, she had lost control of her car at the Macau circuit, crashing through safety barriers and leaving her with a spinal fracture which required an 11-hour surgery and months of rehabilitation.
In November 2019, a year on from her accident, the 18-year-old Sophia was back in the cockpit, racing once again in the Macau Grand Prix.
What a year for @Eganbernal ??
Youngest champion of the Tour de France for 110 years, and the first Colombian to earn cycling’s greatest prize too ?
And now, winner of the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year ?#Laureus20 #SportUnitesUs pic.twitter.com/Y0cey49Ioq
— Laureus (@LaureusSport) February 17, 2020
Egan Bernal, who became the youngest rider to win the Tour de France at 22, grabbed the World Breakthrough of the Year award.
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German basketball great Dirk Nowitzki was recognised at the Ceremony with the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the sport of basketball.
Spanish Basketball Federation got the Exceptional Achievement Award.
? Gala #Laureus20 | SÍ‼️ Ya tenemos un @LaureusSport ?
La @BaloncestoESP se lleva el Premio Exceptional Achievement por la trayectoria de nuestras selecciones en los últimos 20 años‼️#SportUnitesUs #SportForGood #SomosEquipo pic.twitter.com/t0z8E4GsKM
— Baloncesto España (@BaloncestoESP) February 17, 2020
(With inputs from agencies)