Rafael Nadal beaten only by Lewis Hamilton in "European Sportsman of the Year" election
Rafael Nadal finished second behind Lewis Hamilton in the "European Athlete of the Year" poll. Austrian ski legend Marcel Hirscher completes the podium.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Dec 26, 2019, 03:57 pm
In 2008 and 2010 Nadal had won the title of "Europe's athlete of the year", in 2019 the Spaniard narrowly missed the recent victory. With 140 points, the 33-year-old was only eleven points behind Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, who secured the trophy for the third time.
Third place went to Marcel Hirscher (76 points), arguably the best skier of all time. The Austrian, who announced his retirement this year, relegated last year's winner Novak Djokovic (71 points) to fourth place. Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan completes the top five.
Federer not in the top 20
The five-time winner and thus sole record holder Roger Federer missed the jump into the top 20 this time, but with Stefanos Tsitsipas (20th place) another tennis player managed to be among the 20 best athletes of the year.
The election is being carried out by the Polish news agency PAP together with 26 other European news agencies. Men and women compete against each other.
The top ten in the election for "Europe's athlete of the year":
1. Lewis Hamilton (GBR / Formula 1) 151 points
2. Rafael Nadal (ESP / Tennis) 140
3. Marcel Hirscher (AUT / Alpine skiing) 76
4.Novak Djokovic (SRB / Tennis) 71
5. Sifan Hassan (NED / Athletics) 69
6.Virgil van Dijk (NED / soccer) 61
7.Karsten Warholm (NOR / athletics) 47
7. Marc Marquez (ESP / motorcycle) 47
9. Giannis Antetokounmpo (GRE / basketball) 46
10.Johannes Thingnes Bö (NOR / Biathlon) 44