Max Verstappen, Elaine Thompson-Herah bag top honours at 2022 Laureus World Sports Awards

Seville [Spain], April 25 : The Winners of the 2022 Laureus World Sports Awards have been unveiled at a digital ceremony hosted from Seville.
Leading an illustrious group of sports stars honoured by the Laureus World Sports Academy are Formula One world champion Max Verstappen and Jamaican Olympic sprint queen Elaine Thompson-Herah, who have been named Laureus World Sportsman and Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year respectively.
The awards recognise the greatest sporting achievements of 2021, one of the highlights of which was the European Championship victory by the Italian Men's Football Team who won their second Laureus Team of the Year Award as a result. Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra missed out on the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year award for 2022. Global tennis sensation Emma Raducanu received the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award following her US Open victory at the age of 18.
The Laureus World Sports Academy also made special presentations to three giants of sport: Tom Brady, seven-time winner of the Super Bowl, was honoured with the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award; Robert Lewandowski received the Laureus Academy Exceptional Achievement Award for achievements including breaking Gerd Muller's long-standing goalscoring record in the Bundesliga; and hugely popular motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi was presented with the Laureus Sporting Icon Award, after retiring in November at the end of a 25-year career.
Max Verstappen, who secured his first World Championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December, said: "I was very happy, of course, but it was a lot of hard work and years of preparation. I'm incredibly proud. Since I was a little kid I dreamt of being on the top step and winning the championship. I said to my dad [Former Formula One driver Jos Verstappen] 'We did it, this is what we worked for all these years and now we are here, the two of us, all the memories, all the years of travelling all over Europe, going for that one goal and we achieved it'.
"I'm the first Dutch driver to win the World Championship, so the reaction back in Holland was amazing from all the newspapers and fans, it's something we'll never forget. It means a lot to be recognised for this Award, one of the highest ones in the world, so I'm incredibly happy."
Elaine Thompson-Herah, who defended her 100 and 200 metres Olympic titles in Tokyo, and also won a third gold in the 4 x 100m relay, has been described as the female Usain Bolt. She said: "I know Usain has won Laureus Awards before, so to bring this trophy back home to the Caribbean, also in Jamaica, is very special."
"I have watched that [100 metres] race about a thousand times now. I would say I am very, very proud, but I cannot dwell on the past. Even though it's very special, it's memories. I cannot just sit and say 'OK, I'm a double Olympic champion, I'm a five-time Olympic gold medallist. I have to continue working because my motivation is to be even better. I told myself that I want to be the greatest female sprinter, so I am just going to focus on what the future holds for me."
Emma Raducanu is now a popular winner of the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award after becoming the first qualifier in tennis history to win a Grand Slam. She came through three rounds of qualifying and seven main draw matches at the US Open without dropping a set. It was only her second Grand Slam event.
Laureus World Comeback of the Year Winner was skateboard star Sky Brown, who suffered a skull fracture when she landed headfirst from a half-pipe in training in June 2020. She was unresponsive when she arrived at hospital, but recovered fully and was able to compete in the Olympics. Aged 13 years and 28 days, she finished third in the park final to win a bronze medal, making her Britain's youngest ever Olympic medallist.
Swiss wheelchair racer Marcel Hug was named Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability for the second time after winning four gold medals in the Tokyo Paralympic Games in the 800, 1,500 and 5,000 metres and marathon; he also set a world record in the 1,500m and a Paralympic record in the 5,000m. In a stunning 2021, Marcel also won the Berlin, New York and Boston marathons.
Britain's Bethany Shriever was the Laureus Action Sportsperson of the Year after winning both Olympic and World Championship BMX gold medals in the same year. In Tokyo, she had to hold off two-time Olympic champion Mariana Pajon to win the gold medal. The 22-year-old teaching assistant had to raise 50,000 Pounds in crowd-funding ahead of Tokyo to finance her own qualification campaign after UK Sport cut its support.
Widely considered to be the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady has been honoured with the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his amazing career. In 2021 he won a record seventh Super Bowl playing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in his tenth appearance. His first six wins were with New England Patriots.
Brady's brilliant career has been a superb example of remarkable longevity in a very tough sport. He is the only quarterback to win a Super Bowl in three different decades. At 43 years 188 days, he became the oldest to win the Super Bowl as starting quarterback and the oldest to be named Super Bowl MVP.
One of football's greatest strikers, Robert Lewandowski scored his 41st goal in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich in the last minute of the last day of the 2020/21 season to surpass Gerd Muller's record of 40 goals in a season, which dated back to 1971/72. To honour this achievement and celebrate Lewandowski's social conscience, he has been presented with the Laureus Academy Exceptional Achievement Award, an honour only previously given five times.
Poland captain Lewandowski, who played a pivotal role in Bayern's ninth successive Bundesliga success and won the European Golden Shoe, has now scored more than 500 senior career goals for club and country. He said: "I would like to thank the Laureus Academy for the Award. It really means a lot to be recognised and appreciated by such wonderful people, athletes, legends from all over the world of sport. It has a very special meaning to me as an athlete and a man.
Italian motorcycle legend Valentino Rossi retired at the end of the 2021 World MotoGP season. His record on the track and his personal magnetism will be hard to match. He won nine World Championships and recorded 115 wins and 235 podiums. He is the only rider to win world titles in the 125cc, 250cc, 500cc and MotoGP categories. This is his third Laureus Statuette. He won the Laureus Spirit of Sport Award in 2006 and the Laureus Comeback of the Year Award in 2011.
In line with the focus of Laureus on Sport for Good, the 2022 Awards also told the inspirational stories of people and organisations who work tirelessly to use the power of sport to improve people's lives and highlighted the advocacy of sportsmen and sportswomen who have used their positions of influence to make a powerful impact on issues and conflicts which go beyond sport.
Established in 1997, the Real Madrid Foundation has used sport to improve the lives of one-and-a-half million people, mainly children, in more than 100 countries, through education, integration and mutual co-operation. It has trained numerous football and basketball coaches since its creation to promote the development of young people through sport and was honoured with the Laureus Sport for Good Society Award.
The full list of Winners is: Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award: Max Verstappen, Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award: Elaine Thompson-Herah, Laureus World Team of the Year Award: Italy Men's Football Team, Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award: Emma Raducanu, Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award: Sky Brown, Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award: Marcel Hug, Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award: Bethany Shriever, Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award: Tom Brady, Laureus Academy Exceptional Achievement Award: Robert Lewandowski, Laureus Sporting Icon Award: Valentino Rossi, Laureus Sport for Good Award: Lost Boyz Inc., Laureus Sport for Good Society Award: Real Madrid Foundation, and Laureus Athlete Advocate of the Year Award: Gerald Asamoah and the Black Eagles.