Formula One world champion Max Verstappen and triple Tokyo Olympic gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah were named Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year at the Laureus Sports Awards in a virtual ceremony from Seville on Sunday.
Red Bull's Dutch driver Verstappen, who won the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix earlier on Sunday, follows Spanish tennis great Rafael Nadal, who won the men's award last year, and his great rival Lewis Hamilton, who shared the men's prize with Lionel Messi in 2020.
Thompson-Herah, who defended her 100m and 200m Olympic titles in Tokyo last summer and also won the 4x100m relay gold, is not the first Jamaican sprinter to win an award.
"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," she said.
In a sign of how ephemeral sporting achievements can be, the Italian men's football team, who followed winning Euro 2020 last year with failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup , were voted the Team of the Year, for a second time.
British tennis star Emma Raducanu, who has struggled for consistency since winning the US Open last year, received the Breakthrough of the Year award.
Other winners included Swiss wheelchair racer Marcel Hug, who was named World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability for the second time after dominating the Tokyo Paralympics with gold medals in the 800m, 1500m, 5,000, and marathon. Skateboarder Sky Brown, 13, won the Comeback of the Year award having fractured her skull in training in June 2020 before winning bronze in Tokyo and becoming Britain's youngest Olympic medallist.
Lifetime achievement awards went to NFL superstar Tom Brady, the seven-time winner Super Bowl winner who retired then unretired after last season, and motorbike legend Valentino Rossi, who won the Sporting Icon award, after retiring in November at the end of a 25-year career.
The awards are organised by the Laureus Sports Foundation and the 2021 winners were selected by a 71-member panel led by All Black rugby great Sean Fitzpatrick.
The full list of 2022 Laureus Sports Awards winners can be viewed in the photo gallery above. To move on to the next photo, click on the arrows or if using a mobile device, simply swipe.
