The International Sports Press Association chose Lionel Messi as the athlete of 2022, and the Romanian David Popovici almost made it to the top 10.

David Popovich, who was overtaken by Rafael Nadal in the fight for the 10th place

The triumph in the final of the World Cup in Qatar with Argentina raised Lionel Messi to the top of the hierarchy of world-class athletes.

Journalists from 113 countries took part in a survey organized by AIPS among its members.

In addition to the World Cup title, Lionel Messi also won the title with PSG and the French Super Cup this year, also with the Parisians.

Second place went to Sweden’s Armand Duplantis, who in 2022 became the world champion and broke the world record in pole vaulting several times, and the podium was completed by Lionel Messi’s teammate from PSG, Kylian Mbappe, who finished the World Cup in Qatar as the competition’s top scorer.

After finishing second in 2021, Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas won the trophy this year despite missing more than 6 months due to a serious injury.

The athlete, who also won the “Golden Ball”, overtook the American swimmer Katie Ledecky and the Venezuelan athlete Yulimar Rojas in the AIPS rating.

World and European swimming champion David Popovich was a few votes behind Rafael Nadal, who took the 10th position.

What does the category rating look like?

Woman:

1. Alexia Putellas (Spain/football) – 452 votes (11.96%)

2. Katie Ledecky (USA/Swimming) – 295 votes (7.80%)

3. Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela/athletics) – 243 votes (6.43%)

4. Sidney McLaughlin (USA/track and field) – 238 votes (6.30%)

5. Shelley-Anne Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica/Athletics) – 217 votes (5.74%)

6. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA/Alpine skiing) – 200 votes (5.29%)

7. Naomi Osaka (Japan/tennis) – 172 votes (4.55%)

8. Serena Williams (USA/tennis) – 170 votes (4.50%)

9. Faith Kipyegon (Kenya/athletics) – 162 votes (4.29%)

10. Ons Jaber (Tunisia/tennis) – 154 votes (4.07%)

Man:

1. Lionel Messi (Argentina/football) – 962 votes (25.45%)

2. Armand Duplantis (Sweden/athletics) – 373 votes (9.87%)

3. Kylian Mbappe (France/football) – 366 votes (9.68%)

4. Karim Benzema (France/football) – 298 votes (7.88%)

5. Kristof Milak (Hungary/Swimming) – 189 votes (5.00%)

5. Max Verstappen (Netherlands/Formula 1) – 189 votes (5.00%)

7. Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya/athletics) – 155 votes (4.10%)

8. Balint Kopaş (Hungary/kayak-canoe) – 135 votes (3.57%)

9. Roger Federer (Switzerland/tennis) – 124 votes (3.28%)

10. Rafael Nadal (Spain/tennis) – 118 votes (3.12%)

11. David Popovici (Romania/swimming) – 113 votes (2.99%)