Courtesy: LEN
Adam Peaty repeated his win from 2019
and gained his fourth LEN Award in five seasons, while Sweden’s Sarah Sjostom
earned her third recognition in four. Dutch open water swimmer Sharon van
Rouwendaal and British diver Tom Daley also finished first for the fourth time,
while Serbian water polo legend Filip Filipovic was elected the best European
player on the fifth occasion.
It was the 13th time since 2008 that
the LEN member federations and LEN Officials cast their votes to choose
Europe’s best aquatic athletes (2020 was skipped for obvious reasons). As it
was expected, Olympic success weighed the most in the eyes of the electorate
though the outstanding performances at the European Championships also made an
impact.
Perhaps his four titles from Budapest
2021 helped Adam Peaty to finish ahead of Russia’s Evgeny Rylov in men’s
swimming. In Tokyo, Rylov was Europe’s only swimmer to claim two individual
gold medals (100-200m back double). Peaty had an individual gold and one from a
relay but his brilliant swims at the Europeans earned him the highest number of
votes. However, the percentages show that it was a really close call between
these two and ahead of Europe’s other individual champions, Kristof Milak of
Hungary and the other Brit Tom Dean.
Sarah Sjostrom got almost half of the
votes among the women – European female swimmers left Tokyo without gold
medals, still, the Swede got a silver and she excelled at the season-ending
short-course meets, the Europeans in Kazan and at the Worlds in Abu-Dhabi.
Another British victory came in
diving – Tom Daley claimed the most convincing win of all, with 76.7% of the
votes. The genius of the platform fulfilled his dreams by becoming Olympic
champion (with Matt Lee in synchro) and added a bronze in the individual event,
besides having a gold and a silver from Budapest. While Daley joined the
circles of the four-time LEN Award winners, he is unique in this club as his
first recognition dates back to 2009!
A new winner was crowned among the
women, Germany’s Tina Punzel finished first, thanks to her Olympic bronze and
four European medals. Compatriot Florian Wellbrock also claimed his first LEN
Award among the male open water swimmers – the Olympic champion of the marathon
event had an amazing year as he also came up with a couple of brilliant swims
in the pool, including a world record-breaking blast at the short-course Worlds
in the 1500m free.
Sharon van Rouwendaal’s victory was
also unquestionable among the women: the Dutchwoman added an Olympic silver to
her treasury, months after making another memorable appearance at the
Europeans. She has also become a four-timer among our awardees.
Not surprisingly, it was Russia all
the way in artistic swimming. Concerning the results, the two Svetlanas
produced identical tallies both at the Europeans and the Olympics –
Kolesnichenko got one more vote than Romashina but perhaps a shared first place
would have been more fitting as their duet enchanted everyone once more. The
males had one major event to shine at, the Europeans, and double gold medallist
Aleksandar Maltsev retained his award.
Water polo was the only discipline,
where solely the Olympics – and somewhat the club events – determined the
choices of the voters as the warriors’ Europeans were held in 2020 (the last
major sport event staged among ‘normal’ circumstances…). As expected, the Tokyo
gold medallist Serb males and the silver medallist Spanish females dominated
the voting. Filip Filipovic was picked ahead of fellow leftie Dusan Mandic,
thus the legendary captain claimed his 5th LEN Award, the first male athlete
since Germany’s open water king Thomas Lurz who reached this height – only
Italy’s diving diva Tania Cagnotto finished atop more (7 times). Among the
women, Beatriz Ortiz got the majority of the votes, it’s her first-ever win,
but the sixth for Spain altogether.
ALL-TIME WINNERS’ LIST –
MULTIPLE WINNERS
LEN Award – results of the voting
Best male swimmer
Adam Peaty (GBR) 35.5%
Evgeny Rylov (RUS) 22.6%
Kristof Milak (HUN) 21.0%
Thomas Dean (GBR) 12.9%
Duncan Scott (GBR) 3.4%
Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) 1.6%
Florian Wellbrock (GER) 1.6%
Best female swimmer
Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) 45.2%
Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) 22.6%
Kathleen Dawson (GBR) 17.7%
Pernille Blume (DEN) 6.5%
Simona Quadarella (ITA) 6.5%
Leonie Beck (GER) 1.6%
Best male diver
Tom Daley (GBR) 76.7%
Patrick Hausding (GER) 9.4%
Evgeniy Kuznetsov (RUS) 9.4%
Aleksandar Bondar (RUS) 3.1%
Jack Laugher (GBR) 1.6%
Best female diver
Tina Punzel (GER) 62.6%
Chiara Pellacani (ITA) 15.6%
Yulia Timoshinina (RUS) 10.9%
Ekaterina Beliaeva (RUS) 7.8%
Elena Bertocchi (ITA) 1.6%
Inge Jansen (NED) 1.6%
Best female artistic swimmer
Svetlana Kolesnichenko (RUS) 35.6%
Svetlana Romashina (RUS) 33.9%
Marta Fiedina (UKR) 28.8%
Best male artistic swimmer
Aleksandr Maltsev (RUS) 66.7%
Pau Ribes (ESP) 22.8%
Nicolo Ogliari (ITA) 10.5%
Best Male Open Water Swimmer
Florian Wellbrock (GER) 55.6%
Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) 27.0%
Kristof Rasovszky (HUN) 12.7%
Axel Reymond (FRA) 3.2%
Marc-Antoine Olivier (FRA) 1.6%
Best female open water swimmer
Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) 57.1%
Giulia Gabbrielleschi (ITA) 17.5%
Anna Olasz (HUN) 9.5%
Lea Boy (GER) 7.9%
Oceane Cassignol (FRA) 6.3%
Leonie Beck (GER) 1.6%
Best male water polo player
Filip Filipovic (SRB) 50.0%
Dusan Mandic (SRB) 18.3%
Ioannis Fountoulis (GRE) 13.3%
Aleksandar Ivovic (MNE) 10.0%
Viktor Nagy (HUN) 8.3%
Best female water polo player
Beatriz Ortiz (ESP) 51.7%
Anni Espar (ESP) 25.0%
Vasiliki Plevritou (GRE) 8.3%
Ekaterina Prokofyeva (RUS) 8.3%
Alda Magyari (HUN) 6.7%
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