BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) — As the sporting yr attracts to an in depth, right here is Xinhua News Agency’s collection of the world’s high 10 athletes in 2024:
1. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Formula One)
In the 2024 season, Verstappen had 14 podium finishes out of 24 Grands Prix, together with 9 victories, amassing 437 factors to safe his fourth consecutive World Drivers’ Championship title.
2. Beatrice Chebet (Kenya, athletics)
Chebet broke the ladies’s 10,000m world file with 28 minutes and 54.14 seconds on the Prefontaine Classic in May, turning into the primary feminine to complete 10,000m inside 29 minutes on a observe. She gained gold medals in 5,000m and 10,000m on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
3. Mijain Lopez Nunez (Cuba, wrestling)
At the Paris Olympics, six-time Olympian Lopez defeated Chile’s Yasmani Acosta Fernandez 6-0 within the males’s Greco-Roman wrestling 130kg ultimate, turning into the primary male wrestler to take 5 Olympic gold medals in a row in the identical occasion.
4. Simone Biles (United States, gymnastics)
Withdrawing from the Tokyo Olympics, Biles was again to the highest on the Paris Olympics, racking up three gold medals within the girls’s all-around, vault and staff occasions, plus one silver medal in flooring train.
5. Arisa Trew (Australia, skateboarding)
Trew captured the ladies’s vert and park gold medals on the 2024 X Games in June, turning into the primary feminine skateboarder to defend each titles on the annual event. She additionally secured gold within the girls’s park occasion on the Paris Olympics in August and vert occasion on the World Skateboarding Championship in September. Moreover, she was honored with the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year in 2024.
6. Armand Duplantis (Sweden, athletics)
Duplantis broke the boys’s pole vault world file 3 times in 2024. At the Diamond League in Xiamen in April, he raised his personal file to six.24 meters, and improved it by one centimeter for the Olympic gold in Paris. Duplantis’ new mark of 6.26m on the Silesia Diamond League Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in August was the tenth time he has damaged the world file.
7. Zheng Qinwen (China, tennis)
Zheng grew to become the primary Asian participant to win an Olympic singles gold on the Paris Olympics. She completed runner-up on the Australian Open for her finest Grand Slam end result. The 22-year-old was additionally a finalist on the WTA Wuhan Open and WTA Finals. In the WTA 2024 Fan Awards, Zheng grew to become the winner of Fan Favorite Singles and WTA 250 Best Moment.
8. Novak Djokovic (Serbia, tennis)
Djokovic, a five-time Olympian, gained the boys’s singles gold on the Paris Olympics, turning into Serbia’s first Olympic tennis champion and finishing his Career Golden Slam of all 4 main titles and Olympic gold medal. In April, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for the fifth time. At the French Open in June, he achieved his 370th Grand Slam match win, turning into the primary participant to succeed in this milestone.
9. Leon Marchand (France, swimming)
Marchand gained 4 gold medals on the Paris Olympics, within the males’s 200m breaststroke, 200m butterfly, 200m particular person medley and 400m particular person medley, whereas breaking the Olympic file 4 instances. After the Olympics, the 22-year-old Frenchman continued to excel by claiming 9 gold medals on the World Cups.
10. Vinicius Junior (Brazil, soccer)
Real Madrid ahead Vinicius Jr was awarded The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2024 in December, turning into the primary winner born after 2000. The Brazilian scored 24 targets in 39 appearances throughout all competitions, serving to Real Madrid win the UEFA Champions League and La Liga titles within the 2023-24 season. He was additionally named the Champions League Player of the Season, and chosen within the Champions League Team of the Season.