The leader of the women's tennis world rankings, the Polish Iga Swiatek, ranked first in the hierarchy of the best European sportspeople in 2022, in the survey conducted by the Polish news agency PAP through the votes of the other news agencies on the continent and in which the Romanian swimmer David Popovici ranked 9th, told Agerpres.
At the 65th edition of the traditional survey, Swiatek ranked first with a total of 118 points, after winning eight titles this year, two Grand Slams, Roland Garros and the US Open, four WTA 1,000 titles, at Doha, Indian Wells, Miami and Rome, as well as two WTA 500s, in Stuttgart and San Diego.
The Swedish athlete Armand Duplantis was in second place in the continental rankings, with 106 points. The Scandinavian was also named the best athlete of the year by World Athletics. Duplantis (23 years old) set a new world record in July, in the pole vault, at the World Championships in Eugene, with 6.21 meters. This year he achieved 18 victories in 19 competitions in which he competed, surpassing the bar located at the 6-meter bar 23 times this year.
The podium was completed by the Formula 1 world champion, Dutchman Max Vestappen, with 82 points.
David Popovici (18 years old), who won this year, among other things, two world titles and two European titles in the 100 m freestyle and 200 m freestyle, accumulated 37 points in the survey in which the following 20 media agencies participated: AGERPRES (Romania), ANP (Netherlands), APA (Austria), ANA (Greece), BELGA (Belgium), BTA (Bulgaria), CTK (Czech Republic), DPA (Germany), EFE (Spain), HINA (Croatia), LETA (Latvia), LUSA (Portugal), MTI (Hungary), SID (Germany), SITA (Slovakia), STA (Slovenia), Tanjug (Serbia), TASR (Slovakia), Ukrinform (Ukraine) and PAP (Poland).
The PAP survey was won in the course of time by only two Romanian athletes, the gymnast Nadia Comaneci (1976) and the athlete Gabriela Szabo (1999). Last year, the distinction was won by the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic