The World Games Athlete of the Year 2021

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  • PR Sreejesh

    PR Sreejesh

    IND

    Hockey

    127647 votes

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  • Alberto Ginés López

    Alberto Ginés López

    ESP

    Sport Climbing

    67428 votes

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  • Michele Giordano

    Michele Giordano

    ITA

    Wushu

    52046 votes

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  • Paige Pierce

    Paige Pierce

    USA

    Flying Disc

    46128 votes

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  • Ekaterina Mikhaylushkina

    Ekaterina Mikhaylushkina

    RUS

    Underwater Sports

    30934 votes

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  • U19 team

    U19 team

    CZE

    Floorball

    18862 votes

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  • Melissa Martinez Aceves

    Melissa Martinez Aceves

    MEX

    Kickboxing

    18474 votes

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  • Sara Lopez

    Sara Lopez

    COL

    Archery

    18443 votes

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  • Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska

    Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska

    GER

    DanceSport

    18421 votes

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  • Phillip Delarmino

    Phillip Delarmino

    PHI

    Muaythai

    18418 votes

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  • Julie Caluwé

    Julie Caluwé

    BEL

    Korfball

    9414 votes

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  • Michaela Grzywatz

    Michaela Grzywatz

    GER

    Fistball

    9199 votes

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  • Anna Gay

    Anna Gay

    USA

    Waterski & Wakeboard

    9172 votes

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  • Paola Longoria

    Paola Longoria

    MEX

    Racquetball

    9025 votes

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  • Women's Beach Handball Team

    Women's Beach Handball Team

    GER

    Handball

    8837 votes

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  • Mixed 580 kg Team

    Mixed 580 kg Team

    SWE

    Tug of War

    8751 votes

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  • Arreewan Chansri

    Arreewan Chansri

    THA

    Ju-Jitsu

    8694 votes

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  • Hélène Doué

    Hélène Doué

    FRA

    Aikido

    8694 votes

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  • Kasper Harlem Fosser

    Kasper Harlem Fosser

    NOR

    Orienteering

    8694 votes

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  • Trent Sabo

    Trent Sabo

    USA

    Sumo

    8693 votes

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  • Mads Pedersen

    Mads Pedersen

    DEN

    Canoe

    8689 votes

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  • Taylor Cummings

    Taylor Cummings

    USA

    Lacrosse

    8640 votes

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  • James Blomgren

    James Blomgren

    SWE

    Bowling

    8619 votes

    View bio
  • Women’s Softball Team

    Women’s Softball Team

    JPN

    Baseball - Softball

    8612 votes

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Voting rules

The names of the candidates for The Athlete of the Year will be published on 4th January 2022.

Voting begins at 09:00 CET on 10th January 2022.

From Sunday 23rd January 2022 at 16:00 CET, only the 10 highest ranked candidates at that time will continue in the race. They will keep the votes earned by then.

Voting ends on Monday 31st January 2022 at 14:00 CET.

You can give your votes to the candidates on The World Games website once per 24 hours. Votes must be given each time to two candidates: 2 votes to your first-choice candidate and 1 vote to your second-choice candidate. If you try to give votes to one candidate only, the votes will not be registered.

The numbers of votes cast for each candidate will be visible throughout the campaign.

All voters shall act in accordance with fair play in sport. The IWGA will scrutinise the voting process closely, and any anomalies that appear will be investigated. Any conduct that is against the sporting spirit may result in consequences.

How to vote

You can vote for your candidate once every 24 hours.

First click on the "Vote" button of your favourite candidate (who will receive two votes)

Then, to make your vote count, click on the "Vote" button of your second favourite candidate (who will receive one vote)

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Hockey

PR Sreejesh , IND

Voted FIH Goalkeeper of the Year for 2021, India’s PR Sreejesh has enjoyed an exceptional 12 months, producing his very best form to help his team claim bronze at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo – India’s first Olympic hockey medal in 41 years. The 33-year-old from Kerala is admired the world over not only for his goalkeeping skills, but also for his sportsmanship, kindness, and a genuine desire to make the world a better place.

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Sport Climbing

Alberto Ginés López, ESP

Alberto Ginés López became the first-ever Sport Climbing Olympic gold medallist in the Tokyo Olympic Games held in 2021. Besides being the first Sport Climber to win Olympic gold, he also became, at 18 years old, the youngest Spanish male athlete ever to win at the Olympics. He has 23 IFSC European Youth podiums in the period 2017-2021, including 14 gold medals.

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Wushu

Michele Giordano, ITA

Michele Giordano comes from a country with little history of Wushu. Even so, he won European Championships in 2016 and 2018, and has frequently been in the top 10 in the IWUF World Championships since 2005. In the 1st Taolu World Cup in 2016 Giordano won two bronze medals. He is one of the most beloved Wushu athletes because of his sporting spirit and enthusiasm.

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Flying Disc

Paige Pierce, USA

Paige Pierce is the most successful female Disc Golf athlete in history. She has won five World Championship titles, has the highest rating of any woman at any time since ratings began, and is the top prize winner. She is also the all-time leading women's winner on the Disc Golf Pro Tour, with 31 Professional Championship wins.

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Underwater Sports

Ekaterina Mikhaylushkina, RUS

In 2021 the 19-year-old Russian athlete Ekaterina Mikhaylushkina dominated the Finswimming World Championships, winning all three of her individual events and two relays, making it five gold medals in total. In the 100m surface race, Mikhaylushkina improved her own world record. She is the fastest female swimmer on earth.

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Floorball

U19 team, CZE

In 2019, the Czech Men’s U19 national team won the first-ever World Floorball Championships gold medal for Czech Floorball. This year, the Men’s U19 team successfully defended their title, and won the second consecutive gold medal in front of their home crowd in Brno. They won the exciting final against Finland 4-3, despite losing against them in the group stage.

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Kickboxing

Melissa Martinez Aceves, MEX

Melissa Martinez Aceves is the new World Champion in Kickboxing in one of the hardest classes to win, Women -52 kg. She won the prize as the Best Female Competitor in the Ring Disciplines. With her victory in the championships, she qualified for The World Games 2022. At The World Games 2017 she won a silver medal.

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Archery

Sara Lopez, COL

Sara Lopez is The World Games 2017 champion as well as 8-time World Champion in Archery. Lopez won three gold medals at the Archery World Championships 2021, including her first-ever individual gold. In 2021, she also won a record sixth Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion title.

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DanceSport

Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska, GER

Marius-Andrei Balan & Khrystyna Moshenska, representing Germany, won both the Latin World Championships and the European Championships this year. They also top the World DanceSport Federation Latin rankings.

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Muaythai

Phillip Delarmino, PHI

Phillip Delarmino is the 2021 IFMA Muaythai World Champion as well as WMC Asian Featherweight champion. Furthermore, he won gold in the Southeast Asian Games on home ground in 2019, and silver in the East Asian Games in 2019. He has several medals from World Championships and Asian Beach Games.

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Korfball

Julie Caluwé, BEL

Julie Caluwé had the best year of her career in 2021. As part of the starting line-up, she won the Dutch Korfbal League with her club PKC in April 2021. At the IKF European Korfball Championships in October, with the Belgium team, she claimed silver after a buzzing final against The Netherlands. With 22 goals she claimed the ’overall top scorer’ title at the event.

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Fistball

Michaela Grzywatz, GER

The 27-year-old fistballer Michaela Grzywatz has achieved almost everything in her sport: she is World Champion, European Champion and German Champion. In 2021 she won the gold medal at the Women’s World Championship. Women’s Fistball debuts at The World Games 2022, and Grzywatz wants to win the historic title with her team in Birmingham.

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Waterski & Wakeboard

Anna Gay, USA

Anna Gay is the current World Women's Waterski Trick Champion, and she is qualified for The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama. Gay studies at The University of Alabama. She competed at The World Games 2017 and finished 4th in Women's Trick.

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Racquetball

Paola Longoria, MEX

Paola Longoria won both singles and doubles Racquetball World Championships. She is a two-time champion of The World Games. Altogether she has a record number of Racquetball World Championship titles: four individual and four doubles. She won all three gold medals at the Pan American Games in 2011, 2015 and 2019.

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Handball

Women's Beach Handball Team, GER

The Germany women’s national Beach Handball team were the surprise winners of EHF Beach Handball EURO 2021. This was their first European – or any – championship title since 2006. The surprise result also means that they qualified for The World Games 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama for the first time in the country’s history.

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Tug of War

Mixed 580 kg Team, SWE

Sweden’s Mixed 580 kg team took a surprise victory at the Tug of War World Championships 2021, beating Switzerland in the final. This victory earned them a ticket to The World Games 2022, where Mixed Tug of War will be a medal event for the first time.

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Ju-Jitsu

Arreewan Chansri, THA

Arreewan Chansri is Asian Champion in three Ju-Jitsu disciplines: Fighting, Contact Ju-Jitsu and Duo Mixed, and silver medallist in two: Ju-Jitsu and Show discipline (with her partner). Chansri was named as the Best Female Athlete of the championships.

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Aikido

Hélène Doué, FRA

Hélène Doué has practised Aikido for more than 30 years. Her rank is 5 Dan, and she teaches Aikido to children, teenagers, students, adults and autistic teenagers. Her husband is also an Aikido teacher and their two boys learned to walk on the tatami. Doué is part of the National Technical College of the French federation and confirmed participant for The World Games 2022.

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Orienteering

Kasper Harlem Fosser, NOR

Kasper Harlem Fosser is the 2021 World Orienteering Champion in Long Distance. Furthermore, he won three silver medals at the same championships – in Sprint, Sprint Relay and Relay. In the 2021 European Championships he won three bronze medals. He has qualified for The World Games 2022.

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Sumo

Trent Sabo, USA

Trent Sabo (USA) won silver at The World Games 2017, and he is a medal candidate for 2022 when The World Games return to the USA. During his 21+ years of Sumo competition, Sabo has competed in three editions of The World Games. In addition, Sabo is 14-time U.S. National Champion in the lightweight division, and also has 2 silver and 2 bronze medals in the openweight division!

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Canoe

Mads Pedersen, DEN

Mads Pedersen successfully defended his men's K1 Canoe Marathon world title in 2021. In the process, he also successfully earned a quota for Denmark for The World Games 2022, where Canoe Marathon debuts as an official sport.

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Lacrosse

Taylor Cummings, USA

Taylor Cummings was the individual winner of the new pro Women’s Lacrosse league in the USA in 2021, and she is the only player ever to win the Tewaaraton Award for the most outstanding College Lacrosse player three times. Cummings has never lost a game wearing a Team USA uniform in international competition, helping the USA win gold at The World Games 2017 and at the World Cup in 2017.

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Bowling

James Blomgren, SWE

Sweden's James Blomgren claimed the men's singles titles in the finals of the International Bowling Federation Super World Championships, taking place in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Before this, he was Junior World Champion in 2008.

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Baseball - Softball

Women’s Softball Team, JPN

The Japanese Softball team won a second consecutive gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. After winning the title, they became the top-ranked team in the WBSC Women's Softball World Rankings. Next year they will fight for gold at The World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.

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