The World Games Athlete of the Year 2023

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Top 10 - Final Round

  • Conrrado Moscoso

    Conrrado Moscoso

    BOL

    Racquetball

    75389 votes

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  • Luisa Rizzo

    Luisa Rizzo

    ITA

    Air Sports

    55834 votes

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  • Marius-Andrei Balan and Khrystyna Moshenska

    Marius-Andrei Balan and Khrystyna Moshenska

    GER

    DanceSport

    43560 votes

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  • Faisal Al Ketbi

    Faisal Al Ketbi

    UAE

    Ju-Jitsu

    36824 votes

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  • Szymon Kropidlowski

    Szymon Kropidlowski

    POL

    Underwater Sports

    33423 votes

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  • Aditi Swami

    Aditi Swami

    IND

    Archery

    20169 votes

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  • Rebecca Tarlazzi

    Rebecca Tarlazzi

    ITA

    Roller Sports

    17058 votes

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  • Dimitri Crenier

    Dimitri Crenier

    BEL

    Aikido

    17045 votes

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  • Amina Orfi

    Amina Orfi

    EGY

    Squash

    17042 votes

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  • Jack Besgrove

    Jack Besgrove

    AUS

    Baseball - Softball

    17040 votes

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Positions 11 - 18

  • Emma Hunt

    Emma Hunt

    USA

    Sport Climbing

    5893 votes

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  • Patrick Thomas

    Patrick Thomas

    GER

    Fistball

    5037 votes

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  • Sara Hagström

    Sara Hagström

    SWE

    Orienteering

    4119 votes

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  • Basma Lachkar

    Basma Lachkar

    BRU

    Wushu

    3895 votes

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  • Milana Bjelogrlic

    Milana Bjelogrlic

    SRB

    Kickboxing

    3879 votes

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  • Mads Pedersen

    Mads Pedersen

    DEN

    Canoe

    3871 votes

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  • Pedro Correia

    Pedro Correia

    POR

    Korfball

    3871 votes

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  • Gabriel Kohonen

    Gabriel Kohonen

    SWE

    Floorball

    3868 votes

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  • Brennan O’Neill

    Brennan O’Neill

    USA

    Lacrosse

    3868 votes

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  • Aaron Ortiz

    Aaron Ortiz

    USA

    Muaythai

    3868 votes

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  • Miranda Tibbling

    Miranda Tibbling

    SWE

    Gymnastics

    3867 votes

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  • Fabian Langenstein

    Fabian Langenstein

    SUI

    Tug of War

    3867 votes

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Voting rules

The names of the candidates for The Athlete of the Year will be published on 4th January, 2024 12:00 GMT.

Voting begins at 12:00 GMT on 10th January, 2024.

From 22nd January, 2024 at 12:00 GMT, only the 10 highest ranked candidates at that time will continue in the race. All candidates will re-start with 0 votes.

Voting ends on 31st January, 2024 at 12:00 GMT.

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.

Conrrado Moscoso

Conrrado Moscoso, 28, has enjoyed a long and glittering career in Racquetball. He is the current IRF men’s singles world champion, and leads the Racquetball World Rankings. He has played for Bolivia on 16 occasions and has won 25 medals including 9 golds. This year he won 2 gold medals and 1 bronze at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.

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Luisa Rizzo

Age 21, Luisa Rizzo has been competing in Drone Racing since she was 16, and has already been crowned Italian champion 4 times. In 2023 she won the women’s bronze medal at the FAI World Drone Racing Championships in Korea – and also holds a Guinness World Record in the sport! She is very active on social media and a clear inspiration to others.

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Marius-Andrei Balan and Khrystyna Moshenska

The Latin dance couple are 3-times World Latin Champions, 3-times European Champions and The World Games 2022 Latin silver medallists. In addition to the title events, the couple have won 8 WDSF GrandSlams, including the prestigious grand jewel of DanceSport, the WDSF GrandSlam Final in 2017.

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Faisal Al Ketbi

Faisal Al Ketbi has won 3 gold medals in The World Games – one in 2017 and two in 2022, making him the most successful Ju-Jitsu fighter in the history of the Games. In the -94 kg class he was World Champion 4 times in the period 2015-2019. Aged 36, he is the first-ever black belt in Ju-Jitsu in the United Arab Emirates. In 2023 he won gold at the Asia Championships, the World Championships and the Asian Games.

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Szymon Kropidlowski

Szymon Kropidlowski (21) came to the fore at The World Games in 2022, winning the 50m Bi Fins competition and taking silver in the 100 m race. In July this year he won both 50 m and 100 m races in the European Championships, setting a new world record at 100 m.

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Aditi Swami

Aditi Swami (17) has enjoyed one of the greatest debut seasons ever. She became 2023 World Archery Champion – the youngest archer to win a world title in the modern era – just days after securing the under-18 world title. She contributed to Indian team gold medals in both the World Championships and the Asian Games.

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Rebecca Tarlazzi

24-year-old Artistic Skater Rebecca Tarlazzi won gold in the Women’s Freeskating Long and Short Programs at TWG 2022 in Birmingham, the latter by a huge margin, and gold in the Pairs Long and Short at TWG 2017 in Wroclaw. This year she won her 16th gold in the world championships in Artistic Skating, a new record.
Now she is planning to spend her time teaching Artistic Skating to youngsters.

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Dimitri Crenier

Dimitri Crenier Sensei is one of the youngest 6th Dan Aikikai in Belgium and even in Europe. He began practicing Aikido at the age of 9, learning from experts both in his home country and at Aikido World HQ in Tokyo, Japan.

He achieved the grade of 6th Dan in 2017, and since then he performs expert demonstrations at the highest level; he is regarded internationally as a first-rate coach and seminar leader.

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Amina Orfi

Just 16 years old, Amina Orfi is regarded by many as the brightest young talent in the game. This year the Egyptian dominated the junior circuit, winning the WSF World Junior Championship for the second year running. After an incredible year, Orfi has risen to World No. 20 and is being touted as a future World No. 1 and Olympic candidate for LA28.

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Jack Besgrove

Jack Besgrove took the Softball world by storm last December with an astonishing performance that led Australia to their second WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup title. New into the team at age 19, he made his mark as a dominating pitcher, repeated 4 months later in the U-23 World Championship final where he pitched a complete-game shutout with 11 strikeouts.

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Emma Hunt

20-year-old Emma Hunt is a big rising star in the world of Sport Climbing! This year she set a new Pan American women’s Speed record (6.67), and won silver and an Olympic quota place for Paris 2024 at the IFSC World Championships. Since debuting in 2019 she has won 4 silvers and 1 bronze in World Cup events.

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Patrick Thomas

For more than a decade, Patrick Thomas has shaped the sport of Fistball like no other player before him. He was named Player of the Match when Germany won the World Championships this year – his 4th World title. After winning the title, the 31-year-old announced his retirement from the national team. Thomas also has three gold medals from The World Games.

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Sara Hagström

Sara Hagström has had a remarkable season in 2023, winning the European Orienteering Championships Individual Sprint along with World and European relay golds. She finished 2nd overall in the 2023 Orienteering World Cup, her best result ever.

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Basma Lachkar

Basma Lachkar is a Brunei hero, putting Wushu firmly on the map in her tiny nation when she won gold at TWG in Birmingham, a first for her country; she awed both the audience and the judges with her beautiful and powerful movements. This year she won silver at the Asian Games, Brunei’s first-ever Asian Games silver medallist in any sport. Aged 20, she has become a superb role model for younger athletes.

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Milana Bjelogrlic

Milana Bjelogrlic won the WAKO World Championships in amateur K-1 kickboxing in 2019 and 2021. At The World Games 2022 she took the silver medal. She is now number 1 in professional K-1 Kickboxing holding a World Champion title.

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Mads Pedersen

Following his gold and silver medals at The World Games 2022, Mads Pedersen became Canoe Marathon world champion this year for the third time in front of his home crowd in Denmark, having won also in 2019 and 2021. This came off the back of capturing his first ICF Canoe Sprint 5000 metre title just one week before. 

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Pedro Correia

Pedro Correia, 32, is a dedicated and exceptionally talented athlete with 62 senior international caps under his belt. His most recent achievement was his instrumental role in Portugal's qualification for The World Games 2025 at the World Korfball Championships 2023. Correia has played at The World Games 2013 and 2022 and his leadership qualities and passion for the sport have inspired countless young athletes in his home country.

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Gabriel Kohonen

Like father, like son; Mika Kohonen is a Floorball legend, and now his son Gabriel is heading the same way! The 19-year-old helped win gold for Sweden at the 2023 U19 World Championships, and was named on the tournament All-Star Team. He is enjoying a meteoric rise in domestic competition this year, where he now plays for the champion club and is quickly amassing points and goals.

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Brennan O’Neill

Brennan O’Neill led Team USA to the gold medal in his rookie appearance at the World Lacrosse Men's Championship in 2023. At 21, he was the youngest and only collegiate player in a team made up of professionals. His overall performance earned him a spot on the All-World Team, and he was named the Best Midfielder of the championship.

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Aaron Ortiz

Aaron Ortiz is the current champion in the 81 kg class at The World Games, and this year retained his title in the World Championships – he has won gold for 3 years running now. The 24-year-old talent was the USA Team Captain at The World Games 2022, Birmingham.

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Miranda Tibbling

Parkour Speed star Miranda Tibbling (19) was again crowned World Cup Series Champion in 2023, following a historic 2022 season where she took a clean sweep of the World Cup Series, World Championship and The World Games gold. In an event where races are counted to one-thousandth of a second, Tibbling is renowned for being whole seconds ahead of the competition.

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Fabian Langenstein

A legend in Swiss Tug of War, Langenstein has now retired after 24 years competing in national teams. In The World Games he has won 2 gold (2009 and 2013) and 3 silver medals (2001/9/13). His highly impressive international championship medal haul includes 17 World championship golds, the final one in 2023, and 17 European golds.

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