At this year’s Laureus World Sports Awards, US Open champion Emma Raducanu, skateboarder Sky Brown, and BMX racer Bethany Shriever were all winners, with Max Verstappen and Elaine Thompson-Herah taking up the top awards.
Raducanu’s stunning US Open victory earned her the Breakthrough of the Year Award at the awards, which honour the best sporting achievements of 2021.
Brown won the Comeback of the Year Award for her bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Bethany Shriever won the Action Sportsperson of the Year Award in 2021 after finishing as Olympic and World Champion.
“It’s been a great year for me. Thank you to all the Laureus Academy Members for voting for me. I really want to congratulate all the other Nominees too,” said 19-year-old Raducanu, whose incredible victory at Flushing Meadows saw her become the first qualifier in tennis history to win a Grand Slam.
Brown, a skateboarder who made a miraculous comeback after a life-threatening injury, termed collecting her prize “crazy.”
Brown broke her skull when she fell headfirst from a half-pipe during training in June 2020.
She recovered completely and was able to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in the park final at the age of 13 years and 28 days, marking her Britain’s youngest-ever Olympic medalist.
“I had some ups and downs, falling, having a pretty bad accident and getting back up. I feel like the falling just pushed me [to succeed]. I’m so thankful for everything,” said Brown.
Shriever won the Action Sportsperson of the Year Accolade after winning both Olympic and World Championship BMX gold medals in the same year, completing a hat-trick of British women to get this award.
After UK Sport discontinued its backing, the 22-year-old teaching assistant had to earn £50,000 through crowdfunding ahead of Tokyo to fund her own qualification effort.
“Honestly, I just thought that being nominated was wonderful enough, but to win it, wow, what an absolute honour,” Shriever said after receiving her award from Sir Chris Hoy, a six-time Olympic cycling gold medalist.
“I just want to say a massive, massive thank you to the Laureus Academy for voting for me. I’m so, so proud. To be awarded something so prestigious means so much to me.”
Max Verstappen of Formula One and Elaine Thompson-Herah of the Jamaican Olympic sprint team were named Laureus World Sportsman and Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year, respectively.
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