For once, tennis was absent from the Laureus Awards evening, organized on Sunday April 24 virtually from the Spanish city of Seville. The couple of the year 2021 is made up of an F1 driver, the Dutchman Max Verstappen, and a sprinter, the Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah. They were respectively named sportsman and sportswoman of the year. F1 world champion, Max Verstappen succeeds Rafael Nadal, crowned last year. Elaine Thompson-Herah, triple Olympic champion last summer in Tokyo (100, 200 and 4x100 m), won a trophy given to the Japanese Naomi Osaka for the year 2020. The jury was made up of more than 70 legends of the world sport, all ambassadors of the Laureus Foundation, called upon to choose the winner from a list of nominees selected by 1.300 journalists around the world. The other winners of the evening were the Italian football team, victorious at Euro 2020, in the Team of the Year category; the young British tennis player Emma Raducanu, titled at the US Open 2021, chosen as Revelation of the Year; seven-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi, awarded the Sports Icon trophy; Bayern Munich's Polish striker Robert Lewandowski was named for Outstanding Performance. American quarterback Tom Brady was honored with a lifetime achievement award. The young Briton of Japanese origin Sky Brown, 13, bronze medalist in skateborad at the Tokyo Games, received the Comeback of the year trophy. Finally, the evening honored the Swiss Marcel Hug, chosen as Disabled Athlete of the Year, and the British Bethany Shriever, nominated by the jury for the title of Athlete in an extreme sport.
