Argentina's Lionel Messi was twice rewarded at the Laureus du sport evening on Monday in Paris, with the Sportsman of the Year and Team of the Year awards with his teammates from Argentina, crowned world champions last December. Messi, 35, is the first to win two awards at the same edition of the Laureus Trophies, organisers said.
The Paris SG striker, crowned in his career with seven Ballons d'Or, had already won the Laureus trophy for sportsman of the year in 2020, but he then shared it with Britain's Lewis Hamilton, seven-time Formula 1 world champion. The Argentine, whose suspension for travelling to Saudi Arabia as part of a commercial partnership without his club's agreement, was cut short, attended the ceremony in the heart of Paris with his wife Antonela.
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Messi was notably competing for the Sportsman of the Year award with his PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe, beaten with the France in the final of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by Argentina.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce awarded
Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, crowned 100m world champion for the fifth time in August in Eugene (United States), received the Sportswoman of the Year trophy, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, winner of the US Open 2022 became for several weeks N.1 in the world, that of revelation of the year and Danish international Christian Eriksen that of "comeback" of the year after resuming his career at the highest level with Manchester United after a cardiac arrest in the middle of a match of the Euro-2021 football tournament.
Also honoured were Switzerland's Catherine Debrunner, who won her first two marathons in 2022, in Berlin and London (athlete of the year with a disability), Chino-American Eileen Gu, double Olympic champion in freestyle skiing (extreme sportswoman of the year) and the TeamUp programme, which uses physical activity to help reduce stress in refugee children. represented by FC Barcelona's Polish striker Robert Lewandowski.
The Laureus Trophies have been awarded annually since 2000 by the Laureus Academy, a jury of 71 of sport's greatest legends. The 2023 ceremony was the first held face-to-face since 2020, after two virtual editions due to coronavirus restrictions.