Beňuš got to the highest level in his career, and the first triumph was also scored by tennis players. They elected figure skater Jozef Sabovčík as a sports legend. The results of the traditional poll of the Club of Sports Editors (KŠR) were announced at a ceremonial gala evening at the Opera of the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava.
The only Slovak medalist from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris Matej Beňuš clearly dominated the Athlete of the Year 2024 poll. He received 1323 votes, only one less than the record of Petr Sagan from 2017. Before the second Gabriela Gajan He had 478 points ahead of Matúš Hujsa, which is the second highest difference in history. Martina Moravcová won the highest in 2001, when the other Peter and Pavel Hochschorner separated 619 points. On the imaginary bronze rung in the vote of 139 sports journalists ended with 684 points tennis player Anna Karolína Schmiedlová.
Beňuš appeared on 138 ballots, 108 times ranked first. Gajanová, Schmiedlová and finally appeared more than a hundred times on ballots and finally Fifth skateboarder Richard Tury. Before the fifth man from the Olympic Games in Paris, the tennis player Rebecca Šramková came to the fourth place.
Beňuš ranks 2024 as very successful. At the Paris Olympic Games he won a medal as the only Slovak, he was bronze in C1 men. He was able to cope with pressure and extended a series of water -slalled medals from the Olympic Games. After 2010, 2015 and 2019, he became the overall winner of the World Cup series for the fourth time in his career. In it he achieved the best result in the season 2024 in Krakow, where he finished in C1 men in 2. A member of the police sports center was in the top ten polls for the fourth time, so far he was the highest in 2016 after the Olympic silver when he finished fifth.
„It is a huge honor for me, I am in the top three for the first time and I am the winner right away. Sports results are more important to me, but being an athlete of the year is a great prestige. I thank all the journalists who voted for me. This season was successful, the goal was the Olympic Medal and the overall triumph in the World Cup was such a cherry,“ He said at the gala evening.
Gajan She has experienced the most successful year in her career. At the European Championships in Rome she won a silver medal at 800 m. At the Olympic Games in Paris, the Slovak record improved in the semifinals after 37 years to 800 m (1: 58.22 min) and finished overall on the 11th place. „I have been watching this poll since youth categories when I started sports and wished I could stand here once. The fact that I got here this year is a really big thing for me and I am very excited about it. I did not expect the silver from Rome to bring me the same place in this poll,“ she said.
Behind the pair of tennis players was the fifth place skateboarder Richard Tury, who took the same partition to the Olympic Games in Paris, where the only European was in the final: „It is interesting, I am on the athlete of the year in the theater for the first time, I enjoy it. I perceive the Olympics even after half a year as a fantastic thing and I appreciate the motivation that came. I want to keep in shape and try to get to the next Olympics.“
The seventh was very happy about success in the poll Zuzana Paňková: „It is my first participation in the TOP 10 and they are amazing feelings, since I was a child I watched at home athletes of the year. It was an amazing year, not just the Olympic Games, but the overall way. It was challenging and her culmination at the Olympics was amazing, I carried a flag, I didn’t even have such a nice dream.“
Among the teams most often on the survey tickets and in the 1st place appeared tennis players who represented Slovakia in the Cup Billie Jean King. Five Anna Karolína Schmiedlová, Rebecca Šramková, Viktória Hrunčáková, Tereza Miháliková and Renáta Jamrichová became the first female tennis team to win in the Athlete of the Year poll. Their predecessors in the Federation Cup were second in 2002 and 2020. In 2005, the tennis players in the Davis Cup triumphed, who were on the 2nd place a year before.
“It was an amazing year for tennis in all directions. We have two tennis players among individuals and we won in teams. I am happy for this and that we can enjoy it as a team of the year, ”said coach Matej Lipták, who represented his men at the gala evening.
With a distance of 42 points, last year’s winners – football representatives of Slovakia – finished second. Participants of the Champions League from ŠK Slovan Bratislava finished third. Other teams have already had a significant distance for the best. “I think it was a very successful year for the Slovak national team. We made Slovak football fantastic advertising for the European Championship and played with a dignified league of nations, in which we still have a relegation, ”said the representative of the national team and its former captain Marek Hamšík.
Paralympic of the year was the Paralympic winner from Paris 2024 in the shooting Veronika Vadovičová, for the Paraklelectures of the Year they declared the Golden Paris Table Tennis pair Ján Riapoš, Peter Lovaš. “The year 2024 was marked by the Olympic and Paralympic Games and I am glad that this will be marked by the 30th anniversary of the SPV. The project “does not creep” we launched in Paris can join it. So 30 years of resilient is the story of inspiration, motivation and I am glad that it is not only about young, but at my age, the story of old athletes and that it reached the gold medal, ”said Riapoš.
For the talents of the year 2024, they declared Victoria Colang, Winter Adam Hagar at the gala evening, from the winter athletes of Adam Hagar and the disadvantaged Viliam Holenda. “I really appreciate it and I am happy. It was unexpected for me, as I had no idea that I could win such a price and being among the best athletes of Slovakia is a big thing for me, ”said Kozenová, who was also placed in an excellent 12th place in the main category at the age of 18.
The award of the sports legend, which is determined by the KŠR, this year was received by one of the greatest personalities of the world figure skating Jozef Sabovčík. A native of Bratislava, who has been living in Salt Lake City for a long time, is the second figure skater with this award after Karol Divín. Sabovčík won bronze at the 1984 Winter Olympics during his active career in Sarajevo, twice was the European Champion (1985, 1986) and the first figure skater jumped a four -hum jump. After his career he became a professional world champion and at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City he showed a great Salto backward during the opening ceremony.
„It is an excellent feeling and I really appreciate it, it is a great honor. It is a bit incredible for me, I am gone for a very long time and my career ended very long ago, 40 years ago. Maybe I was doing it for too long, there were also operations, but without that it is not possible,“ said Jozef Sabovčík.
At the same time, the Sports Editors Club awarded the Štefan Mašlonka Award for the provision of the best press services in 2024, which was received by representatives of the organizing committee of the European Athletics Championship under 18 years in Banská Bystrica.
