Athlete of the Year awards revealed
Sport climber Janja Garnbret, pro cyclist Tadej Pogačar and the men's national football team have won the Athlete of the Year awards in their respective categories for the second year in a row. The winners are picked by the Slovenian Sports Journalists' Association, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.
Garnbret was voted the best woman athlete of the year for the fifth time after winning gold in the combined event (bouldering and lead) at the 2024 Paris Olympics, her second Olympic gold after Tokyo 2020.
"Every time you get to hold this trophy in your hands, the feeling is the same," Garnbret said at the awards ceremony in Ljubljana's Cankarjev Dom on 10 December. "We have so many top athletes in Slovenia ...Being the best of the best is a great honour."
The Sports Journalists' Association said that after becoming the first female Olympic sport climbing champion in history three years ago, Garnbret "proved yet again that the sky is the limit for her".
The 25-year-old climber received 305 points as ballots were cast by 108 association members, to trump judoka Andreja Leški (208), the Olympic champion in the 63 kg category, and ski jumper Nika Prevc (108), the overall winner of the 2023-24 World Cup.
Pogačar won the accolade after winning his third Tour de France this year, as well as the Giro d'Italia in his debut appearance at the race, and the road race at the UCI Road World Championships.
"Slovenia is a nation of a great number of top athletes, so it's hard to win such a vote. I'm proud and happy to have won this award again," Pogačar, 26, said in a statement for TV Slovenija, being not present at the ceremony himself.
On the same day his UAE Team Emirates revealed that next year Pogačar will contest several classic races and the Tour de France again.
He will either defend the Giro d'Italia title or make his debut at the Vuelta, depending on what the routes are, but will not race in all three Grand Tours.
He is also due to defend his title at the World Championships in Rwanda in September, before ending his season in October by trying to secure his fifth consecutive win at the Tour of Lombardy.
Pogačar received 313 points, to come ahead of NBA superstar Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks (127 points) and sailor Toni Vodišek (71 points), the silver medallist of the inaugural Formula Kite event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
The men's football team were declared the best team of the year after a successful appearance at 2024 Euro, the first European championship for the national team in 24 years.
"Slovenia achieved a historic feat - making it to the knockout stage for the first time ever and playing against Portugal in the round of 16, a match that will be remembered for a long time," the justification said.
Accepting the award, defender Žan Karničnik described it as "the icing on the cake of a really good year for Slovenian football".
Scoring 45 points in the voting, the football team narrowly beat the men's handball team (44), which finished 4th at the Paris Olympics. The men's volleyball team, which made its Olympic debut this year, was third in the voting with 17 points.
The award for the up-and-coming athlete went to canoeist Žiga Lin Hočevar, while shooter Franček Gorazd Tiršek, who won gold in the men's 10 m air rifle standing event at the 2024 Summer Paralympics, was declared the para-athlete of the year.
