In the traditional poll of 50 experts of “Sporta Avīzes”, held for the 28th time to determine the best Latvian sports of the year, the victory was achieved by the Latvian hockey team, which won bronze at the world championships, leaving the The national basketball team of Latvia, which made a great debut at the World Cup, is in second place. On the other hand, experts very convincingly recognized track and field athlete Agati Cauni as the best young athlete of Latvia last year.
Even before the poll, this time there were no two minds that would fight for the first place. If when receiving the first voting cards the points were collected in a similar way, in the aftermath the hockey players made it seem like they were going to celebrate the victory, but in the end their advantage was already quite certain. The national hockey team has placed first 30.5 times, while the national basketball team has placed almost half of the time – 16.5 times. Individual athletes do not win the poll for the third time in a row, because in 2021, after winning Olympic gold, the second largest number of points in history was collected by the 3×3 basketball team, and in 2022, more than half ( 27) of the experts awarded first place to the basketball team, which for the first time in history had qualified for the World Cup final.
The struggle for third place, predictably, also took place between the leaders of the national hockey and basketball teams. Here, however, the basketball prevailed, although the bronze position was awarded to the hockey goalie and the most valuable player of the world championship Artūrs Šilovs rather than to the point guard of the national basketball team and the member of the second symbolic selection of the World Cup Artūrs Žagars (10.5 against 6.5), Žagars was included in the polls more than Shilov (24.5 against 22.5) and this was enough for him to surpass his namesake by just two points. Another basketball player, Kristaps Porzingis, who unfortunately did not participate in the World Cup due to injury, took fifth place in the poll, experts rated his high-quality performance in the National Basketball Association, while excellent tennis player Alyona Ostapenko was in sixth place.
The Latvian hockey team scored 303.5 points in the survey, the basketball team 265.5 points, Žagar – 77, Šilov – 75.5, Porzingis – 59 and Ostapenko – 41 points.
Einars Fogelis, head of the Council of Latvian Sports Federations and president of the International Federation of Luge Sports, became the most accurate expert this time. The sports official placed all six finalists of the poll in the correct order, with the only exception that in his vote he awarded joint third place to Shilov and Žagar.
For the second consecutive year, the best young Latvian athlete in the Under 20 age group (born in 2003 and younger) was also determined. 30 experts took the opportunity and 25 of them awarded first place and announced the talented athlete Agati Cauni as the best young athlete of Latvia in 2023. Last year, Valmieriete not only won the European Under-20 Championship both over 3,000 and 5,000 metres, but also reached the final of the adult World Championships over 5,000 metres, won gold at the European Games and in his debut Diamond League race, broke the Latvian record among adults by Jeļena Prokopčuka in the 3000 meters. Right now, it seems like the sky is the limit for Agate Caunes! The other places among the top three winners of the poll among young athletes were also occupied by locals: the second was the junior world champion and the European junior vice-champion in BMX cycling Veronika Monika Stūriška, while the vice-world junior motocross champion and European EMX125 class champion Jānis Mārtiņš Reišulis placed third.
For almost three decades, the traditional “Sporta Avīze” survey has interviewed a wide range of experts: officials, heads of federations, former athletes, journalists and even readers of the magazine. President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, Prime Minister Evika Siliņa and Mayor of Riga Vilnis Ķirsis also expressed their opinion on the best of Latvian sport. Each interviewee must choose his six best, as both sportsmen and women, as well as national teams and teams, are included in one vote.
Look for the full survey results and all the experts’ votes in the January issue of “Sport Avīzes”.
In 2022, the men’s basketball team won the vote, the luge relay finished in second place and Porzingis rounded out the top three.
This year the “Sporta Avīze” survey was held for the 28th time. Skeletal Martins Dukurs and sidecar motocross crew Kristers Sergis and Artis Rasmanis have each won this poll five times.
2024-01-02 10:51:00
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