Bolt, Serena

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (CMC) — Jamaican Olympic and World champion Usain Bolt and American tennis star Serena Williams have been voted International Sports Press Association (AIPS) Best Athletes for the second year in a row.

FRASER-PRYCE… polled 551 votes behind Yelena Isinbayev and winner Serena Williams

2/3

A panel of 470 sports journalists from 96 countries voted in this year’s poll.

WILLIAMS… won 11 titles in 2013

3/3

 

overwhelming 1,282 votes, followed by Formula One Sebastien Vettel on 499 and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo on 437.

 On August 11, 2013, Bolt regained the title as world’s fastest man by winning the World Championships 100m in Moscow, with a time of 9.77s, ahead of Justin Gatlin in second with a time of 9.85, Six days later, the Jamaican won the 200 metres for his second gold medal of the World Championships with a time of 19.66.

Bolt won a third gold in the 4×100 m relay, which made him the most successful athlete in the 30-year history of the World Championships. For the fifth time in six years, Bolt was also named IAAF World Male Athlete of the Year, and is a shoe-in candidate to repeat as the RJR Sportsman of the Year.

Williams, who in 2013 aced her finest season statistically with a 78-4 record, and 11 titles, received 915 votes, ahead of Russian pole vault queen Yelena Isinbayev (644) and Jamaican athletics star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (551).

Serena Williams’s 2013 tennis season officially began on December 30 with the start of the 2013 WTA tour, and follows on from a 12-match winning streak which began at the end of the 2012 season.

Williams produced her most consistent season in her career reaching 13 finals and winning 11 titles, the most since 12 titles from Martina Hingis in 1997. She also won her second French Open, her first since 2002 and fifth US Open.

She also dominated the clay season winning five titles and having a 28-0 record in the surface and produced her longest winning streak at 34. Williams also had the best winning percentage of 95.1 per cent, the highest since 1990 and became the first women’s player to eclipse the $10-million mark at $12,385,572, smashing the previous single-season prize money record of $7.9 million set last year by Victoria Azarenka.

Williams finished the year at number one, the third time that Williams ended as the number one player in the year. Based on her brilliant show of 2013, she was named ‘World Champion’ for the fourth time and the second time in a row.

European champion Bayern Munich, who dominated football in 2013, winning their first Club World Cup title, and finishing the Bundesliga season unbeaten, were the resounding winner of the Best Team award with 1,707 votes, 1,128 ahead of second-place winner Miami Heat, two-time NBA Champions who racked up an incredible 27-game winning streak in 2013.

New Zealand’s All Blacks Rugby team with 14 wins from 14 matches in 2013 took third place. This year’s Best Press Facilities Award has been split into two categories — Best One Day Sporting Event and Best Press Facilities, Major Championship.

Winner of the One-Day Sporting Event award was the UEFA Champions League Final. Winners of the second category were very close with the 2013 Moscow IAAF Track and Field Championships receiving 558 votes, the FIFA Confederations Cup (545) and FINA World Championships (486).