2022 IAU Athlete of the Year Winners

It is our pleasure to announce that after completion the voting process the 2022 Winners of the IAU Athlete of the Year award are Patrycja Bereznowska (POL) and Aleksandr Sorokin (LTU).

Patrycja received almost 30% and Aleskandr over 37% of all votes. Both were winning convincingly among 36 nominated athletes. Patrycja was already a winner of 2017 and she was on top 3 for number of times. Aleksandr is the 2021 winner and this the third time when he won the award. You can read more about them below.

Congratulations to Patrycja and Aleksandr on achieving outstanding performances in 2022. Both have had tremendous success over the last several years competing in the international realm. Their performances on the road and their work on the IAU Athletes Commission has made them true ambassadors of our sport.

Nadeem Khan, IAU President

 

Percentages of votes for top 3 athletes.

Women

1. Patrycja Bereznowska (POL) 29.6%

2. Caitriona Jennings (IRL) 18.5%

3. Camille Herron (USA) 12.4%

 

Men

1. Aleksandr Sorokin (LTU) 37.7%

2. Haruki Okayama (JPN) 16.7%

3. Houssame Eddine Benabbou Azizi (ESP) 8.0%

 

Patrycja Bereznowska (POL) is among the best runners in the world for the several years now. It all started back in 2015 when for the first time she won silver medal at IAU 24H European Championships in Torino, Italy. She was second in 2016 in the IAU 24H EC in Albi, France and finally in 2017 she won gold medal during IAU 24H World Championships in Belfast, Norther Ireland. She set new world record during the Championships (259.991 km) as well. In 2018 she won IAU 24H European Championships in Timisoara, Romania. Next year she was 3rd at IAU 24H World Championships in Albi, France. In 2022 she won the IAU 24H European Championships for the second time in a row. In addition she set 48H IAU World Record in Pabianice, Poland (403,32 km) in 2022. She was the first women to run over 400km in 48H and she did it twice.

Aleksandr Sorokin (LTU) is present at international level since 2014 when for the first time he participate in the IAU 100 km World Championship in Qatar. Year by year he improved his performance with main focus on 24H. He won Spartathlon in 2017, followed by bronze medal at 2018 IAU 24H European Championship in Romania and finally gold at 2019 IAU 24H World Championship in Albi, France. Year by year he improved his personal best for 24H being 260,491 km (2016), 260,991 km (2018), twice in 2019 from 272,708 km, 278,972 km at IAU World Championship and finally he managed to set 24H World Record in 2021 to surpass legendary Yiannis Kouros with outstanding 309,399 km (192,29 miles). Year 2022 was another great year for Sorokin as he set new 24H IAU World Record in Verona during IAU 24H European Championships. From now the IAU 24H World Record is 319,614 km. He set new 100 km World Record in 2022 as well, now it is 6:05:41 set in Bedford, Great Britain. During that race he set new 6H IAU World Record as well, being 98,496 km. He is the first runner to break 11h on 100 miles distance as well (currently 10:51:39!) set in 2022 in Tel Aviv, Israel. During the same race he set new 12H IAU World Record, being 177,410 km. Outstanding running from Aleksandr. 

We would like to congratulate all the nominees and winners of the 2022 IAU Athlete of the Year award.

 

Jacek Bedkowski

IAU Director of Communication

2022 IAU Athlete of the Year Winners

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