Oviedo, May 24 (EFE).- The athlete Allyson Felix, the gymnast Simone Biles, the motorcyclists Valentino Rossi and Marc Márquez and the badminton player Carolina Marín are some of the twenty-four candidates from ten nationalities who are vying for the Princess of Sports Award 2022, which will be ruled tomorrow in Oviedo, as revealed on Tuesday by the president of the jury, former athlete Abel Antón.
The jury began its deliberations this morning with an “impressive” list of applicants, according to Antón, winner of the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports in 1997 with the Spanish marathon team.
Among the candidates, those of the Americans Allyson Felix, an athlete specializing in sprint and relay races, and the gymnast Simone Biles, the most successful of all time in both the male and female categories, stood out.
For the man from Soriano, one of the “great favorites” and the one with his preference is Allyson Felix, the most successful athlete of all time, seven-time Olympic champion and thirteen-time world champion, to which he adds “the human component of a woman who got pregnant and had all sponsorships withdrawn at the time”.
“After having her son, she returned to competition and won Olympic medals,” emphasized Abel Antón, who recalled that last year, when Felix was still active, he was on the verge of getting the Princess of Sports Award .
In the opinion of the president of the jury, Allyson Felix is a “world reference” for his sporting achievements and also for the human aspect, which “is also valued” by the jury.
Regarding the Spanish applicants, Abel Antón has mentioned Carolina Marín, who has recently been proclaimed European badminton champion after overcoming a serious injury, which “enlarges” the award.
In addition, in the list of applicants is the pilot Marc Márquez, who has been referred to as an “institution” in the field of motorcycles, along with the “reference” of Ángel Nieto.
After analyzing the twenty-four candidates that compete in this edition, Abel Antón has pointed out the international nature of the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports, which in 2022 has among its applicants a good number of foreign options, all of them with “many possibilities because they are some phenomena.
The winner, who will be announced tomorrow at noon, will take over from swimmer Teresa Perales, the most successful Paralympian in history, winner of 27 medals in five games, who last year was honored with this award.
The jury in charge of choosing the winner of the 2022 Princess of Asturias Award for Sports is made up, in addition to former athlete Abel Antón, as president, and former sailor Theresa Zabell Lucas as secretary, by the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, and from the Paralympic Committee, Miguel Carballeda, and the former football coach, Vicente del Bosque, among others.
Completing the list of members of the jury are personalities from the field of communication, in addition to the mountaineer Edurne Pasabán and the Paralympic champion Alberto Suárez Laso, while the director of External Relations of Real Madrid, Emilio Butragueño, and Albert Sáez have been dismissed.
