Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal was voted runner-up, while Austrian Alpine skier Marcel Hirscher came in third in the poll held by PAP among journalists from news agencies across Europe.
The highest-rated Polish athlete, football player Robert Lewandowski, was voted in 28th place.
Journalists from 26 European news agencies, including France’s AFP and Germany’s DPA, selected their picks for the top 10 athletes in Europe.
The PAP poll, now in its 62nd year, is one of the oldest of its kind worldwide, according to the Polish news agency.
Polish athletes have won three times. Long-distance runner Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak was voted European athlete of the year when the poll was first held in 1958, and track-and-field legend Irena Szewińska, Poland’s most decorated Olympic athlete, won twice, in 1966 and 1974.
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Source: PAP