The year 2022 provided numerous sports emotions. It was a year of illustrious withdrawals, like those of Federer and Serena, or those of Valverde and Sandra Sánchez if we turn our gaze to Spain. Young champions also hatched, such as Alcaraz and Evenepoelor immortal aces that stand on their thrones, like nadal. We are experiencing relevant Spanish victories, such as the surprising gold in the Eurobasket or world gold in water polo. And great international milestones, such as the stratospheric records of Kipchoge and de Duplantisor the assault of vingegaard to Pogacar’s domains in the Tour. Also the second title of Verstappen in F1, or the return of Ducati with Bagnaia to the top of MotoGPor the Curry’s Warriors and Micic’s Efes in the great basketball trophies… This 2022 has not lacked for anything. There were even some Olympic Games, with a medal from Queralt Castellet. It has been, once again, a great year for sports.
The earthquake of the ‘Djokovic case’
One of the big problems of 2022. The Serbian opened the year by arriving in Melbourne to play the Australian Open. Not being vaccinated, authorities detained Nole, leading to a court battle. Finally, Djokovic was deported from the country for being considered a danger to public health.
Queralt made magic at the Winter Games
Spain was sleeping and the magician from Sabadell pulled out her best tricks to give a historic joy in Beijing by hanging the silver medal in snowboard halfpipe. In her fifth Games, Castellet (33 years old) completed the perfect combo as she added an Olympic metal to the world runner-up and world bronze, in addition to being a triple X Games medalist in Superpipe.
Tiger returns after his accident at the Augusta Masters
On February 24, 2021, Tiger Woods was in a car accident that destroyed his legs. But the Tiger, like so many other times, recovered. He reappeared in Augusta in April of this year. Since then he has only played the PGA and the British and faces a reduced schedule for the rest of his career. His body does not give for more.
Efes and Micic create a dynasty
Madrid clung to the legend of the indomitable, Llull, and caressed their Eleventh Euroleague, but the block lacked points, at least one more basket (57-58). Ataman’s Anadolu Efes was crowned champion again, the first time a team has chained two wins since Olympiacos in 2013. Turkish dynasty with Micic as MVP of the Final Four.
Nadal wins his 14th Roland Garros and 22nd Grand Slam
Always in the gap, Nadal triumphed again at Roland Garros, for the 14th time. He easily beat Ruud in the final after having eliminated Djokovic in the quarterfinals with a great performance. It was his 22nd Grand Slam title and with it he took two from the Serbian, who later cut the gap at Wimbledon.
Stephen Curry’s crown
With 31.2 points on average, Stephen Curry led the Warriors to the fourth ring of his dynasty. Steve Kerr’s team beat some brave Celtics in a series in which they came back to win a new title. Curry, with his first MVP of the Finals, achieved the grand prize he was missing.
Madrid wins the Endesa League
Real Madrid won their 36th league title by beating Barça in the final (3-1) and after getting off the canvas in the key part of the season: they went from accumulating 17 defeats in 28 games (8 in 9) to closing the season with 18 victories out of 20 possible. In addition, they turned around the Jasikevicius effect (five wins in a row against his eternal rival) with four wins in the last five Clásicos. Tavares, MVP with a PIR of 41 in the fourth game.
Sainz enters history
Until July 2, only a Spaniard had won a Formula 1 race. Since July 3, Carlos Sainz changed history and included his name on that gold list. He started from pole position at the British GP, but had to suffer with Verstappen, and then Leclerc, before taking advantage of a safety car in the final few laps that allowed him to change tires, overtake his teammate at the restart and escape towards his first win, at Silverstone, which will not be his last.
The water polo team is world champion
The third world crown was at the expense of Italy (to which they had lost in 1992, 1994 and 2019) in a frantic final in Hungary, decided on penalties. It was the finishing touch to a spectacular four-year cycle, in which a World Cup silver (2019), a fourth Olympic place and a European bronze (2022) and silver (2020) also fell.
Sandra Sánchez retires with gold at the World Games
Olympic, World, European, World Games… No stick was left untouched by Sandra Sánchez, a karate legend who said goodbye to professional competition in July after mastering the kata in all the major international events. The woman from Talavera leaves at the age of 41 with more than 60 medals and the respect of the entire sports world.
Vingegaard achieves the impossible on the Tour
After two years of undisputed dominance on French roads, Jonas Vingegaard dethroned Tadej Pogacar in a 2022 Tour de France that will remain to be remembered as one of the best Grande Boucles in history. The feat of the Dane at the Granon, after a choral work by the Jumbo, memorable.
The flight of ‘Air Duplantis’ until 6.21
The flying boy who exceeded 3 meters at the age of 5, broke the world record for children at 7 (3.86), at 9 at 4, at 13 at 5 and at 18… at 6.05 he flew in Eugene as far as perhaps anyone else thought it could: 6.21. The Icarus of the skies, the Swede Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis (23), continues to approach the sun and there are experts who see him reaching 6.30.
Serena Williams says goodbye
The woman who has dominated women’s tennis for the past two decades ended her career at the US Open, at home and in front of a devoted crowd. She left behind a career in which she has lifted 73 individual titles, 23 of them Grand Slams. She couldn’t get past the 24 of Margaret Court, the big thorn in hers.
Alcaraz wins the US Open, his first Grand Slam, and is number one
Against the odds, or perhaps not so much due to the absence of Djokovic and Nadal’s physical and personal problems, Alcaraz achieved the goal that he had set himself without embarrassment after winning the Mutua Madrid Open: being a Grand Slam champion. He beat Ruud in the final and became number one in the world.
Spain, a film champion
Against all odds, Spain won the Eurobasket, beating France in the grand final and winning a gold medal that certifies that the new generation can continue at the top of basketball and that Sergio Scariolo is a legendary coach. Lorenzo Brown was the sensation and Willy Hernangómez the MVP.
The year of Evenepoel: grand tour and rainbows
After winning the first Monument of his career in Liège, Remco Evenepoel went for a note in the final stretch of the season to win La Vuelta and Mundial. The Belgian became the fourth rider in history to achieve those three victories in the same course.
The Marathon Alien
Eliud Kipchoge (Kapsisiywa, 38 years old), the prodigious and spartan Kenyan athlete who has 17 victories in 19 marathons, once again delighted in Berlin with a universal record of 42,195 meters in 2h:01:09… at 2:52 per 1,000 meters and 20.89km/h on average. About 200 steps per minute and a stride around 180 cm. An alien.
Federer and Nadal cry at the Swiss’s farewell
The image went around the world and was praised: Federer and Nadal crying and holding hands at the O2 in London. It was the day of the Swiss’s farewell to tennis, in the Laver Cup, and his last match was a doubles with the Spaniard as a couple. They lost to Sock and Tiafoe, but the result didn’t matter.
Valverde’s last goodbye
Alejandro Valverde retired as a professional at the age of 42 in 2022 in which he achieved three victories and podiums in top-level classics such as Strade Bianche (2nd) and Flecha Wallona (2nd). In the Giro de Lombardy, one of the Momentums that does not appear in his record, he hung up the bike next to Nibali.
The second of the tyrant Verstappen
With four races to go, Max Verstappen mathematically secured his second Formula 1 World Cup. ‘Mad Max’ swept 2022, winning 15 grand prix and no one had done it before in the same season. But the campaign is not perceived as boring: the Dutchman had to come back, he did not have more pole positions than Ferrari and he had to work on each of those victories. The title came at Suzuka, where he nailed an unforgettable exterior on Leclerc, runner-up, at the start.
Augusto Fernandez and Izan Guevara
Two world titles with a common origin: Palma. The first, born in Madrid but living in Mallorca, had to wait for the last round in Cheste to certify the Moto2 championship in which he achieved four victories. Guevara, for his part, did not give so much emotion to the Moto3 World Championship and was proclaimed champion in Australia, two races before the end, and the 7 victories in the year demonstrates his superiority in the small category.
Francesco Bagnaia wins MotoGP
The Turin rider has returned the MotoGP world champion title to Ducati in 2022. The house of Borgo Panigale adds its second championship, which they had been chasing since 2007 after the triumph of Casey Stoner. The Italian overcame Fabio Quartararo by 91 points and sealed the title in the last race of the year, held at Ricardo Tormo in Cheste.
Álvaro Bautista Superbike champion
Álvaro Bautista was proclaimed Superbike world champion in 2022, in his second stage on Ducati. He reached the derivatives of the series in 2019 with the Italian factory and then signed with Honda for 2020 and 2021 and returned to Borgo Panigale in 2022. An excellent season with 16 victories and 31 podiums in 36 races have made him the second Spanish champion in SBK after Carlos Checa’s title in 2011.