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Lopez nominated for World Games Athlete of the Year – Vote now!

10 January 2022

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Sara Lopez (COL) portrait at the 2021 World Cup Finals, Yankton (USA)

After climbing back into the number one spot in the world rankings and silencing her doubters with yet another career year to add to her impeccable resume, it is no surprise that the legendary Sara Lopez has been shortlisted as a candidate for the World Games’ Athlete of the Year award for the fifth time since 2014.

And fans can help the Colombian superstar win it – by voting daily from 10 January 2022.

The award is given out every year by the organisation behind the World Games, the multisport event that takes place every four years and counts a compound target archery competition among its events, as well as field archery for recurve and barebow archers.

Lopez is the reigning compound women’s champion at the World Games – and will look to defend her title at the next edition, scheduled for July in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

This is the fifth time the compound archer has been in contention for the global award after nominations in 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019. Lopez also won the World Games’ athlete of the month title in April 2014 and again in May 2020, when she donated the 1000 CHF prize to charities combating the COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia.

Lopez’s nomination comes after a remarkable season that saw her break the record for the total number of days spent ranked number one in the world (which stands at 1257 days right now). She already held the record for the longest consecutive time spent in the top spot.

After a slow start to the year, the 26-year-old closed it by winning all three available gold medals at the 2021 Hyundai World Archery Championships, including her first-ever individual gold, before delivering that record sixth Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion crown.

“Looking back at this season, it was definitely one of the biggest years for me,” Lopez said last November. “With the pandemic and everything happening in the family, people dying who were close to us, it was really hard to focus on archery and my career, but I’m just really happy that I finished the year strong and trusted myself again.”

How to vote

Visit the portal on the World Games website.
Click on the ‘vote’ button under Sara’s name. She will receive two votes.
Click on the ‘vote’ button under your second favourite candidate. They will receive one vote. You must select a second athlete for Sara’s votes to count.
Repeat every 24 hours!

The initial field of 24 candidates will be cut to the top 10 on Sunday 23 January 2022. Should Sara remain in the competition, voting continues until Monday 31 January 2022