Peter Sagan named Athlete of the Year

The Slovak Athlete of the Year title for 2015 was awarded to the world champion in road cycling Peter Sagan during a ceremony held on Tuesday evening in the hall of Slovak National Theatre. Sagan won the traditional poll of sports journalists from the Slovak Syndicate of Journalists, as in 2015 he was Slovak champion in both the time trial and the mass start race, won the points classification in the Tour de France for the fourth time in a row, and in September he won the UCI World Championships. The second place in the poll was given to the race walker Matej Tóth, who in 2015 became world champion at the 50 km race. Third place went to ice-hockey player Marián Hossa, who with his NHL Chicago Blackhawks team won the Stanley Cup for the third time. In the category of sporting teams, journalists awarded for the fourth time the Slovakia football representation, which for the first time in history qualified for the final tournament of the European Championships. Footballers finished ahead of the K4 team in the canoe sprint, which won the 2015 world title at the 1000 m distance race. The sporting legend award went to the former figure skater Karol Divín, 1960 Olympic silver medallist, two-time European champion (1958-59), and a two-time World medalist (silver in 1962, bronze in 1964). The novelty of the awards was a title to the best Paralympian, which went to the World Champion in track cycling Jozef Metelka.