The candidates for The World Games Athlete/Team of the Year 2022 race have been announced. This year international federations could nominate both an individual athlete and a team for the race as these are divided into two separate polls. Kevin Haglund will represent floorball in the Athlete of the Year – category while Team Latvia has been nominated to Team of the Year – category. 

The criteria of selection of an athlete or a team for this year’s poll were 1) the athlete/team participated in The World Games 2022 2) good performances in 2022 and/or human touch. Kevin Haglund from Team Sweden did not only play at his first TWG event last summer but also performed sensationally. Team Latvia on the other hand got themselves into Top 4 and had good results against the top teams, draw against Sweden and win against Switzerland.

TWG Athlete of the Year candidate – Kevin Haglund

Kevin Haglund played his first TWG tournament in Birmingham and was one of the stars of Team Sweden. Haglund worked hard on the court playing with fearless attitude and constant hunger for goals. Sweden won their second TWG title in floorball when they beat Finland 6-5 in the final. Haglund was the top scorer of the team with six goals in five games.

TWG Team of the Year candidate – Team Latvia

Latvia played an outstanding event at The World Games 2022 finishing fourth. It was their first time in the medal games and they got good results against all top teams (6-6 draw against the reigning World Champions Sweden and 6-5 win against Switzerland). The whole team showcased great floorball in Birmingham. Rolands Kovalevskis was the top scorer of the team with 10 points (8+2) finishing 7th on the overall list and the goalkeeper Janis Salcevics was awarded the Athlete of the Day on 12th July and was also included in the tournament All-Star Team.

Competition rules

• Voting begins at 12:00 GMT on 10th January, 2023.
• From 22nd January, 2023 at 12:00 GMT, only the 10 highest ranked candidates at that time will continue in the race. All candidates will re-start the final round with 0 votes.
• Voting ends on 31st January, 2023 at 12:00 GMT. The winners will be announced on the same day. The three best athletes and the best team will be awarded with a trophy.
• You can give your votes to the candidates on The World Games website once per 24 hours. Votes must be given each time to two candidates: 2 votes to your first-choice candidate and 1 vote to your second-choice candidate. If you try to give votes to one candidate only, the votes will not be registered.
• The numbers of votes cast for each candidate will be visible throughout the campaign.

All voters shall act in accordance with fair play in sport. The IWGA will scrutinise the voting process closely, and any anomalies that appear will be investigated. Any conduct that is against the sporting spirit may result in consequences.