Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, Cuban wrestler Luis Orta and Brazilian soccer club Fluminense maintain today the top spot in the 59th edition of the annual sports poll of Prensa Latina news agency.
Rojas received the votes of Bayano Digital (Panama), Esquina Neutral and Pasión Deportiva TV, both from Costa Rica, to reach 11, widely distanced from her followers, Dominican sprinter Marileidy Paulino (three) and Cuban canoeist Yarisleidy Cirilo, who added her first two stripes, thanks to Radio Varadero and Radio Miami Today.
Among the men, the Panamanian media and Esquina Neutral chose Orta, while Pasión Deportiva and the Varadero radio station chose Venezuelan baseball player Ronald Acuña.
Orta has eight nominations, followed by Acuña (four) and the Argentine soccer player Leo Messi, who has two votes, including the one received in the last hours by Radio Miami Today.
Among the teams, Fluminense, champion of the Copa Libertadores de América 2023, stands out, having received the approval of 11 media, well separated from the Mexican and Argentine soccer teams, which have three and two votes, respectively.
The first media to vote in this 59th edition was La Estrella de Panamá, which chose soccer player Adalberto Carrasquilla and hurdler Gianna Woodruff, both from Isthmus, as well as the Brazilian eleven Fluminense.
The traditional Prensa Latina Sports Poll, to choose the best athletes and teams of Latin America and the Caribbean in the 2023 season, will be open until December 21, and one day later the results will be announced from its headquarters.
The media, in all its variants -radio, television, written press, agencies, digital portals-, will be able to send their selections to deportes@prensa-latina.cu, from where the general voting will be compiled.
Among the men, the most titles is the mythical Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt (6), followed by the Cuban prince of heights Javier Sotomayor (5), while among the women, the legendary Colombian jumper Caterine Ibargüen (5) is the owner of the most titles.
In the previous edition, the 58th, the winners were Messi from Rosario (also won in 2011 and 2014) and the Venezuelan Rojas, winner before in 2017 and 2019; while as a group, the Argentinean soccer team recorded its sixth victory, after those harvested in 1986, 1990, 2001, 2008 and 2014.
