A federation of Russian sports journalists have awarded swimmer Vlad Morozov the “Silver Deer” award for 2014 as the country’s top athlete, across all sports.
Every year, the organization nominates 10 athletes, and Russian journalists are invited to vote on the best, and this year they chose the 8-time 2014 National Champion Morozov as their headliner.
In addition to his national conquests, Morozov also won four medals at the 2014 World Short Course Championships, including a silver in the 100 IM; and was the 2014 European Champion in the 50 long course meters backstroke.
Morozov punctuated his season over the weekend by being crowned the male champion of the Vladimir Salnikov Cup in St. Petersburg and breaking the National Record in the 100 IM.
The other finalists for the award:
- Adelina Sotnikova – figure skating
- Viktor Antonov – short track speed skating
- Ilya Zakharov/Evgeny Kuznetsov – diving
- Alexander Zukov/Alex Voivod – bobsled
- Yana Kudryavtseva – gymnastics
- Alexander Legkov – skiing
- Alexander Lesun – modern pentathlon
- Roman Petushkov – Paralympic biathlon
- Alexander Tretyakov – skeleton
Other award winners besides Morozov:
- Best Team – Team Russia, figure skating
- Best Coach – Elena Buyanova-Vodorezova, figure skating