© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
ESPN has put Lewis Hamilton in the no. 1 spot on their United Kingdom’s 25 greatest athletes of the 21st century list.
ESPN UK’s editorial, video and social teams have all weighed in on who they think should be considered for their United Kingdom’s 25 greatest athletes of the 21st century list, and where they should stand in the list, using a voting system to choose between names and create a seeding system.
As they explained themselves, “methodologically, the primary guide given to evaluate athletes was the quality and quantity of success, with a particular focus on longevity and tangible markers of prowess (i.e., medals and silverware)”, while “off-field impact and legacy has been employed as a tiebreaker”.
Not very surprisingly, Lewis Hamilton has ultimately topped this prestigious list. In summary, ESPN’s Laurence Edmondson wrote of Hamilton:
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“The emotional scenes at Silverstone point to an almost underrated sense of longevity when it comes to Hamilton’s career that sees him sit atop this list.
“The British public has watched him mature from a playboy racer with celebrity girlfriends into arguably the most conscientious sportsman of his generation, all the while dominating his field for over a decade.
“While it is easy to level accusations of F1’s unfair playing field as an caveat to Hamilton’s success, there is a reason he has found himself in those more fortunate seats — he is the closest the sport has come to a sure thing since the days of Michael Schumacher, the man with whom he shares the record for most world championships.
“There truly is little left for the Stevenage-born icon to prove,” Edmondson concluded.
