2022 Joe Brackets Female Athlete of the Year

The other day, I awarded the very prestigious Joe Brackets Male Athlete of the Year award to Aaron Judge.  Now it's time for the Female Athlete of the Year.  My timing actually coincides with the AP, who gave their award to Katie Ledecky in a very close vote.  However, just like with Sports Illustrated's choice for Sportsperson of the Year, I have to disagree.

Ledecky had another outstanding year.  I'm not denying that.  She won four gold medals at the World Championships, dominating the 800 and 1500 freestyles (as usual), then setting short-course world records in those two events later in the summer.  She's deserving.  I'm not saying she isn't.  I just think there's someone else who's more deserving.

WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson was also outstanding in 2022.  She wasn't just MVP, she was also Defensive Player of the Year, and she led the league with 17 double-doubles.  Most importantly, Wilson was WNBA Finals MVP, as the Las Vegas Aces won their first WNBA championship.  She then went to Australia with Team USA picked up another MVP honor at the World Cup, averaging 17.2 points per game for the gold medal-winning Americans.

Iga Swiatek inherited the No. 1 ranking after Ashleigh Barty abruptly announced her retirement after the Australian Open.  She more than proved that she deserved it.  As soon as she became No. 1, Swiatek went on a 37-match winning streak that included her second French Open title.  She also won the US Open for a 21-2 record in Grand Slam play.  Overall, Swiatek was 67-9 in 2022.  Not a bad year!

And how about what Eileen Gu did at the Olympics?  She competed three different freestyle skiing events--and won a medal in all three!  Gu, who represents China and was one of the host country's faces of the Games, more than delivered!  She took gold in the debut of big air, then added another in the halfpipe to go along with a silver in slopestyle to become the first freestyle skier ever to win three medals at the same Winter Olympics.

Gu came very close to getting the nod, but ultimately, she was my runner-up.  Because her two weeks in Beijing, while extraordinary, pale in comparison to the year-long body of work for our winner, who very well may be on her way to becoming one of the all-time greats in her sport.  Sydney McLaughlin.

In 2021, McLaughlin won two gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics and set a world record in the 400 hurdles.  If possible, she was even better in 2022.  McLaughlin was on another level.  She dominated the event, was named World Athlete of the Year, and made it clear she's got much larger goals.

Entering this year, the world record in the women's 400 hurdles was McLaughlin's 51.46 seconds in Tokyo.  At the U.S. Nationals, she ran 51.41!  Then, a month later, on the same Hayward Field track, McLaughlin took nearly a second off that mark...50.68!  That time would've been sixth in the open 400 meters (without hurdles)!

McLauglin's rival Femke Bol was also incredible in 2022.  At the European Championships, she won a historic three gold medals, sweeping the 400 hurdles AND 400, while also taking gold with the Dutch 4x400 relay.  Bol was arguably the second-best women's track performer in the world this year.  Yet, she was only the second-best in her primary event!  She's like all those guys who had the misfortune of doing the same events as Michael Phelps when he was in his prime.  Because, as good as Bol is, she's still a distant second behind Sydney McLaughlin.

How good is McLaughlin?  I'll put it this way.  There are seven sub-52 women's 400 hurdles times in history.  McLaughlin has run six of them (and that 51.90 she ran at the 2021 Olympic Trials, which was the world record at the time, is No. 7 on that list).  And four of those came in 2022!

I wasn't there for her world record.  I'd already left Eugene by that point.  But I can only imagine how crazy that hometown crowd got cheering her on down the home stretch as she obliterated the record she'd set just a month earlier.  This is an athlete who wasn't just living up to the hype that has followed her since she made the Rio Olympic team at 16.  She was exceeding it!  And leaving everyone to wonder what else she'll be able to do.

It isn't just the 400 hurdles, either.  McLaughlin has become a regular member of the American 4x400 relay squad.  At the World Championships, she ran the anchor leg--and split 47.91!--as the U.S. won the gold medal in a world-leading time.  McLaughlin has hinted that she'd eventually like to drop the hurdles and focus on the straight 400.  One can only imagine what her times will look like when/if she switches to the 400 full-time!

That's the craziest thing about Sydney McLaughlin's 2022 season (she also got married this year, BTW...her last name is actually McLaughlin-Levrone).  She might've just been scratching the surface of her potential!  She's only 23 years old and she's already the only woman ever to run the 400 hurdles in under 51 seconds.  There's little doubt she'll run the first sub-50, but how low can she take the record?  And will she try a 400/400 hurdles double?

Every time Sydney McLaughlin races, it's become a must-watch event.  And she performs her best on the biggest stage.  Or at least it seems that way.  There was no bigger stage for her in 2022 than a home World Championships.  Where she delivered two gold medals and world record.  Which is why she's my 2022 Joe Brackets Female Athlete of the Year.