Lewis Hamilton’s long-time friend Kelly Slater has recently hailed Lionel Messi after the Argentine star received the 2023 Laureus World Sports Award.
With this, the 2022 FIFA world cup winner increased his tally to two and matches with the seven-time world champion. Prior to this award, Messi also won the same accolade when he and Hamilton were announced as the joint winner of the award in 2020.
Congratulating the soccer star, Slater wrote on Instagram,
“Congratulations @leomessi, we’ll deserved Laureus sport award following your incredible achievements last year. A historic two Laureus Awards last night (joining me and my friend @lewishamilton each with 4).”
“And also winning team of the year, tying the incredible @serenawilliams with 5 Laureus Statuettes. A huge thanks to @laureussport for always supporting all sports and athletes and creating great events for the occasion,”
How did Messi match the likes of Hamilton, Slater, and Williams?
As the 35-year-old beat 2022 F1 world champion Max Verstappen to win the much-coveted award in 2023, he joined the elite list of Hamilton, Slater, and Williams in the process.
Admittedly, the British F1 driver won the trophy thrice. He won the 2008 Breakthrough of the Year, 2020 Sportsman of the Year, and 2021 Athlete Advocate of the Year. But, he also helped his team Mercedes AMG F1 pick the 2018 Team of the Year.
Congratulations, Lewis Hamilton and Lionel Messi on winning the Laureus World Sportsman of the year at the @LaureusSport awards 2020. #LaureusForSRT #Lewisham #lewishamilton #leomessi #messi #GOAT #LaureusSportingMoment #LaureusWorldSportsAwards #Laureus20 #LaureusAwards2020 pic.twitter.com/ltzpT3Tg3O
— SportsThat (@sportsthat) February 18, 2020
Slater, the star surfer, won Action Sportsperson of the Year in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2012, respectively. Whereas Tennis maestro Williams won the Sportswoman of the Year in 2003, 2010, 2016, and 2018 and Comeback of the Year in 2007.
Apart from Messi’s individual award in 2023, he also won it back in 2020. The Soccer star was also subjected to the award his team Argentina won in the Team of the Year category in 2023, as well as helped Barcelona be the recipient of the 2012 Team of the Year and 2007 Spirit of Sport award.
How did Hamilton win the Laureus Awards?
The first award the British driver won was in 2008. Prior to that year, Lewis Hamilton made his debut in F1 and took the world by storm. He not only startled the then-defending champion Fernando Alonso but also missed out on the championship by just a point.
The second award has come in 2020, after he won back-to-back three F1 world titles from 2017 to 2019, making it six in total. Moreover, he also helped his team claim an award after partnering with Valtteri Bottas to demolish the opponents.
The final award has come in 2021, after the 2020 F1 year. It was the year when Lewis Hamilton matched the incredible record of Michael Schumacher with seven F1 titles, but also made his name by raising his voice in issues like Black Lives Matter.
