Jon Anderson reveals his top 100 athletes across the world in 2022

Jon Anderson’s annual list of the world’s best athletes is in and England Test captain Ben Stokes is the top-ranked cricketer. See why and vote on the full list.

What a year in world sport.

A Commonwealth Games, Winter Olympics, two cricket World Cups, the FIBA Womens World Cup, a women’s rugby World Cup and the cherry on top in the FIFA World Cup.

After all that sport, it came down to one of the most epic football games in history, and a thrilling penalty shootout to decide my number one athlete in world sport.

In the end it was the jester in Kylian Mbappe who failed to steal Lionel Messi’s thorny crown on arguably world sport’s biggest stage.

CHECK OUT ANDO’S TOP 100 BELOW, AND HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE LIST

While 23-year-old star of the future, Mbappe, took the Golden Boot for most goals scored at the Qatar World Cup, Messi at 35 was voted Player of the World Cup before announcing his retirement from International football.

For me that makes Messi numero uno from a typically rich field that included American swimming powerhouse Katie Ledecky, who is unsurpassed in distance events, the all conquering F1 driver Max Verstappen and a 400m hurdler named Sydney McLaughlin who took the world record to ridiculous lengths.