Top 10 Athletes Of 2023

What is sports without athletes? 2023 was full of performances that wowed, defied, and defined their individual sports. As the year winds down, HotNewHipHop is here to reflect on some of the athletes that we feel defined the last year of sport.

The big question in the summer of 2022 was where Norwegian soccer superstar Erling Haaland was going to go after leaving Borussia Dortmund. The answer ended up being Manchester City, where Haaland proceeded to redefine individual success in England (and European football). Manchester City achieved a historic treble behind Haaland's record-breaking 52 goals in all competitions. Jump ahead to the start of the 2023-24 season and Haaland already has another 17 goals. There are few soccer players on the planet as in form as Erling Haaland.

While the 2022-23 season wasn't LeBron's best, it was certainly historic. In February, the veteran NBA star became the league's all-time scorer, surpassing the mark set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1989. In November, LeBron became the first player in league history to surpass 39,000 career points. Furthermore, the 2023-24 season saw LeBron join the elite group of just five other players who played at least 21 seasons in the league. Additionally, age doesn't appear to have dulled LeBron's instincts as he continues to play at an elite level on a potential contender team.

Sha'Carri Richardson roared back onto the track in 2023. That began with running the fourth-fastest women's 100m in history in April. The following month, she set a new meet record in Doha as she claimed her first Diamond League title. Arguably her peak came in August as she captured gold in the 100m at the World Championships in Budapest. While she missed out on a medal at the Diamond League Final, Richardson undoubtedly set herself up to be a gold medal favorite at the Olympics next year.

Max Verstappen has once again been in a league of his own when it comes to Formula 1. With a record 19 race wins, and a record-breaking 10 in a row, Verstappen cruised to a second consecutive title. To put an even finer point on things, Verstappen is over 270 points clear of the second-place driver, Sergio Pérez. Verstappen has redefined the meaning of success in motorsport and is set for a long period of dominance in the years to come.

The world of boxing saw a lot of great fights and fighters this year. However, few achieved the visibility of Jake Paul. Paul continued his trend of cherry-picking big-name fights with marquee opponents. However, he opened the year with a fight against actual boxer Tommy Fury. That ended up being the first loss of Paul's career, while also highlighting that Paul could hold his own against real boxers. That said, he immediately turned around and challenged former UFC fighter Nate Diaz. While the fight wasn't as much of a tomato can as people thought it would be, it still didn't push Paul. He will close out his biggest year yet with a fight against established boxer Andre August in December.

After two years away from gymnastics, Simone Biles made an explosive return to the sport in 2023. It all started with a stunning return at the US Championships. That earned Biles a place at the World Championships in Belgium. Biles came away with four golds and a silver, as well as a qualification berth at the Olympics next year. Biles made an inspiring return to the sport that she loves, and showed that she hadn't lost a single shred of the talent that helped her define it. All this sets up is another chance for Biles to redefine the sport in Paris next summer.

Even those who don't follow baseball know who Shohei Ohtani is. The Japanese two-way star is so prolific that several outlets set up running trackers of all the historic things that Ohtani did during the season. Sadly, the Angels were once again terrible, meaning that Ohtani's unanimous MVP season was ultimately wasted. However, he is now set to become a free agent with a value in excess of $500 million. No one is playing baseball like Shohei.

Caitlin Clark may have been the National Player of the Year, but Angel Reese was undoubtedly the star of college basketball this year. From her record-breaking double-double streak to hitting the "You Can't See Me" in the National Championship Game, Reese stole the spotlight. However, things didn't end with LSU's title. Reese immediately began a beef with the First Lady. Before she mysteriously took an absence from the team, Reese opened the 2023-24 season with double-doubles in her first three games and was well on her way to a fourth before she got benched against Kent State.

Heading up the Super Bowl-winning Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes more than earned his MVP award for the 2022 season. Last season, Mahomes threw for over 5200 yards and 41 touchdowns. That culminated with Mahomes leading a second-half comeback against the Eagles in the Super Bowl. Jumping ahead to the start of the 2023 season, Mahomes is already having another great season as the Chiefs look well on their way to another Super Bowl.

Nikola Jokic is perhaps one of the most fascinating athletes of the modern NBA. And a big part of what makes him so fascinating is how much Jokic appears to hate being one of the faces of the NBA. He is a man who plays some of the best basketball in the world but has no interest in participating in the media circus, or really any basketball that he's not legally contracted to play. Jokic is a man who would rather race horses in his home country of Serbia than play in the offseason. But despite this, he powered the Denver Nuggets to their first-ever NBA title and was arguably snubbed for his third consecutive MVP award. There really isn't a player quite like Nikola Jokic.

Do you agree with our list? Did we miss your favorite athlete? Let us know in the comments. 2024 promises to be another exceptional year. Will someone knock Mahomes and Jokic from their thrones? Who will shine at the Olympics in Paris next July? It's going to take a lot to top the excitement of 2023, but 2024 might just be the year to do it.