10. Matvey Safonov (football)
2020 was the best year in the career of Krasnodar goalkeeper Matvey Safonov.
Already one of the most visible players in the RPL, he also made a name for himself in Europe when he helped his club advance to the Champions League for the first time.
In the qualifying matches with PAOK, the 21-year-old goalkeeper was remembered for the reflected penalty, without which the fate of the team could have been completely different.
At the group stage, Safonov became a co-author of the only victory of Russian clubs when he made a “dry” in the match against Rennes.
At the same time, Safonov successfully played in the youth team of Russia and helped her to break into the final stage of the European Championship for the first time in eight years.
The goalkeeper did not finish the qualifying tournament for a good reason - he was needed by the adult team and received a call from Stanislav Cherchesov.
At the end of the year, Safonov became the most expensive young Russian player, estimated by Transfermarkt at € 15 million. At the same time, he ranked second among goalkeepers under 21 in the world, behind only Gianluigi Donnarumma.
9.Andrey Vasilevsky (hockey)
2020 was a successful year for another Russian goalkeeper, only a hockey one.
Andrey Vasilevsky won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning and became one of the heroes of the last season in the NHL.
On the way to the coveted trophy, the 26-year-old Russian won 18 victories with the team.
This is now a new record that will not be broken without changing the existing rules - only this year the NHL playoffs included preliminary matches, thanks to which goalkeepers had a chance to win more than 16 meetings.
The most outstanding game of Vasilevsky can be called the first match in the series with the Columbus Blue Jackets, which lasted until the fifth overtime.
The Tampa goalkeeper made 61 saves and set a club record.
And in the sixth match of the final series with the Dallas Stars, Vasilevsky played for the first time in his career in a playoff meeting, and it was this victory that eventually brought him the Stanley Cup.
8. Pavel Kulizhnikov (speed skating)
For skater Pavel Kulizhnikov, the second half of the 2019/20 season turned out to be very eventful.
In January, he triumphantly performed at the European Championships and won three golds at once - in the 500 and 1000 meters, as well as in the team sprint.
The next significant event in the career of the 26-year-old athlete was the victory at the World Cup in Calgary.
She allowed not only to tune in to the upcoming world championship at separate distances, but also raised Kulizhnikov to the sixth place in victories in individual races in the entire history of the World Cup.
The world championship was also great for the Russian skater.
He made the winning double at distances of 500 and 1000 meters.
At the same time, in his 1000-meter race, Kulizhnikov set a world record, becoming the owner of two highest achievements in speed skating at once.
But shortly before that, the athlete fell during a team sprint and was injured, but did not give up the opportunity to become an eight-time world champion.
Pavel Kulizhnikov
Reuters
© NTB Scanpix / Geir Olsen
7. Khabib Nurmagomedov (mixed martial arts)
The main battle of Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2020 was supposed to be the long-awaited duel with Tony Ferguson.
However, due to restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic, he was never able to leave the country and meet with the American.
Their UFC fight has been canceled for the fifth time.
But as subsequent events showed, this battle would still not have much value.
Soon Ferguson could not resist the meeting with Justin Gaethje, and the right to fight Nurmagomedov passed to the new fighter.
The fight for the world lightweight title took place on October 24 in Abu Dhabi and brought the Russian athlete the 29th career victory.
Starting from the fight with Al Yakvinta, Nurmagomedov spent less and less time in the ring each time, and the fight with Gatji ended in the second round.
Eagle threw his opponent to the floor and performed a triangle choke, which he had won his first fight in MMA with 12 years earlier.
Nurmagomedov dedicated the victory to his father and coach Abdulmanap, who died from coronavirus in the summer, and announced his retirement.
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Reuters
© Per Haljestam-USA TODAY Sports
6. Roman Repilov (luge)
Another Russian representative of winter sports, luge Roman Repilov, has become a two-time world champion in one year.
His triumph took place at the World Championship in Sochi.
First, a native of Dmitrov, near Moscow, won gold in the men's single sleigh, beating the silver medalist of the Austrian Jonas Müller by only 0.032 seconds.
Repilov won the second victory in the sprint, and there the gap from the second place was even less - only six thousandths of a second.
If Repilov's victories on the home track did not convince him that he was the best luge in 2020, then it is worth remembering his results in the World Cup.
The 24-year-old athlete won the Crystal Globe for the second time in his career, and at the same time won the overall standings in sprint races.
In addition, Repilov helped the Russian national team to share with Italy the victory in the World Cup relay, which the domestic lugers had never won.
Pavel Kulizhnikov
RIA News
© Vladimir Astapkovich
5. Peter Yan (mixed martial arts)
In 2020, Russia has a new UFC champion.
On July 12, Peter Yan won the vacant bantamweight belt, finishing ahead of schedule a fight with Brazilian Jose Aldo.
It took the 27-year-old athlete a little over two years to go from debuting in a major promotion to a title fight.
The fight in Abu Dhabi lasted until the fifth round, and one and a half minutes before the end, Ian managed to finish off his opponent and win by technical knockout.
To do this, the Russian needed to inflict 194 blows - for his weight category this became a new record in the UFC.
At the end of the year, Peter closed the top ten fighters of the promotion, regardless of the weight category.
Peter Jan
Gettyimages.ru
© Jeff Bottari
4. Nikita Kucherov (hockey)
While Andrei Vasilevsky defended the Tampa goal in the Stanley Cup, Nikita Kucherov was responsible for the goals in the team and did an excellent job with his duties.
It was he who became the top scorer in the playoffs, gaining 34 points in 25 matches.
In seven cases, he threw the washers himself, and distributed them to partners 27 times, thanks to this, he also became the best assistant.
Kucherov's passes twice played a decisive role in the outcome of the series.
His passes brought the team victories both in the conference quarterfinals and in the final of the entire Stanley Cup.
During the playoffs, the 27-year-old hockey player managed to score both three points per game and four, and in the first meeting with the New York Islanders, he participated in five goals - before none of the Tampa players achieved this in games on dropout.
3. Alexander Bolshunov (cross-country skiing)
Already on the fifth day of 2020, skier Alexander Bolshunov won one of the most significant Russian victories in the outgoing year.
He won the overall standings of the Tour de Ski multi-day race, repeating the achievements of Alexander Legkov and Sergei Ustyugov.
The 23-year-old athlete was in the top three at every stage, except for one, and rightfully took the final first place.
The victory in the Tour de Ski brought Bolshunov the yellow jersey of the World Cup leader and allowed him to swing at the Big Crystal Globe.
Until the end of the season, he won six more races and achieved his goal.
Bolshunov retained his victorious mood for the next season.
He again headed the general classification of the World Cup and put five more medals in his personal piggy bank.
He even managed to repeat the record of Bjorn Daly and Martin Junsrud Sundby for victories in distance races during the calendar year - they won gold eight times.
Alexander Bolshunov
globallookpress.com
© Sebastian Kahnert / dpa
2.Andrey Rublev (tennis)
For tennis player Andrei Rublev, 2020 started off great right away.
Back in January, he won tournaments in Doha and Adelaide, and at the Australian Open brought the winning streak to 11 matches in a row, but lost to Alexander Zverev.
The coronavirus pandemic did not affect the athlete's form at all.
In the fall, Rublev twice reached the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam tournaments, and between the US Open and Roland Garros managed to win the title at the ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg.
Immediately after the French Open, he won two more tournaments of the same category in St. Petersburg and Vienna.
The 23-year-old Russian won the most tournaments in a year in 2020, with five beating Novak Djokovic to make his way to his first ATP Final.
On it, Rublev lost the first two fights, but thanks to a victory over Dominik Tim, he managed to catch up with the first racket of the world in won matches in a year.
The Russian beat rivals 41 times, and lost only ten times.
Rublev finished 2020 on the eighth line of the ATP rankings, receiving the award as the player who made the most progress.
1. Daniil Medvedev (tennis)
Tennis player Daniil Medvedev waited a long time for his first successes in 2020.
Before the pandemic, he managed to reach only the fourth round of the Australian Open, and after the season resumed, his best result was reaching the US Open semifinals.
At other less prestigious tournaments, he also could not at least reach the finals.
And only at the end of the year, the 24-year-old athlete opened up and began to show a phenomenal level of tennis.
First, Medvedev celebrated his first victory at the Masters in Paris, beating two rivals from the top ten world rankings on the way to the title.
And a week later, the Russian went to the ATP Final Tournament, where all the opponents were from the same category.
But this was not a problem for Medvedev.
He has not lost a single set in the group stage, although he had to meet with the first racket of the world Novak Djokovic, and then won two strong-willed victories over Rafael Nadal (whom he had never beat before) and Dominic Thiem.
Daniil became the second Russian player to win the final tournament of the season and finished the year in fourth place in the ATP rankings.