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February 14, 2022 – 6:13 p.m Clock
by Metin Turan and Kim Circulation
An Olympic year is over and athletes have once again demonstrated their skills worldwide. Five top athletes and teams were nominated for the 2021 sports election in Lower Saxony. On Friday, the winners were then ceremoniously announced as part of a live stream with RTL Nord presenter Jasmin Wiegand.
Experienced judoka
Igor Wandtke was born in Lübeck and is currently part of the Hannover judo team.
Igor Wandtke has been one of the best in the world in his weight class of up to 73 kilograms for years. In 2021 he won the bronze medal in the team mixed competition at the Olympic Games. And achieved 3rd place at the World Judo Masters. Now comes the award for Sportsman of the Year. At 31, he is no longer one of the youngest in professional judo. The joy about the award is all the greater: “It’s simply confirmation that you’re on the right track and that the work is paying off.” said the judoka after the award ceremony.
The first woman with gold in eventing
Julia is a master of horse management in the riding training section. She is also a former active sports soldier in the Bundeswehr. Since November 2016 she has been the national trainer of eventing juniors at the German Equestrian Federation.
The choice of Sportswoman of the Year falls on a Lower Saxony gold medalist at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021. It is THE year for Julia Krajewski: She is the first woman to win the gold medal in eventing at the Olympic Games. With the team she takes 4th place in Tokyo. In addition, Julia Krajewski secured the German championship title in 2021. And now also the Lower Saxony award as sportswoman of the year. In a video message, she and her Olympic horse say thank you: “Mandy and I would like to thank you very much for actually choosing us, me, both of us, as athletes of the year from Lower Saxony. This is a really great confirmation for us after a such an emotional year in which we won the gold medal together in Tokyo. That we were able to convince both the spectators and a specialist jury. And we are very happy about that.”
A total of fifteen nominees were nominated for the 2021 Lower Saxony sports election. Including three teams.
Nominated for the first time, won straight away
The vaulting department of the Fredenbeck and Surroundings Riding Club has 9 trained vaulting horses.
Three years of intensive training led the team to the long-awaited success – and twice over: the vaulting group Fredenbeck was at the top twice in its sport at the world championships in 2021: gold in the compulsory and gold in the freestyle. Despite the great success at the World Championships with her team – trainer Gesa Bührig did not expect the award for team of the year until the very end: “We were surprised to win it today.(…) We are very happy. That’s it first time being nominated and being able to win it right away was great.”
9429 votes were cast in the public election. The result of the election consists of 50 percent of the results of the public election and a further 50 percent of the result of the jury selection.
