The last months in sports have offered spectacular performances in massive events such as the Qatar 2022 World Cup in soccer or the Super Bowl in the NFL. Tennis, F1, skiiing, NBA basketball and many other disciplines also delivered unforgettable moments for thousands of fans around the world.
As a consequence, TIME's list of the 100 Most Influential People of 2023 had to include a lot of those names. For example, Lionel Messi had a duel for the ages at Qatar with Kylian Mbappe and Patrick Mahomes confirmed the Kansas City Chiefs are a new dynasty in the NFL.
However, that's not the end of the list for sports personalities. Read here to check out how many athletes made the list and why they were chosen by TIME magazine. Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Patrick Mahomes after the Super Bowl are in, but, there are a lot of surprises.
Time's 100 most influential people of 2023: Sports stars who made the list
Six sports stars are on Time's 100 most influential people of 2023. Lionel Messi (soccer), Kylian Mbappe (soccer), Patrick Mahomes (football), Iga Swiatek (tennis), Mikaela Shiffrin (skiing) and Brittney Griner (basketball).
Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe made the list thanks to their extraordinary performances at the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Messi took home the trophy for Argentina and Mbappe was the top scorer of the tournament leading France all the way to the final.
Iga Swiatek dominated women's tennis as the No.1 ranked player in the world. She won the French Open and the US Open in a year to remember. Same story with Mikaela Shiffrin who has become a legend of skiiing.
Meanwhile, Patrick Mahomes won his second Super Bowl in four years and have made of the Kansas City Chiefs a new dynasty. He was the NFL MVP as the best player during the 2022 season.
The case of Brittney Griner is very special, because her achievements came off the court. The WNBA's star spent almost ten months in prison after a very controversial detention in Russia and was liberated on December 8, 2022. Her story was inspiring as symbol of resistance.
