Ljutić and Hribar win the Sportske Novosti Athletes of the Year awards

The 74th edition of the Sportske Novosti year-end awards recognizing the best in Croatian sports were presented live on Croatian Television on Friday. The categories are voted on by 231 journalists from 50 sports media outlets throughout the country. Sportske novosti is the oldest daily sports newspaper in Croatia.

In a highly competitive field the title of 2025 Female Athlete of the Year went to skier Zrinka Ljutić. The 20 year-old Zagreb native won the Small Crystal Globe in the slalom last year. Unable to attend the presentation in person as she is in Semmering Austria preparing for her next race, Ljutić appeared on screen via video call and recalled her break-out year: "When I look back to the beginning of 2025, I remember a lot of challenges, but also a lot of good results. My first win, my first podium in the giant slalom, and then a series of wins."

Swimmer Jere Hribar won the Male Athlete of the Year award on the strength of his dominant performance at the 2025 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Lublin Poland, where he won three medals; the gold in the 50-meter freestyle, the silver in the 100-meter freestyle, and the bronze in the 4 x 50-meter freestyle relay. He too appeared via video, as he is currently at in Louisiana where he is attending LSU on a swimming scholarship: "It seems surreal to me to follow the likes of Luka Modrić, Goran Ivanišević, Blanka Vlašić and Ivica Kostelić. I get goosebumps just saying their names."

In team sports, the women's award went to the bowling team who won their second consecutive World Championship gold medal at the 2025 competition in Hungary, while the men's award went to the handball team who won the silver medal at the 2025 World Championships, which was co-hosted by Croatia, Denmark and Norway. They finished only slightly ahead of the Croatian trap shooting team, who won the team gold medal at the World Championships. Receiving the award on behalf of the men's handball team was team captain Ivan Martinović: "On behalf of the entire team I would like to thank everyone who voted for us. This is great honor for us, and I am confident that this will serve as an additional motivation to once again achieve a good result at the championships."

Source: HRT