Croatian high jump queen Blanka Vlasic has been voted the best female athlete of 2010 by the members of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS).
The online poll attracted the votes of 515 sports journalists from 93 nations.
Winner of both the 2010 World Indoor and European championships Blanka Vlasic who succeeded in 18 out of her 20 competitions this year beat US 2010 Vancouver Olympic downhill gold medalist and World Cup star Lindsey Vonn by more than 200 votes. Belgium's Kim Clijsters received the third most number of votes.
Spanish tennis juggernaut Rafael Nadal has been voted the best male athlete of 2010. "King of Clay" Nadal who ended the 2010 season having won three Grand Slams and three Masters, regaining his No. 1 ranking, beat Barcelona forward and Argentinian national team player Lionel Messi to the title by 63 votes. Messi's FC Barcelona team mate and Spanish national team member Andrés Iniesta was voted the third most popular male sportsman.
Spain's victorious FIFA World Cup 2010 team took the honour for AIPS Best Team 2010, well ahead of the Canadian national hockey team with 1906 votes to 486. Brazil's victorious World Cup volleyball team were not far behind on 453 votes.
