BEIJING, Dec. 28 -- Following are the top 10 world athletes in 2018 as selected by Xinhua News Agency:

1. Luka Modric (Serbia)

Modric, 33, won the FIFA Best Player of the Year on September 24 and the Ballon d'Or award on December 3, marking the first time in a decade that the two awards were not shared by Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. He helped Real Madrid win an uNPRecedented third straight UEFA Champions Leauge and spearheaded Croatia to its first World Cup final as team captain. He was named Golden Ball at the Russia World Cup.

2. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

After returning from injuries, the 31-year-old Djokovic won two Grand Slams at the Australia Open and the US Open and his first Cincinnati Masters championship, completing a career golden masters by bagging all nine ATP 1000s Masters trophies. He finished the season as ATP world No. 1, becoming the first player to return to glory after finishing out of the top 10 in previous year.

3. Simone Biles (USA)

At the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha, the 21-year-old Biles bagged four gold medals at the team event, all-round, pommel horse and floor exercise, becoming the gymnast with the most world gold medals of any gender with 14. She also won a silver in uneven bars and a bronze in balance beam to become the first gymnast since 1987 to win a world medal in every event.

4. Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya)

The 34-year-old Kipchoge clocked two hours one minute 39 seconds to defend his title at the Berlin Marathon and broke the previous world record by one minute, 18 seconds, the greatest improvement since 1967. It is also the first time that a human was able to finish the race in two hours and two minutes. The Kenyan was named IAAF Male World Athlete of the Year.

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