Sports Illustrated 50 Fittest Athletes 2017: Gronk, Chris Hogan Crack Men’s List

by Ricky Doyle

In what one might consider a fruitless endeavor, Sports Illustrated sought to determine the 50 “fittest” athletes — men and women — across all sports right now.

It’s become an annual exercise for SI, which released its 2017 version of the lists this week after gathering insight from a panel of trainers, strength and conditioning coaches and performance experts.

According to SI, athletes were considered based on performances in the last 12 months, demands and risks of their respective sports, training regimens, longevity and physical benchmarks, including speed, strength, endurance, agility, flexibility and power.

Here’s who cracked the top 10 on the men’s and women’s lists:

Men
1. Cristiano Ronaldo, soccer
2. LeBron James, basketball
3. Roger Federer, tennis
4. Mat Fraser, weightlifting
5. James Harrison, football
6. Odell Beckham Jr., football
7. Russell Westbrook, basketball
8. Wayde Van Niekerk, track and field
9. Conor McGregor, mixed martial arts/boxing
10. Jordan Burroughs, wrestling

Women
1. Simone Biles, gymnastics
2. Allyson Felix, track and field
3. Katie Ledecky, swimming
4. Maggie Steffens, water polo
5. Tia-Clair Toomey, weightlifting/CrossFit
6. Claressa Shields, boxing
7. Nafissatou Thiam, decathlon
8. Helen Glover, rowing
9. Serena Williams, tennis
10. Lindsey Vonn, skier

Fans of the New England Patriots should know that two members of the defending Super Bowl champions made the illustrious men’s list: Rob Gronkowski at No. 41 and Chris Hogan at No. 36.