donk wins Rookie of the Year award

The Russian phenom was imperious in his first full year of elite-level competition.

donk won HLTV's Rookie of the Year award

Spirit superstar Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets took home the Rookie of the Year award on Saturday at the HLTV Awards in Belgrade. The Russian youngster beat out competition from G2's sensation Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa and teammate Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia to claim the honor.

donk had a breathtaking 2024, during which he averaged a 1.37 rating and won the MVP award at IEM Katowice, Betboom Dacha Belgrade, BLAST Premier Spring Final, Betboom Dacha S2, and Perfect World Shanghai Major.

His Spirit team claimed four titles during the year, the most important of which came in Shanghai, where donk put up a 1.49 rating overall as well as a 1.67 in the grand final against FaZe.

donk beat malbsMd to the award, with the Guatemalan coming second. malbsMd joined his first tier-one team in G2 in the summer break but did enough in the small sample size to prove he has what it takes to compete at the top.

He averaged a 1.12 rating across his G2 tenure in unfamiliar anchor roles on the CT side and helped the team win the BLAST Premier Fall and World Final, which meant he finished at No. 12 on the top 20 Players of the year list.

Coming in third was donk's teammate zont1x, who fulfilled Spirit's third-star role with aplomb and averaged a 1.08 rating across the year.

donk follows in the footsteps of Ilya "⁠m0NESY⁠" Osipov and Guy "⁠NertZ⁠" Iluz, who won the award in 2022 and 2023.

Rookie of the Year

Russia Danil "⁠donk⁠" Kryshkovets

Other nominees:

Guatemala Mario "⁠malbsMd⁠" Samayoa - Second place
Ukraine Myroslav "⁠zont1x⁠" Plakhotia - Third place

Guatemala Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Mario 'malbsMd' Samayoa
Age:
22
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.08
Maps played:
998
KPR:
0.76
DPR:
0.70
Ukraine Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia
Myroslav 'zont1x' Plakhotia
Age:
19
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.02
Maps played:
622
KPR:
0.68
DPR:
0.65
Israel Guy 'NertZ' Iluz
Guy 'NertZ' Iluz
Age:
25
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.10
Maps played:
675
KPR:
0.75
DPR:
0.67
Russia Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov
Ilya 'm0NESY' Osipov
Age:
19
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.19
Maps played:
640
KPR:
0.78
DPR:
0.60
Russia Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Danil 'donk' Kryshkovets
Age:
17
Team:
Rating 1.0:
1.22
Maps played:
514
KPR:
0.85
DPR:
0.67
#1
NAF | 
Korea thr33o
donked fr
2025-01-11 21:50
17
4 replies
Why is a guy with almost 1000 HLTV matches registered to his name contending for “rookie of the year”??
2025-01-12 06:00
0
3 replies
#40
Faceit level 9  | 
FalleN | 
Portugal tioNik
donk has 514 with 156 of them being in 2024. Obviously you don't just jump into the scene but quit lying. Out of the top 3 he's the one with the least amount of maps played.
2025-01-12 10:49
0
1 reply
Pretty sure he‘s talking about Malbs. Although it’s 1000 maps, not matches.
2025-01-12 15:47
0
Rookie year refers to their 1st appearance in T1 team. Same case was for Monesy or b1t.
2025-01-12 12:14
2
#2
Faceit level 9  | 
 | 
Sweden pvzCS
THATS CRAZY
2025-01-11 21:50
3
#3
Faceit level 10  | 
Israel avivpro13
expected
2025-01-11 21:50
8
#5
 | 
Russia DrunkBettor
future goat
2025-01-11 21:51
9
#6
Faceit level 10  | 
Czech Republic starycs
aura of cs atm
2025-01-11 21:51
7
OMG REALLY?
2025-01-11 21:51
0
#9
donk | 
Uzbekistan isgoat
goat
2025-01-11 21:51
2
#10
 | 
United States @@@@
unexpected
2025-01-11 21:51
0
dude its been 1 second how u this fast
2025-01-11 21:51
0
1 reply
#16
donk | 
Uzbekistan isgoat
articles are pre-read they only need photo
2025-01-11 21:54
4
#12
 | 
Romania ANa_GOAT
"I am third time here and for sure it's the last" CINEMA
2025-01-11 21:51
2
2 replies
it's not the last*
2025-01-12 13:33
0
1 reply
#45
 | 
Romania ANa_GOAT
yes, i am so sorry
2025-01-12 13:44
0
wtf is malbs doing there he plays professionally since 2020 at least lol
2025-01-11 21:52
9
2 replies
and first year in t1
2025-01-11 21:55
8
#27
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Australia hoangii
Nertz won roookie of the year on his 9th year playing
2025-01-11 23:45
2
#19
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Europe Spyro
gratz, well deserved :)
2025-01-11 22:08
1
#20
Faceit level 10  | 
senka | 
Poland szlajmer
This award is so pointless, malbs is 6 years older than donk, has played HLTV matches since 2016 (consistently in team since 2019). Is this a "rookie year"?
2025-01-11 22:24
7
1 reply
#28
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
Australia hoangii
Nertz won roty after his 9th year playing
2025-01-11 23:46
0
Grats
2025-01-11 22:25
0
They said you cant won it id you play at s tier tournement last year what is that now
2025-01-11 22:28
0
#24
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
LeX | 
Russia *Tpo-_-JI.b*
Deserved!
2025-01-11 23:01
3
goat
2025-01-11 23:03
3
#26
 | 
Russia 1hebest!
absolute deservedonk
2025-01-11 23:28
2
they should award something like: most improved player or comeback player of the year not this pointless ROY award
2025-01-11 23:59
0
#31
Faceit level 8  | 
DZ | 
Algeria SilverQuick
Historical.
2025-01-12 00:20
2
and savage1337 wins carry of the year award
2025-01-12 00:23
0
bro is so handsome hollywood goat!
2025-01-12 00:36
4
Deserved
2025-01-12 00:36
2
Expected
2025-01-12 03:49
1
#36
 | 
Korea syjeon
not even a competition was it
2025-01-12 04:46
1
#37
 | 
Taiwan Arkam47
F0rest robbed
2025-01-12 05:26
0
#38
 | 
Korea donkpeek
Congrats, GOAT
2025-01-12 05:49
1
#43
Faceit premium user Faceit level 10  | 
 | 
Sweden Stickybeez
W
2025-01-12 13:30
1
#47
ness | 
Canada ssau
Is malbs a rookie? I didn’t even know that
2025-01-13 01:56
0
#48
Old school: User been here for more than 10 years  | 
donk | 
Yugoslavia mrmojo
Damn donk, suits really fits him!
2025-01-13 12:48
0
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