Sh1ro Ranked 6th on HLTV's List of the Best Players of 2024

On Jan 8, 2025, HLTV announced the 6th place in their ranking of the top 20 players of 2024 in Counter-Strike 2. This spot was taken by Team Spirit player Dmitry "sh1ro" Sokolov. Notably, this is the fourth consecutive year that the player has made it to this list, which can be considered a remarkable achievement.

This year, the Team Spirit star had one of his best seasons, showcasing outstanding performances at most S-tier tournaments. His overall rating was 1.19, KPR – 0.77, KAST – 76.6%, and Impact Rating – 1.11. These statistics are among the highest across all players, so it's no surprise that he secured such a high position in the list.

Career Highlights and Achievements

Despite his young age, sh1ro has been part of the professional Counter-Strike scene for quite a while. In 2019, he began playing for Gambit Youngsters, where he participated in numerous B and C-tier tournaments and secured many victories. In 2020, the promising player was moved to the main Gambit Esports roster, and it proved to be a successful decision. Sh1ro excellently filled the AWP role in the team, and by 2021, he won the Intel Extreme Masters XV - World Championship, Intel Extreme Masters XVI - Summer, BLAST Premier: Spring Finals 2021, and several other top-tier tournaments.

In 2021, he also made his first appearance in the HLTV top-20 rankings, finishing 4th. That year, it became clear that a new superstar had emerged in the professional scene. In 2022, sh1ro was signed by Cloud9 for his exceptional performances, though he didn't reach the same heights with them as he did with Gambit, but still improved his gameplay.

In 2024, the player joined Team Spirit. On the very first major tournament of the year, the team won Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2024, where sh1ro was named EVP, and the world quickly realized that doubting his choice was unwise. Later, the team won BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2024, as well as one of the year's major tournaments, Perfect World Shanghai Major 2024, where the player also received the EVP title.

2024 Recap and Bold Prediction

The year 2024 was an outstanding one for sh1ro. Alongside his team, they secured victories in several top-tier tournaments, and the player received numerous individual accolades. Importantly, sh1ro maintained excellent form regardless of the competition level, recording a 1.15 rating at big events, 1.14 at Elite+ tournaments, 1.13 at Super-Elite+, and 1.14 at Majors. Thus, there is no question why the player achieved such a high ranking in this year’s list.

Bold Prediction: Maxim "kyousuke" Lukin, a player from Team Spirit Academy, stands out as one of the key stars of his team and delivered exceptional performances in 2024.