The Russian star put on a dominant performance in the grand final to clinch his second accolade in the last three months.

Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov has been named HLTV.org's Most Valuable Player of IEM Summer following the conclusion of the $250,000 tournament's grand final, which saw Gambit secure a flawless victory against OG in a best-of-five affair.

The 19-year-old rifler spearheaded the Russian team's run to the title with a terrifying performance and an exceptionally consistent level, topping the charts almost every step of the way as he recorded 1.40+ ratings on nine out of the twelve maps Gambit won over the course of the tournament.

Ax1Le ties s1mple for the most MVPs so far in 2021

Ax1Le beat his grand final opponent Mateusz "⁠mantuu⁠" Wilczewski as well as teammate Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov to the individual award on the back of a brilliant display in the title decider itself, in which he was the highest-rated player and best damage-dealer on each of the three maps.

The Russian youngster now has two MVP awards to his name — one more than sh1ro — after having earned his first in Gambit's runners-up campaign at ESL Pro League Season 13 in early March. The only other player to have claimed two MVP awards this year so far is Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev, as you can see in the list below.

2021 MVPs by HLTV.org:

BLAST Premier Global Final- Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev
cs_summit 7- Dzhami "⁠Jame⁠" Ali
IEM Katowice- Dmitry "⁠sh1ro⁠" Sokolov
ESL Pro League 13- Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov
FunSpark ULTI Europe Final- Justin "⁠FaNg⁠" Coakley
DreamHack Masters Spring- Oleksandr "⁠s1mple⁠" Kostyliev
Flashpoint 3- David "⁠frozen⁠" Čerňanský
EPIC League CIS- Abay "⁠HObbit⁠" Khassenov
IEM Summer- Sergey "⁠Ax1Le⁠" Rykhtorov

Abay 'HObbit' Khassenov Age: 27 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 989 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.66 Dzhami 'Jame' Ali Age: 22 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.14 Maps played: 1029 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.55 OG #16 Valdemar 'valde' Bjørn VangsåAleksi 'Aleksib' VirolainenNikolaj 'niko' KristensenMateusz 'mantuu' WilczewskiShahar 'flameZ' Shushan Mateusz 'mantuu' Wilczewski Age: 23 Team: OG Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 600 KPR: 0.75 DPR: 0.63 Gambit #1 Sergey 'Ax1Le' RykhtorovAbay 'HObbit' KhassenovTimofey 'interz' YakushinDmitry 'sh1ro' SokolovVladislav 'nafany' Gorshkov David 'frozen' Čerňanský Age: 18 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.13 Maps played: 1039 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.65 Dmitry 'sh1ro' Sokolov Age: 19 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.22 Maps played: 693 KPR: 0.77 DPR: 0.53 Sergey 'Ax1Le' Rykhtorov Age: 19 Team: Gambit Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 756 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Justin 'FaNg' Coakley Age: 19 Team: Extra Salt Rating 1.0: 1.01 Maps played: 399 KPR: 0.71 DPR: 0.69 Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostyliev Age: 23 Team: Natus Vincere Rating 1.0: 1.24 Maps played: 1361 KPR: 0.85 DPR: 0.64