Faith Kipyegon, Messi earn Laureus Sports Award nomination
By Hilary KimuyuDouble world record holder Faith Kipyegon is set to battle for yet another global award after being shortlisted alongside world stars for this year’s Laureus Sports Awards.
Her nomination comes after a standout performance last season. The nomination of the 25th Laureus World Sports Awards, marks the countdown to the most prestigious night in sport, to be staged in Madrid on April 22.
“Three of our nominees for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award starred at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
“Faith Kipyegon of Kenya became the first woman to win the double of 1,500 and 5,000 metres. Sha’Carri Richardson won a classic 100 metres from lane nine in her first global final and added 4×100 metres gold.
“Shericka Jackson’s winning time of 21.41 seconds in the 200 metres was the second fastest all-time, seven-hundredths of a second short of Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 35-year-old mark,” the award’s organisers said.
In the men’s award, Lionel Messi, Max Verstappen, Novak Djokovic, Mondo Duplantis, Noah Lyles, and Erling Haaland have been nominated.
Djokovic, a four-time winner of this Award, won in Melbourne, New York, and Paris to move to 24 major titles, matching Margaret Court for the all-time mark in tennis.
Verstappen won this Award in 2022 and last year set records with ten consecutive Grand Prix wins and 19 victories in one season as he became the fifth Formula One driver to record a hat-trick of championship wins.
Duplantis raised his pole vault world record on two further occasions, either side of a second world title. No sprinter had swept the board at a World Championship since Usain Bolt in 2015 until Lyles took gold in the 100, 200, and 4 x 100 metres relay.
Haaland scored 52 goals as Manchester City won the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
The organisers also explained the voting process.
“Six nominees have been selected in each of the traditional seven award categories by the 1,300 members of the Laureus Global Media Panel and, in the case of the Award for Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, a vote by the International Paralympic Committee.
“Alongside the elite categories, the Laureus Sport for Good Award will go to a programme that reflects the inspirational words of Laureus’ first patron, Nelson Mandela.
“But what makes these awards unique is the final stage of the judging process: a vote by the 69 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy – Olympic champions, world-record breakers, athletes who redefined their sports and who now make up the ultimate jury on sporting greatness,” it added.
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