London, Feb. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Laureus, the global organization that uses the power of sport to change the world, today announced nominations for the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards. Since their inauguration in 2000, these Awards have brought together the biggest names in sports and entertainment to celebrate the greatest athletes on the planet – and this year the list of Nominees includes U.S athletes from the NBA, tennis, track and field, gymnastics, surfing and skiing.
The Laureus statuette has become one of sport’s most wanted prizes among elite sportsmen and women, and these are the athletes’ awards – voted for 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.
This year, the U.S is represented by Sha’Carri Richardson, who won 100 metres gold at the World Athletic Championships in Hungary. In her first global final, she recorded a time of 10.65 seconds, the fifth-fastest in history, and she is nominated for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award. Joining Richardson on that shortlist – alongside athletes including world tennis No.1 Iga Świątek and soccer’s World Cup-winning star Aitana Bonmatí – is Mikaela Shiffrin, who in 2023 became the most successful alpine skier of the World Cup era with a record 87th win (she finished the year on 88). At the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, Shiffrin won a seventh career gold, in giant slalom.
Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Nominee Mikaela Shiffrin, said: “There is nothing like the Laureus Awards when it comes to bringing athletes together to celebrate not just what we’ve all achieved, but the impact sport has globally. Laureus gives us a unique platform to interact with each other and make a difference. 2023 was an absolutely incredible year for me—and was even more special after what I’ve experienced in the last few years. Since I reset the record last season, I’ve thought a lot about why a record is actually important to an athlete…and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not important to merely break records or reset records. It’s important to set the tone for the next generation and inspire them. That’s why I’m honoured to be nominated for the Sportswoman Award once more alongside such an inspirational group of fellow athletes."
No sprinter since Usain Bolt had swept the sprints at the World Athletic Championships until Noah Lyles won gold in the 100 and 200 metres, plus the 4 x 100 metre relay in Budapest. That earns him a spot on the shortlist for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award, where he is joined by sporting greats including Lionel Messi, who led Inter Miami to victory in the Leagues Cup, and Novak Djokovic, winner of three Grand Slam tennis titles in 2023.
Simone Biles is nominated in the category of Comeback of the Year after she returned to gymnastics after a near two-year absence that began in the aftermath of the Tokyo Olympics, where she withdrew from four of five individual finals after experiencing what gymnasts call ‘the twisties’ – when mind and body become detached during routines. She returned to competition in 2023 and won four gold medals at the World Championships. In the same category, Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets is nominated after he returned to the court after an 18-month rehabilitation of a torn ACL sustained in April 2021. As Denver won its first championship, Murray was a giant in the NBA Finals, becoming the fourth player in history to average over 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award goes to an athlete who joined the elite in 2023 – and the Nominees in this category include Coco Gauff, who won her first Grand Slam title at the age of 19. And her breakthrough came on home soil – Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the US Open. Gauff is joined by athletes including Qin Haiyang, the Chinese swimmer who was the breakout success of swimming’s world championships, and Jude Bellingham, who scored 10 goals in his first 10 games for Real Madrid after joining the world’s biggest soccer team before his 20th birthday.
Florida surfer Caroline Marks is nominated for the Laureus World Action Sportsperson Award after winning her first world title. At the age of 22 she defeated five-time champion Carissa Moore at San Clemente, California. The winner of the men’s event there, Brazil’s Filipe Toledo, is also among the Nominees, as are two teenage skateboarders, Australian Arisa Trew and Rayssa Leal of Brazil.
In the Team of the Year category, Nominees include Oracle Red Bull Racing Formula One Team, who put together a near perfect season, the Springboks who won back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles, plus the Germany team who were surprise winners of the FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup.
On the shortlist for the Laureus World Sportsperson with a Disability Award are athletes including Diede de Groot, who is unbeaten in wheelchair tennis over an incredible 127 matches, and Markus Rehm, who is just as dominant in long jump – he won a sixth Para Athletics World Championships title, to go with four Paralympic golds, and he secured a 14th world record.
The Laureus World Sports Awards also honour the work of over 300 programmes supported globally by Laureus Sport for Good, using the power of sport to change the world. Shortlisted programmes for the Laureus Sport for Good Award this year include Dancing Grounds, a New Orleans-based project that connects dance and creativity with social justice issues and fosters leadership and citizenship skills in the young people who attend.
For more information, editorial imagery and the full list of Laureus World Sports Awards Nominees, click here.
The full list of Nominees is:
LAUREUS WORLD SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
Novak Djokovic (Serbia) Tennis; Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) Athletics; Erling Haaland (Norway) Football; Noah Lyles (USA) Athletics; Lionel Messi (Argentina) Football; Max Verstappen (Netherlands)
LAUREUS WORLD SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
Aitana Bonmatí (Spain) Football; Shericka Jackson (Jamaica) Athletics; Faith Kipyegon (Kenya) Athletics; Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) Athletics; Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) Alpine Skiing; Iga Świątek (Poland) Tennis
LAUREUS WORLD TEAM OF THE YEAR AWARD
Europe Ryder Cup Team – Golf; Germany Men’s Basketball Team; Manchester City (UK) Football; Oracle Red Bull Racing Formula One Team (Austria); Springboks (South Africa) Rugby; Spain Women’s Football Team
LAUREUS WORLD BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR AWARD
Jude Bellingham (UK) Football; Linda Caicedo (Colombia) Football; Coco Gauff (USA) Tennis; Qin Haiyang (China) Swimming; Josh Kerr (UK) Athletics; Salma Paralluelo (Spain) Football
LAUREUS WORLD COMEBACK OF THE YEAR AWARD
Simone Biles (USA) Gymnastics; Sébastien Haller (Ivory Coast) Football; Katarina Johnson-Thompson (UK) Athletics; Siya Kolisi (South Africa) Rugby; Jamal Murray (Canada) Basketball; Markéta Vondroušová (Czech Republic) Tennis
LAUREUS SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR WITH A DISABILITY AWARD
Simone Barlaam (Italy) Para Swimming; Danylo Chufarov (Ukraine) Para Swimming; Diede de Groot (Netherlands) Wheelchair Tennis; Luca Ekler (Hungary) Para Athletics; Nicole Murray (New Zealand) Para Cycling; Markus Rehm (Germany) Para Athletics
LAUREUS WORLD ACTION SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR AWARD
Rayssa Leal (Brazil) Skateboarding; Caroline Marks (USA) Surfing; Kirsten Neuschȁfer (South Africa) Sailing; Bethany Shriever (UK) BMX; Filipe Toledo (Brazil) Surfing; Arisa Trew (Australia) Skateboarding
LAUREUS SPORT FOR GOOD AWARD
Bola Pra Frente (Brazil) Multi-sport x Employability; Dancing Grounds (USA) Dancing x Social Integration; Fundación Rafa Nadal (Spain) Tennis x Education; ISF Cambodia Football x Education; Justice Desk Africa (South Africa) Multi-sport x Human Rights; Obiettivo Napoli (Italy) Multi-sport x Inclusion
Attachments
