Lionel Messi, Novak Djokovic, Simone Biles and Aitana Bonmatí are some of the nominees for the Laureus Awards, considered the Oscars of the sport, which will be awarded on April 22 at the gala that will take place in Madrid, Spain.
The announcement was made at the Real Casa de Correos in Madrid with the presence of the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, and some of the judges of the Laureus World Sports Academy, such as former soccer players Luis Figo, Ruud Gullit and Alessandro del Piero. The awards began to be awarded in 2000 and distinguish the best in the following categories: best male and female athlete, best team, revelation of the year, comeback of the year, best athlete with disabilities, best action athlete and the Laureus Sport For Good Award.
Argentinian Messi, winner in 2020 and 2023, will compete for the best athlete of the year alongside Serbian tennis player Djokovic, Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, American sprinter Noah Lyles and Dutch pilot Max Verstappen.
As for those nominated to win the Laureus Awards for the best athletes in 2023, three of the six come from athletics: the American Sha’Carri Richardson, the Jamaican Shericka Jackson and the Kenyan Faith Kipyegon. The others who will seek the award will be the Spanish soccer player Aitana Bonmatí, the American skier Mikaela Shiffrin and the Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek.
In addition, gymnast Simone Biles, who won best athlete three times (2017, 2019 and 2020), is nominated this time for comeback of the year and the American tennis player Coco Gauff is one of the candidates for the breakthrough award.
Meanwhile, the Best Team of the Year Award will be contested by Manchester City, the Springboks, the Spanish women’s soccer team, the European Ryder Cup team, the German men’s basketball team and Red Bull Formula One.
All Laureus Award 2024 nominees
Best male athlete: Novak Djokovic Leo Messi Erling Haaland Armand Duplantis Noah Lyles Max Verstappen
Best female athlete: Aitana Bonmatí Shericka Jackson Faith Kipyegon Sha’Carri Richardson Mikaela Shiffrin Iga Swiatek
Best team: Spain women’s national soccer team Ryder Cup European Team German national basketball team Manchester City Red Bull Springboks (South Africa rugby team)
Revelation of the Year: Jude Bellingham Linda Caicedo Coco Gauff Qin Haiyang Josh Kerr Salma Paralluelo
Nominees for comeback of the year: Simone Biles Sébastien Haller Katarina Johnson-Thompson Siya Kolisi Jamal Murray Marketa Vondrousova
Best athlete with disabilities: Simone Barlaam (Para Swimming) Danylo Chufarov (Para Swimming) Diede de Groot (Wheelchair Tennis) Luca Ekler (Para Athletics) Nicole Murray (Para-cycling) Markus Rehm (Para-Athletics)
Best action athlete: Rayssa Leal (Skateboarding) Caroline Marks (Surf) Kirsten Neuschafer (Sail) Bethany Shriever (BMX) Felipe Toledo (Surf) Arisa Trew (Skateboarding)
Laureus Sport For Good Award: Forehead Ball (Multisport - Employability) Dancing Grounds (Dance - Social Integration) Rafa Nadal Foundation (Tennis - Education) ISF Cambodia (Football - Education) Justice Desk Africa (Multisport - Human Rights) Obiettivo Napoli (Multisport - Inclusion)
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
