On Monday, the Laureus World Sports Awards announced its nominees for the 25th edition, with track athletes standing out as dominant contenders. The last time a track and field athlete won was in 2023, but this year, six gold medallists from the 2024 Olympic Games are in the running for the prestigious trophy: Sifan Hassan, Faith Kipyegon, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Mondo Duplantis, Julien Alfred and Letsile Tebogo. Paris 2024 Paralympic wheelchair gold medallist Catherine Debrunner was also nominated. The winners, voted on by 69 legendary athletes of the Laureus World Sports Academy, will be announced in Madrid on April 21.
Hassan, Kipyegon and McLaughlin-Levrone for Sportswoman of the Year
Dutch Olympic champion Sifan Hassan and world record holders Faith Kipyegon of Kenya and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. make up half the athletes nominated for Laureus Sportswoman of the Year. Hassan completed the iconic distance triple, earning bronze in the 5,000m and 10,000m and taking gold in the marathon after only making her debut in the 42.2-km event in 2023. In Paris, Kipyegon became the only three-time Olympic 1,500m champion, and also claimed silver in the 5,000m. McLaughlin-Levrone broke the 400m hurdles world record for the sixth time and successfully defended her Olympic title.
Duplantis for Sportsman of the Year
The world’s greatest pole vaulter is one of five men up for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award. At only 25 years old, Mondo Duplantis claimed his second Olympic title in Paris and in 2024, broke his own world record for the ninth and 10th times. Last Friday, Duplantis went on to shatter that mark for the 11th time, jumping 6.27m.
Alfred and Tebogo for Breakthrough of the Year
Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred made history with her 100m victory, winning her country’s first-ever Olympic medal. She went on to take silver in the 200m. And Botswanan hero Letsile Tebogo won his country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal at his debut, outrunning the favourite, Noah Lyles, in the 200m. Tebogo’s performance of 19.46 marked a personal best and an African record.
Debrunner for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability
Swiss wheelchair athlete Catherine Debrunner was the most recent track and field athlete to win a Laureus World Sports Award, taking home a trophy in 2023 alongside Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. After winning five Paralympic gold medals in Paris in the 400 metres T53, 800m T53, 1,500m T54, 5,000m T54 and marathon T54 (alongside silver in the 100m T53), Debrunner is up for the award once again.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Catherine Debrunner win 2023 Laureus World Sports awards
2024 track nominees
Last year, Duplantis and Kipyegon were nominated for the sportsman/sportswoman trophy, alongside men’s world 100m champion Lyles, and women’s 100m champion Richardson and silver medallist Shericka Jackson. Paralympic champions Luca Ekler and Markus Rehm were up for Sportsperson of the Year with a disability, while 1,500m world champion Josh Kerr was also nominated for the biggest breakthrough.
