All-time greats light up the nominations for the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards

From Lionel Messi to Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce; Katie Ledecky to Tiger Woods – the most prestigious Awards in sport will feature some of the greatest athletes of all time

The countdown to the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards has begun – and the nominations include not just the athletes who lit up the past 12 months, but some of the greatest of all time. Lionel Messi, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Katie Ledecky, Rafael Nadal, Tiger Woods, Stephanie Gilmore, Mikaela Shiffrin, Mondo Duplantis, Oksana Masters – all are nominated this year, but equally no all-time list would be complete without their names.

And as this is the Laureus World Sports Awards, the hall-of-fame talent is on both sides of the ballot.

Our winners will be decided by 71 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy – Olympic champions, world record holders, athletes who changed the game, and the ultimate jury on sporting greatness.

This Spring, winners will be announced across categories including: Sportswoman of the Year; Sportsman of the Year; Team of the Year, Breakthrough of the Year, Comeback of the Year, Action Sportsperson of the Year and Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability. Nominations in these categories come from the 1400 members of our Global Media Panel, ensuring credibility, quality and a global perspective across all of our Awards.

Each year, the Laureus World Sports Academy also presents additional discretionary Awards recognising extraordinary contributions on or away from the sporting arena, celebrating remarkable athletes and their ability to inspire

Finally, five inspirational sports programmes have been shortlisted for the Laureus Sport for Good Award. This Award celebrates social programmes which have made a significant contribution to transforming the lives of children and young people through sport. This year these include a movement-based psychosocial support intervention developed by War Child, Save the Children and UNICEF the Netherlands, that uses physical activity to relieve stress in children affected by war or conflict, and which is particularly active supporting refugees from Ukraine in surrounding host nations (TeamUp); a programme that uses boxing to challenge stereotypes and empower young women in Kenya (Boxgirls); a football project aimed at educating and elevating the homeless population in India (Slum Soccer); a programme whose mission is to make sport inclusive for people with disabilities in South Africa (Made For More) and a project in Germany that uses action sports to help orphaned and migrant children integrate into new communities (High Five).

The nominees for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award spent 2022 climbing to the very pinnacle of their sport. For some, in the Autumn of careers already assured a place in sporting history, this was the year they rose above all other competitors. For those at the other end of their stories, we were left to imagine the heights they might achieve before they eventually leave the stage.

Lionel Messi collected the one prize that had eluded him by leading Argentina to the World Cup. Kylian Mbappé’s hat-trick in the final earned him the Golden Boot as the World Cup’s leading goalscorer. Rafael Nadal ended 2022 alone at the top of the all-time list of men’s Grand Slam champions with 22 titles after victory in Australia and France. Max Verstappen joins Messi and Nadal as past winners of this Award on the 2023 shortlist after defending his Formula One world title. Mondo Duplantis broke the pole vault world record on three occasions and won world titles indoors and out. Steph Curry led the Golden State Warriors to a fourth NBA championship in eight years.

The race for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award includes two athletes who lit up the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became a five-time champion over 100m, while Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone added the world title to her Olympic crown with an unforgettable world record in the 400m hurdles. At the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Katie Ledecky won four golds, taking her total to 22, a record for a female swimmer. Alexia Putellas led FC Barcelona to a perfect season in the Spanish league and claimed a second Ballon d’Or. Mikaela Shiffrin regained her overall title at the Alpine Ski World Cup and closed in on the all-time record for wins, while Iga Świątek emerged from 2022 as the undisputed No.1 in women’s tennis, winning in Paris and New York. The list of nominees for this Award is a Dream Team across all of sports. 

The Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award identifies those athletes and teams who took a giant step forward in the past year. For some, one big win lit up their name; for others, sustained excellence made for a changing of the guard at the top of their sport.  Two meteoric tennis talents are among our nominees: Carlos Alcaraz gave a preview of the next era in the men’s game, winning the US Open to end the year as the sport’s youngest-ever No.1-ranked player. In the women’s game, Elena Rybakina won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. Scottie Scheffler won The Masters and tied for second at the US Open on his way to becoming golf’s No.1. Also nominated are the Morocco Men’s Football Team who captivated the world on their adventure to the semi-finals of the World Cup; Nathan Chen, the figure skater who added Olympic gold to a world title; and Tobi Amusan, who broke the 100m hurdles world record on the way to claiming Nigeria’s first-ever gold medal at the World Athletics Championships.

The Nominees for the Laureus World Team of the Year Award include both serial winners and ground-breakers. The Argentina Men’s Football Team won a third World Cup, but the first in a generation led by Lionel Messi. No team has won the Champions League more than Real Madrid, who claimed their 14th title to go with another La Liga championship. The Golden State Warriors’ fourth NBA championship in eight years ensured their legacy will last forever. The Oracle Red Bull Racing ended the eight-year reign of Mercedes with a Max Verstappen-led victory in the Constructors’ Championship. The France Men’s Rugby Team had not won the Six Nations Championship since the Grand Slam of 2010 – and they repeated that feat to reclaim the crown in style. And there were no more dramatic winners than the England Women’s Football Team, who on home soil fulfilled their promise to become champions of Europe.

Diede de Groot completed back-to-back calendar Grand Slams to set a new standard in wheelchair tennis and earn her place among the nominees for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award. Catherine Debrunner broke world records in T53 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m on her home track in Switzerland, then moved up to marathon, winning on her debut in Berlin, and in London. After a break of over two years from competitive swimming, New Zealand’s Cameron Leslie – who also competes in wheelchair rugby as a Wheel Black – won S4 100m freestyle gold at the World Para Swimming Championships. At the Winter Paralympics in China, Declan Farmer led USA to a third consecutive gold medal in Ice Hockey and was the tournament’s top scorer; Jesper Saltvik Pedersen won four golds on the slopes; and the multi-sport phenomenon Oksana Masters added another chapter to her legend with double gold in the para biathlon.

Three surfers are nominated for the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award, the province of sport’s daredevils, high-flyers and risk-takers. Filipe Toledo of Brazil was world champion for the first time. For Stephanie Gilmore, a previous winner of this Award, it was world championship No.8, while big-wave specialist Justine Dupont continued to thrill in that most daring of disciplines. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, freestyle skier Eileen Gu won two gold medals – in big air and halfpipe – while snowboarder Chloe Kim defended the halfpipe gold she had won as a teenager in 2018. Skateboarder Rayssa Leal was still only 14 as she won Street gold at both the Summer X Games and the World Championships.  

What we love about sport is not always measured in medals and there are some inspirational stories within the nominations for Laureus World Comeback of the Year. Tiger Woods’ return at Augusta, 14 months after a car crash that crushed one of his feet, was as moving as any of his Major wins. Klay Thompson missed two entire seasons through injuries before returning to win his fourth NBA championship with the Golden State Warriors. At the World Athletics Championships, there was no upset greater than Jake Wightman’s defeat of Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the 1500m final. Norway’s 21-year-old track superstar responded with gold in the 5,000m a few days later. Francesco Bagnaia won his first MotoGP title from a seemingly impossible position – he trailed by 91 points in mid-season. Annemiek van Vleuten started the Tour de France Femmes fighting illness and slumping to the back of the field, before fighting through the ranks to win it all. Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field after suffering cardiac arrest during a Euro 2020 match for Denmark. In February 2022, he returned to the field in the Premier League.  

Our unique group of judges in the Laureus World Sports Academy have the hard work of selecting the winners. All you have to do is get ready for a celebration of sport like no other. The 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards are coming soon.