The candidates for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the year have been released by Laureus, the worldwide sporting movement that honours the world's finest athletes. The nominees for 2022 were chosen by a panel of the worlds greatest sports journalists and symbolize the world's best in seven categories.

The nominees are Australian tennis star Ashleigh Barty, USA athlete Allyson Felix, Spanish footballer Alexia Putellas, Jamaican athlete Elaine Thompson-Herah, and two swimmers, Australian Emma McKeon and American Katie Ledecky.

1. Ashleigh Barty

Ashleigh Barty has received her maiden Laureus nomination, as she is in contention for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award. In 2021, the Australian won her first Wimbledon title. Also, she won the Yarra Valley Classic, Miami Open, Stuttgart Open, and Cincinnati Open in the same year. Thus, reaffirming her position atop the WTA Rankings. Naomi Osaka, another tennis sensation, received the prize the year before. Nevertheless, Only time will tell if the Laureus award will feature on Barty's shelf alongside the Australian Open 2022.

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2. Allyson Felix

Allyson Felix received her nomination along with five golden athletics stars, for the prestigious Laureus Awards. She welcomed the nomination after earning her seventh Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, bringing her total Olympic medals to 11. Not only did the 36-year-old become the most accomplished track-and-field Olympian in US history, but she also became the Olympic champion in four straight tournaments.

3.Alexia Putellas

Alexia Putellas, the Barcelona midfielder, earned the nomination for the World Sportswoman of the Year Award. In 2021, she and her club had a wonderful season, dominating the tournament and winning the Champions League title for the first time in their existence. Nonetheless, If she wins, she would be the first footballer to get the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year title.

4.Elaine Thompson-Herah

Elaine Thompson-Herah has been nominated for Laureus Sportswoman of the Year alongside Felix. After earning three gold medals in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m in Tokyo, the 29-year-old Jamaican ruled the sprints. As a result, she shattered Florence Griffith Joyner's 33-year-old Olympic record. She also proceeded to win the sprint double-double, enabling her to be the first woman to accomplish so. She is, nevertheless, in contention for the honourable award, having won five Olympic gold medals.

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5.Emma Mckeon

The happiness of Australians appears to know no bounds, as a slew of Aussies received the nomination for the world's most prestigious sports awards.
In this category, the 27-year-old Australian freestyle virtuoso was included alongside fellow Aussie, Ashleigh Barty. At the Tokyo Olympics, she earned four gold medals and three bronze medals, matching gymnast Maria Gorokhovskaya for the most medals ever won by a woman in a single game. However, she is in the running for the honour, and her country's hopes are partly riding on her shoulders.

6.Katie Ledecky

Katie Ledecky, a distance swimmer, led the American women's swimming team to gold in the 800 and 1500 freestyles, as well as silver in the 400 free and 4200 free relays. After winning gold in both London and Rio, Ledecky accomplished a three-peat in the 800 metres. She also won the initial 1500 women's race at the Olympics. However, she is all set to dive into the pool of competition to win the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year title.

Read also: Laureus World Sportsman of the year 2021: Here’re all the nominees

Following a vote by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the announcement of the winners will take place in April.

Lionel Messi won the World Sportsman of the Year Award at the Laureus Sports Awards 2023 held in Paris. He also collected another award as part of Team of the Year for Argentina's victory at the FIFA World Cup last year. Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won the Sportswoman of the Year award on her sixth nomination.

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Laureus Sport Awards 2023: Every Winner

This is Messi's second individual title after sharing the honour with Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton in 2020. He also became the first athlete to win the individual and team awards in the same year.

"I was looking at the names of the incredible legends that won the Laureus Sportsman of the Year Award before me: Schumacher, Woods, Nadal, Federer, Bolt, Hamilton, Djokovic… it really sunk in what unbelievable company I'm in and what a unique honour this is," the Argentine said.

Fraser-Pryce's exploits last year included winning the 100-meter gold at the World Athletics Championships for a staggering fifth time. She has won three Olympic and 10 world championship gold medals. Fraser-Pryce called her award "one of the greatest honours of my career."

• Tennis player Carlos Alcaraz won the US Open last year as a teenager and climbed to the top of the ranks. He was honoured with the Breakthrough of the Year award.

• The Sport for Good Award was presented to TeamUp - a programme for children displaced by war - by Barcelona and Poland star Robert Lewandowski.

• Meanwhile, Chinese-American Olympic ski freestyle champion Eileen Gu won the World Action Sportsperson accolade.

• Denmark and Manchester United star Christian Eriksen earned a Comeback Award. He returned to the top of the European game after collapsing with cardiac arrest during the Euros two years ago.

• Swiss para-athlete sensation Catherine Debrunner meanwhile picked up the Disability Award after triumphing in her opening two marathons

The Laureus World Sports Awards were held in person in Paris for the first time since 2020. They were held virtually on account of the coronavirus pandemic.

Argentina lifted the World Cup for the third time, beating France in a penalty shootout in Doha after possibly the greatest final of all time, which ended in a 3-3 draw. Messi captained the Argentina side. He scored seven times and won the Golden Ball as his country won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in December. For performing on the biggest stage of Football, Argentina & Messi won the Laureus Sport Awards. He is the first athlete to win the team and individual awards in the same year.

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"This is a special honour," said Paris St-Germain forward Messi, 35. "Particularly as the Laureus World Sports Awards are in Paris this year, the city that has welcomed my family since we came here in 2021."

"I want to thank all my team-mates, not only from the national team but also at PSG - I have achieved none of this alone and I am grateful to be able to share everything with them."

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Laureus Sport Awards: Full list

• Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award: Lionel Messi
• Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
• Laureus World Team of the Year award: Argentina men's football team
• Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year award: Carlos Alcaraz
• Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award: Christian Eriksen
• Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award: Catherine Debrunner
• Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award: Eileen Gu
• Laureus Sport for Good award: TeamUp (A programme for children displaced by war by Barcelona and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski)

After being nominated for the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award 2023, Rafael Nadal said he wants Lionel Messi to win this year's Laureus Sportsman title as both he and the Argentine football star have been nominated for the top prize.

Both Nadal and Messi had a great performances in 2022 in their respective sports. While Nadal topped the list of all-time Grand Slam titles in 2022 with 22 trophies. It was a beautiful year for Messi as his leadership and performances helped Argentina win the FIFA World Cup 2022 title in Qatar along with the Golden Ball. Nadal wrote in a story on Instagram on that. He said that he was "honored" to be nominated for the award and felt Messi "deserves" it. Nadal himself has called Messi deserving of the title despite being nominated.

"An honor to be nominated again to the Laureus Sportsman of the Year … but … this year … vamos @leomessi te lo mereces tu . He is a top player in history and he played almost his entire career in my country," the athlete had said, adding. I still think that Argentina is a candidate to win the World Cup."

The former World No. 1 declared on his Instagram story.

"Messi lifting the World Cup made me happy. That someone so great culminates with a title that was missing, of this caliber, with all that it means for Argentina."

Apart from Rafael Nadal and Lionel Messi, some other players have also been nominated for the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award 2023. They are Kylian Mbappé, Max Verstappen (motor racing), Armand Duplantis (athletics), and Steve Kerr (basketball). The nominees for the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award 2023 were among the best in 2022.

This is Rafael Nadal's ninth nomination at the Laureus Sportsman of the Year award, while it is Lionel Messi's eighth. Both the tplayers have now received the nomination for Sportsman of the Year seven times. Argentine jointly won the award alongside Lewis Hamilton in 2020, and Rafael Nadal earned the accolades in 2011 and 2021. Additionally, the duo have been nominated for the Breakthrough of the Year in 2006, where the Spaniard clinched the trophy. The tennis legend also received the award in the Comeback of the Year category in 2014.

Laureus Sports Awards is a global sporting movement, held annually, to honor the athletes globally. The main agenda is to provide nobility to the sports world for the achievements throughout the year. A panel of 1300 sports journalists selected the nominees of the Laureus World Sportsman of the year 2021. 71 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy will vote and also the results will be out in April this year.

The Laureus World Sportsman of the year 2021 nominees are Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, American NFL player Tom Brady, Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski, USA swimmer Caeleb Dressel, Kenyan long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge, and lastly Belgian-Dutch racing driver and the 2021 Formula One World Champion Max Verstappen.

Novak Djokovic

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Novak Djokovic achieved a lot and reached a lot of milestones in 2021. Novak became the second tennis player in history to achieve the Surface Slam. Also, he won 5 tournaments, 3 among the 5 were major ones; the Australian Open, the French Open, and the Wimbledon Championships. He also reached the final of the US open but could not win the title and finished as the runner-up. Along with these achievements, he became the winner of the Paris Masters and Belgrade Open. Lastly, he also reached the first final in a doubles tournament after 2010 at the Mallorca open

Tom Brady

Tom Brady is among the Top US sportspeople to get a nomination in the Laureus World Sportsman of the year 2021. The retired NFL legend is undoubtedly regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time.

Robert Lewandowski

Polish football star Robert Lewandowski has been named among the 6 nominees for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year 2021. The 33-year-old netted historical 41 goals in 29 appearances in the Bundesliga Season 2020-21. He ended 2021 By scoring a total o 43 goals; which is yet another historical achievement. Talking aBout all competitions, he netted a total of 61 goals in 51 matches last year. Lastly, he also clinched the title of the Best FIFA Men's Player 2021.

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Caeleb Dressel

Caeleb Dressel is among the 5 swimmers nominated for this honorable award. He built the hype successfully by winning 5 gold medals. The Olympian is also the recipient of the Sports Illustrated Athlete of the Year 2021 award for his medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Eliud Kipchoge

Eliud Kipchoge is undoubtedly the eminent marathon-runner of today's generation. He became the 3rd person ever in history who won Olympic gold medals back-to-back in Tokyo Olympics 2020.

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Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen makes short-list or the Laureus World Sports Award nomination. The Belgian-Dutch racing driver gets the nomination for this honorable nomination for the second time. In 2016, he got the nomination for the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award previously.

Olympic Gold medalist Neeraj Chopra will compete for the honourable Laureus World breakthrough award among a slew of international stars.

Neeraj Chopra, India's ace javelin thrower, has been nominated for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award. He won India's first-ever Olympic gold in his Olympic debut. In the men's javelin throw final at the Tokyo Games, he demolished a star-studded field with a hurl of 87.58 metres in his second try to fetch the gold medal.

Nevertheless, Chopra, who is now rated second in the world, will defend the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games crown in 2022. He'll also be aiming for his first World Championships medal later this year. However, as of now, he'll compete against some of the best athletes in the world for this distinguished honour.

"I’m delighted to be nominated for this Laureus Award. It's a great honour for me to be recognised in the wider sporting world for what I achieved in Tokyo," Chopra said.

"From being a kid in a small village in rural India who only took up the sport to get fit, to standing on top of an Olympic podium, it’s been quite an eventful journey so far. I feel privileged to be able to represent my country and win India medals on the global stage. Also now to have this recognition from Laureus and be considered alongside such exceptional athletes is a really special feeling," he added further.

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List of Chopra's competitors for this award are

Daniil Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev of Russia won his first Grand Slam at the 2021 US Open. Afterwards, He went on to progressively solidify his control over the game. However, he recently finished as the runner-up in the Australian Open 2022.

Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu became a worldwide tennis celebrity after she won the US Open 2021 at the age of 18.

Pedri

The 19-year-old Barcelona footballer also received the honour of the best young player at the Ballon d'Or.

Yulimar Rojas

Venezuelan Yulimar Rojas broke the 26-year-old triple jump world record.

Ariarne Titmus

Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus twice beat champion Katie Ledecky at 200 and 400m in Tokyo.

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The nominees in each of the seven categories for this year's Laureus World Sports Awards were selected by a panel of more than 1,300 of the world's top sports writers and broadcasters. Following a vote by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the winners will be announced in April.