World record-holders Joshua Cheptegei, Mondo Duplantis and Brigid Kosgei are among the nominees for the Laureus World Sports Awards.
Due to the continuing global pandemic, this year the Laureus Awards will not be presented at an open ceremony. Instead, the winners will be announced in May as part of a virtual awards event.
Cheptegei set three world records in 2020. The Ugandan distance runner clocked 12:51 for 5km on the roads in February last year, then went on to break the world 5000m record on the track with 12:35.36 in Monaco before running a world record of 26:11.00 for 10,000m in Valencia two months later.
Duplantis was undefeated for the whole of 2020. The Swedish pole vaulter set a world record of 6.17m in Torun in February, then added another centimetre to the mark one week later in Glasgow. Later in the year, he cleared 6.15m in Rome – the highest outdoor vault in history.
Kosgei raced just three times in 2020, but the Kenyan distance runner won the highest-quality marathon of the year. The 27-year-old successfully defended her London Marathon title in 2:18:58, winning by more than three minutes.
Other nominees for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award include Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal, NBA super star LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and football player Robert Lewandowski.
The other nominees for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award are tennis player Naomi Osaka, Dutch road cyclist Anna van der Breggen, Italian skier Federica Brignone, French footballer Wendie Renard and basketball player Breanna Stewart.
