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Some of the top British athletes, including Jude Bellingham and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, have been nominated for the 2024 Laureus World Sports Awards.
The impressive beginning of Bellingham at Real Madrid this year launches him as a contender for the Breakthrough of the Year award, along with Josh Kerr from the same country. Kerr surprised everyone by defeating Jakob Ingebrigtsen and winning the 1500m gold at the World Championships last year.
Meanwhile, Johnson-Thompson has been selected as a candidate for Comeback of the Year. This is due to her impressive return to competition at the age of 30, despite facing previous serious injuries to her Achilles and calf. She went on to win her second World Championship heptathlon gold in Hungary.
Johnson-Thompson expressed that the path towards regaining her place as one of the top athletes in the world was challenging, especially after suffering a torn achilles and various other injuries and undergoing surgeries in the past few years. She described it as a difficult journey.
I had doubts, thought about giving up, and was unsure of what could be achieved. However, I had a great team supporting me, which motivated me to persevere.
Simone Biles, an American gymnast, is also nominated in that category. After taking a break for mental health reasons, she returned to the sport and won four gold medals at the World Championships last year. Sebastien Haller is also nominated for firing Ivory Coast to victory in the Africa Cup of Nations only 13 months after his successful battle against testicular cancer.
The top candidates for the World Sportsman of the Year award include Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, as well as Novak Djokovic, Max Verstappen, Mondo Duplantis, and Noah Lyles.
The nominees for the Sportswomen of the Year award are mainly in the field of athletics, including Shericka Jackson, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Faith Kipyegon. The remaining three nominees are Aitana Bonmati, a midfielder from the World Cup-winning team, tennis player Iga Swiatek, and alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin.
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You can see the complete list of nominees here.
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