An impressive collection of the greatest women, men and teams in sport have been nominated for the 2018 Laureus World Sports Awards, following a ballot by the world’s sports media, the foundation said in a press release.
Tennis superstar Roger Federer’s impressive return to form after a knee injury, which saw him win his fifth Australian Open and eighth Wimbledon titles, sees him nominated in both the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year and Laureus World Comeback of the Year categories. Federer, a four-time Award winner, could become the most decorated Laureus Award winner at the 2018 ceremony in Monaco on February 27.
The football world also features heavily, with Cristiano Ronaldo up for Sportsman of the Year, Real Madrid nominated for Team of the Year, Kylian Mbappé in contention for Breakthrough of the Year, and FC Barcelona and Chapecoense nominated for the Comeback of the Year Award.
Joining Federer and Ronaldo in what is sure to be a hotly contested Sportsman of the Year category is athletics world championships 10,000m gold and 5,000m silver medal-winning athlete Mo Farah, four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, four-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and French and US Open champion Rafael Nadal.
In the Sportswoman of the Year category Wimbledon champion Garbiñe Muguruza and three-time 800m world champion Caster Semenya join an all-American quartet of Australian Open champion Serena Williams, 16-time world athletics championship medalist Allyson Felix, 19-year-old swimming sensation Katie Ledecky and Overall World Cup champion skier Mikaela Shiffrin.
Votes can be cast at myLaureus.com until February 26, with the winner being announced on stage at the Awards in Monaco.