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Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi poses after he was presented the award for sportsperson of the year at the Laureus Sports Awards ceremony in Paris, Monday, May 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly) |
Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce finally broke
through to win the Sportswoman of the Year award on her sixth nomination.
Fraser-Pryce’s 2022 exploits included winning the 100-meter
gold at the World Athletics Championships for the fifth time.
The Laureus Sports Awards honoring eight winners were held
live in Paris on Monday night for the first time since 2020.
It was Messi’s second individual title after sharing that
honor with Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton in 2020.
Fraser-Pryce, who has won three Olympic and 10 world
championship gold medals, called her award “one of the greatest honors of my
career.”
“When athletes have the spotlight, it’s important the
example we set is the best it can be . . . we have a responsibility to
influence the next generation in a positive way,” she said.
Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz’s victory at the 2022
U.S. Open and his rise to the No. 1 ranking saw him take the Breakthrough of
the Year award. Alcaraz, who celebrated his 20th birthday last week, won Sunday’s
final of the Madrid Open.
Christian Eriksen was the recipient of the Comeback of the
Year award after recovering from a cardiac arrest to return to Premier League
football with Brentford and then Manchester United.
The world Action Sportsperson of the Year went to
American-born Chinese freestyler skier Eileen Gu, who was 18 during the Winter
Olympics in Beijing. She became the first athlete to win three medals in
freestyle skiing at a single Olympics — gold in both the halfpipe and big air
events, and silver in slopestyle.
Nominees for the Laureus awards are determined by
international media and the winners are voted on by the 71 members of the
Laureus World Sports Academy – athletes from the past 50 years. -AP