LeBron James, Simone Biles, Chloe Kim among 9 U.S. Nominees for 2019 Laureus World Sports Awards

  MONACO - 01/17/2019 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

Some of the greatest names in U.S. and global sports have been nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards, following a ballot by the world’s media.

Nine American athletes have been shortlisted for the most prestigious sports awards in the world, across a wide range of categories. 

Olympic and World Champion Simone Biles and Olympic Slalom Champion Mikaela Shiffrin will be among the favorites for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award, while LeBron James received his fourth individual Nomination for Laureus World Sportsman of the Year. 2018 NBA Champions, the Golden State Warriors are shortlisted for the Laureus Team of the Year Award.

Golfing legend Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn, arguably the greatest ever American women’s skier, are both nominated for the Laureus World Comeback of the Year. If Tiger wins, it will be his third Laureus Award after winning Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in 2000 and 2001.

Following their great displays in the Winter Olympics, snowboarders Shaun White and Chloe Kim are on the shortlist for the Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award again. White, winner in 2008, is nominated for the ninth time, while it is Kim’s third. 

Oksana Masters is nominated for the second straight year for the Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability after winning two Winter Olympic gold medals and a bronze in cross-country and two silvers in biathlon. Born with deformities from Chernobyl, she was adopted by a US family. She is now the most decorated female athlete in US Nordic Paralympic history.

After a sparkling year of sport, among the other Nominees are Novak Djokovic and Lewis Hamilton (Sportsman), Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber (Sportswoman), the France World Cup Football Team and Mercedes Formula One (Team), Naomi Osaka and Geraint Thomas (Breakthrough) and Stephanie Gilmore and Gabriel Medina (Action Sports).

For the full list of Nominees, click here.

The Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognize athletic achievement during 2018, are the premier honors on the international sports calendar. The winners, as voted by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the ultimate sports jury, made up of 66 of the greatest athletes of all time, will be unveiled in Monaco on Monday, February 18. 

The Laureus Awards Ceremony showcases the work of Laureus Sport for Good which supports more than 150 sports-based community programs in over 40 countries, using the power of sport to address many of the social challenges facing young people today.