Faith Kipyegon nominated alongside Messi for top 2024 g****l aw*rd

Kenya's middle-distance runner Faith Kipyegon is set to battle for yet another global award after being shortlisted alongside world stars.

After a standout performance last season, Kipyegon has been shortlisted for the 25th Laureus World Sports Awards, which mark the countdown to the most prestigious night in sport, to be staged in Madrid on April 22.

"Three of our nominees for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award starred at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

"Faith Kipyegon of Kenya became the first woman to win the double of 1,500 and 5,000 metres. Sha’Carri Richardson won a classic 100 metres from lane nine in her first global final and added 4x100 metres gold.

"Shericka Jackson’s winning time of 21.41 seconds in the 200 metres was the second fastest all-time, seven-hundredths of a second short of Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 35-year-old mark," the award's organisers said.

The organisers also explained the voting process.

"Six nominees have been selected in each of the traditional seven award categories by the 1,300 members of the Laureus Global Media Panel and, in the case of the Award for Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability, a vote by the International Paralympic Committee.

"Alongside the elite categories, the Laureus Sport for Good Award will go to a programme that reflects the inspirational words of Laureus’ first patron, Nelson Mandela.

"But what makes these awards unique is the final stage of the judging process: a vote by the 69 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy – Olympic champions, world-record breakers, athletes who redefined their sports and who now make up the ultimate jury on sporting greatness," it added.

Argentina's football star, Lionel Messi, is also among the nominees set to vie for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award. Should the World Cup winner bag the award, it would crown his career just after a year in which he won a record eighth Ballon d’Or and led Inter Miami CF to victory in the Leagues Cup – his 44th trophy, another record.

Novak Djokovic, a four-time winner of this award, has also been nominated.

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham has been nominated for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award.