SPORTSWOMAN OF THE YEAR

World Athletics says World 100m champion Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was named Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Monday night at the prestigious 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards in Paris, France.

All eight award winners were in the French capital to celebrate an extraordinary sporting year, World Athletics said.

It said they were joined by the sporting legends of the Laureus World Sports Academy, Laureus Award winners from previous years and some of the world’s greatest athletes at a glittering ceremony at the Pavillon Vendome.

World Athletics said Fraser-Pryce won a record fifth 100m gold at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, 13 years after her first.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica celebrates winning the gold medal and setting and new Pan American record in the women’s 200m final during the athletics at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, Friday; Aug. 9, 2019. Photo by Associated Press / Moises Castillo, file

“She has more world sprint titles than any other athlete, and in 2022 she ran sub-10.7 for 100m seven times, three more than the previous best for a female sprinter in a calendar year,” World Athletics said. “Whether the benchmark is speed, consistency or longevity, nobody came close to Jamaica’s ‘Pocket Rocket’. And after her sixth nomination for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award, this is her first win.”

“I was thrilled to be nominated alongside such inspiring women athletes, and to win this award, voted for by some of the greatest sportsmen and women of all time, is just amazing,” said Fraser-Pryce. “This is the sixth time I’ve been nominated in this category, so to finally hold the Laureus statuette in my hands is 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,” she added. “We have a responsibility to influence the next generation in a positive way and that’s what the Laureus Awards are all about.”

Among the other winners, World Athletic said football (soccer) player Lionel Messi earned the Laureus World Sportsman award.

World Athletics said nominees for the Laureus World Sports Awards are decided by the world’s media, and the winners are voted on by the 71 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy – legendary figures from the past 50 years of athletic excellence, and the ultimate sporting jury.

“The 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards celebrated the best athletes of 2022 and some of the greatest of all time, and was also a celebration of the mission Laureus has held since 2000, when Laureus’ first patron Nelson Mandela spoke at the first iteration of this event and said: ‘Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does,’” said World Athletics.

“This has become the driving force behind everything that Laureus does,” it added.