“It is one of the greatest sporting honours to be selected for a Laureus World Sports Award,” Gu said. “My own dreams came true when I won three Olympic medals in 2022, and I now aim to use the platform I’ve been so fortunate to gain to inspire young girls to find their own passions and break their boundaries through sport.

“Laureus is one of the few organisations who recognise a breadth of sporting talent, and it is an honour to be sharing the spotlight with such incredible athletes who all achieved so much in 2022.”

The awards features an all-star cast of the world’s best individuals and teams, and this year will also celebrate several who will end their careers with a claim to be the greatest in the history of their sport.

Headlining the awards for sportsman of year are the likes of Messi and Kylian Mbappe, whose battle in the World Cup final made for one of the greatest games of football in recent memory.

Nadal ended 2022 top of all-time list of men’s grand slam champions with 22 titles after victory in Australia and France, while Max Verstappen joins Messi and Nadal as past winners of the award on the 2023 shortlist after defending his Formula One world title.

The category is rounded out by Mondo Duplantis, who broke the pole vault world record on three occasions and won world titles indoors and out, and Steph Curry, who led the Golden State Warriors to a fourth NBA championship in eight years.

“It’s an honour to be nominated for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award,” Verstappen said. “Winning last year was an incredible moment for me: it is such a prestigious accolade, and it means even more when you’re up against the world’s best athletes.”

Breaking Mercedes’ stranglehold on the constructor’s championship has also earned Verstappen’s Oracle Red Bull Racing outfit a nomination in the team category.

Two athletes lead the race for the sportswoman of the year award, with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone nominated alongside Ledecky, whose four golds at the World Aquatics Championships took her total to 22, a record for a female swimmer.

Also in the running is Alexia Putellas, who led Barcelona to a perfect season in the Spanish league and claimed a second Ballon d’Or, while Mikaela Shiffrin regained her overall title at the Alpine Ski World Cup and Iga Swiatek emerged from 2022 as the undisputed No 1 in women’s tennis, winning in Paris and New York.

Fraser-Pryce has been nominated for a sixth time and said she continued to be inspired “by the wider Laureus movement and initiatives in celebrating the power of sports to change the world”.

The events of the Fifa World Cup feature in two other categories, with Morocco nominated for the breakthrough award and Argentina leading the list in the world team of the year award.

Athletes are not just celebrated for winning this year, with Tiger Woods and Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thomson both returning to the pinnacle of their respective sports after time out injured.

One of sport’s most inspiring athletes is also included, with Manchester United’s Christian Eriksen making a return to professional football after suffering cardiac arrest during a Euro 2020 match for Denmark.

In all, six nominees have been selected across seven categories, with five inspirational programmes also shortlisted for the Laureus Sport for Good Award.

The award winners in these categories, along with recipients of the awards presented at the discretion of the Laureus World Sports Academy, will be announced at the Laureus World Sports Awards in the spring.

Laureus award nominees

Sportsman of the Year: Steph Curry (USA) Basketball; Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) Athletics; Kylian Mbappé (France) Football; Lionel Messi (Argentina) Football; Rafael Nadal (Spain) Tennis; Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Motor Racing.

Sportswoman of the Year: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (Jamaica) Athletics; Katie Ledecky (USA) Swimming; Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (USA) Athletics; Alexia Putellas (Spain) Football; Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) Alpine Skiing; Iga Świątek (Poland) Tennis.

Team of the Year: Argentina men’s football; England women’s football; France men’s rugby; Golden State Warriors (USA) Basketball; Real Madrid (Spain) Football; Oracle Red Bull Racing.

Breakthrough of the Year: Carlos Alcaraz (Spain) Tennis; Tobi Amusan (Nigeria) Athletics; Nathan Chen (USA) Figure Skating; Morocco Men’s football team; Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) Tennis; Scottie Scheffler (USA) Golf.

Comeback of the Year: Francesco Bagnaia (Italy) Motor Cycling; Christian Eriksen (Denmark) Football; Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway) Athletics; Klay Thompson (USA) Basketball; Annemiek van Vleuten (Netherlands) Cycling; Tiger Woods (USA) Golf.

Sportsperson of the Year with a disability: Diede de Groot (Netherlands) Wheelchair Tennis; Catherine Debrunner (Switzerland) Para Athletics; Declan Farmer (USA) Para Ice Hockey; Cameron Leslie (New Zealand) Para Swimming and Wheelchair Rugby; Oksana Masters (USA) Para Cross-Country Skiing and Para Cycling; Jesper Saltvik Pedersen (Norway) Para Alpine Skiing.

Action Sportsperson of the Year: Justine Dupont (France) Big Wave Surfing; Stephanie Gilmore (Australia) Surfing; Eileen Gu (China) Freestyle Skiing; Chloe Kim (USA) Snowboarding; Rayssa Leal (Brazil) Skateboarding; Filipe Toledo (Brazil) Surfing.

Sport for Good Award: Boxgirls (Kenya) Boxing; High Five (Germany) Action Sports; Made For More (South Africa) Multi-sport; Slum Soccer (India) Football; TeamUp (Global) Movement.