Caster nominated for world sportswoman of the year

THE nominees of the 2018 Laureus World Sports Awards were announced yesterday, and SA’s Caster Semenya will face off against 2017 Wimbledon champion, Garbie Muguruza, as well as an all-American quartet led by tennis superstar Serena Williams in the World Sportswoman of the Year category.

Besides the irrepressible Williams and Muguruza‚ Semenya will also have to contend with 16-time world athletics championship medalist Allyson Felix‚ 19-year-old swimming sensation Katie Ledecky and Overall World Cup champion skier Mikaela Shiffrin in the hotly contested category.

Semenya‚ who eased to the 800m women’s gold medal in the 2016 Olympic Games‚ added the gold medal in the same event to her burgeoning collection in last year’s world championships in London.

Semenya also won bronze in the women’s 1 500m at the same World Championships.

Roger Federer’s return to form after a knee injury‚ which saw him win his fifth Australian Open and eighth Wimbledon titles‚ earned him nominations in both the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year and the Laureus World Comeback of the Year categories.

World championships 10 000m gold and 5 000m silver medal-winning athlete Mo Farah‚ four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome‚ fourtime Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and French and US Open champion Rafael Nadal join Federer and Ronaldo in the World Sportsman of the Year category.

The winners‚ as voted for by members of the Laureus World Sports Academy‚ will be revealed in Monaco on February 27.