Jamaica’s multiple World and Olympic Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is the winner of the prestigious Laureus World Sportswoman-of-the-Year award.
The Jamaican sprint queen topped five other nominees shortlisted for the award – the others being US 400 metres hurdles star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone; Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek; Spanish footballer Alexia Putellas; US alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin and US swimmer Katie Ledecky.
It’s Fraser-Pryce’s first time winning the award in her sixth nomination, which comes on the heels of her record-breaking season in which she claimed her fifth world 100m title and her fifth Diamond League trophy.
The 10-time world champion ran a world-leading 10.62 seconds and a historic seven sub-10.70 races in the event this season, the most by any woman in the history of athletics.
In the meantime, Argentine football legend Lionel Messi was named Laureus World Sportsman-of-the-Year, the maestro having led his country to a World Cup title last December.
Messi beat out the likes of Dutch driver Max Verstappen; PSG teammate Kylian Mbappe; NBA star Steph Curry; tennis star Rafael Nadal and pole vault maestro Armand Mondo Duplantis to win the award. (Jamaica Observer)