World Marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge was pitted against legendary footballer, Barcelona's Lionel Messi, for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.
Laureus World Sports Awards recognises the best of the best in the world of sports and Kipchoge will battle out against the Ballon d’Or winner with the awardee being crowned in a prestigious ceremony in Berlin, Germany on February 17.
Motor Racing champion Lewis Hamilton (Britain), Motor Cycling champion Marc Marquez, Tennis veteran Rafael Nadal and Golf legend Tiger Woods will also be competing against Messi and Kipchoge.
The Kenyan was selected for achieving a historic fete when he became the first human to a full marathon in under 2 hours: (1:59:40) in Vienna, Austria on Saturday, October 12.
Kipchoge went on to win the 2019 World Athletics Male Athlete Of the Year, beating four other contestants to retain the award, during the World Athletics Gala in November 2019.
Messi was selected after he won the Ballon d’Or winner for a record sixth time.
In May 2019 he scored his 600th career goal for FC Barcelona.
With 36 goals in 2018/19, he was the top scorer in La Liga for the sixth time. In November he passed 40 goals in a year for the 11th time.
In 2019, Kipchoge was nominated for the award but lost to Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic.
The nominees were selected after the world’s sports media cast their votes.
