World Marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei is running against four-time Tennis Grand Slum Champion Naomi Osaka for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award.
The Kenyan athlete will also battle with the likes of Dutch cyclist Anna Van Der Breggen, French footballer Wendie Renard, Basketball MVP Award winner Breanna Stewart and World Cup Skiing champion Federica Brignone.
Kosgei was nominated for successfully defending her London Marathon title where she missed her 2019 world record by a three-minute margin. Kosgei clocked in 2:18:58 in the 2020 London Marathon as opposed to 2:14:04 she had set in the previous year.
Osaka, on the other hand, was selected for bagging her second US Open in 2020, her third Grand Slum at the age of 22 years.
Laureus World Sports Awards recognises the cream of the crop in the world of sports - arguably regarded as the 'Oscars' of the sports industry. The nominees were selected after the world’s sports media cast their votes. The winners will be announced in May 2021 in a virtual Award ceremony.
"After a challenging year, we are more determined than ever to ensure that Laureus honours the men and women who made such an effort to return to sport, in many cases in a very different environment and without spectators. They gave everybody an emotional lift at a difficult time," chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy Sean FitzPatrick said.
Recently, the tennis queen beat US veteran and star Serena Williams in the semi-finals of the Australia Open.
Osaka is currently the reigning champion of the US Open and Australian Open. Kosgei is in line to be the second Kenyan to win the annual international award after Vivian Cheruiyot bagged the award in 2012.
The last Kenyan to receive the nomination was World Marathon Record Holder Eliud Kipchoge who went up against international icons such as legendary footballer and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and Motor Racing Champion Lewis Hamilton last year.
Kipchoge was selected for the prestigious award after achieving a historic fete by becoming the first athlete to run a full marathon in under 2 hours (1:59:40) in Vienna, Austria on October 12, 2019.
Further, Kipchoge had won 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.
