Kiwi Paralympian Cameron Leslie has been nominated for the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards, after an outstanding year in the pool and on the court.
The dual athlete is a finalist in the Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability category, after winning gold and three silver medals at the world para-swimming championships, setting a world-best time in the men's 50m freestyle S4.
Leslie, 33, also co-captained the Wheel Blacks at the wheelchair rugby world championships in Demark, leading his team to an eighth-placed finish.
The gold-medal winner from the Beijing, London, and Rio Paralympics has also been prominent outside competition, working for Swimming New Zealand as disability and para-swimming manager.
Leslie is up against Swiss wheelchair racer Catherine DeBrunner, US para-ice hockey star Declan Farmer, Dutch wheelchair tennis ace Diede de Groot, Norwegian para-skier Jesper Saltvik Pedersen and US para-skier Oksana Masters.
He would become just the fifth Kiwi to win a Laureus award, joining sailor Sir Peter Blake (2002), motocross rider Levi Sherwood (2011), rugby star Dan Carter (2016) and the 2016 All Blacks.
Meanwhile, no other NZ athletes have been nominated for 2022, with the World Cup-winning Black Ferns, snowboarder Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and golfer Lydia Ko all overlooked.
