Anna van der Bregen was nominated for the Laureus Prize

Wed Feb 24, 2021 at 12:26 pm

Anna van der Bregen is a competitor in the “Athlete of the Year” category at the prestigious Laureus Awards. The Laureus Awards are considered one of the most important international awards in sports.

Van der Bregen owes her candidacy for a highly successful season in 2020. She won the gold medal in the time test and the road race at the World Cycling Championship in Imola. It has also dominated the Giro Rosa, the Walloon Arrow, the European Time Trial Championships and the Dutch road championships.

Van der Bregen could become the first Dutch winner of the most prestigious sports award, but the competition is not insignificant. It also received nominations for Kenyan athlete Brigid Kosje, Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka, French footballer Wendy Renard, Italian figure skating star Federica Brignoni and American basketball star Brianna Stewart.

Only four times before has a Dutch been nominated for Sportsman of the Year. Swimmer Inge de Bruijn was nominated in 2001, 2002 and 2004. Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel became the first Dutch contestant nominated in 2005. However, neither De Bruijn nor Van Moorsel won the award. Johan Cruyff (Lifetime Achievement Award) and Ester Vergeer (Handicapped Athlete of the Year) have already won the Laureus Award.

The only cyclists to have received an award at the Laureus Sports Gala before are Lance Armstrong and Egan Bernal. In 2000 Armstrong won the Return of the Year Award, and in 2003 he was named Worldwide Athlete of the Year. After admitting to doping, these awards were withdrawn from him again. Bernal won in the “Breakthrough of the Year” category last year.