|
Competition will be particularly tight for Team USA female
Olympic athlete of the year with Williams, only the second woman
to win four straight Grand Slam titles twice, going up against
gymnastics dynamo Biles, who earlier this month claimed her
third consecutive world all-around title in 2015.
Also in the running is Katie Ledecky, the first swimmer to win
the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500-metre freestyle events at the world
championships.
Other contenders include triathlete Gwen Jorgensen, who won her
second consecutive world title in 2015 to become the first
triathlete ever – man or woman – to complete an undefeated
season with 12 straight World Triathlon Series wins, and
wrestler Adeline Gray, who won her third world title at 75 kg.
Ligety became the second-most decorated U.S. skier in world
championships by winning his third successive giant slalom world
title on home snow in Beaver Creek in February and will be up
against decathlete Ashton Eaton, who scored a world record 9,045
points in claiming gold at the 2015 world championships.
Other finalists include wrestler Jordan Burroughs, who went
undefeated to claim his third world title in the men’s freestyle
74 kg. division in 2015, and skeet shooter Vincent Hancock, the
third man to win three world championship titles and first to
post a perfect world-record score of 157.
The awards winners will be announced on Dec. 10 during
ceremonies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto. Editing by Larry Fine)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
|
