Cuban Omara Durand Nominated for Laureus World Sports Awards

Cuban paralympic sprinter Omara Durand features among the nominees for the Laureus World Sports Awards Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability

Durand, who competes in the T12 category for visually impaired athletes, reduced her 100 meters record to 11.48 seconds at the World Athletics Championships in Doha. She also won the 200 and 400 meter sprints, breaking four world records at the event.

She clocked a time of 23.03 seconds in the 200m final, beating her own world record time (23.38), reached in the qualifying round. Two days prior, she had also broken the world record in the T12 400m event, with a time of 53.05 seconds, to secure her first title of the contest.

The Cuban also took first place in the 100, 200 and 400 meter events at the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto.

Also nominated in the disabled athletes category are Brazilian swimmer Daniel Dias, Liu Cuiqing of China, South Africa’s Pieter Du Preez and Leung Yuk Wing of Hong Kong. All hope to win the award, which will be presented in Berlin on April 18.

Argentine footballer Lionel Messi and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt are two of the nominees in the category of World Sportsman of the Year. Bolt, who has won the award three times (2009, 2010 and 2013) is the second most recognized sports personality, behind tennis player Roger Federer who has won four times (2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008).

Among the nominees for World Sportswoman of the Year are Ethiopian 1,500 meters world record holder, Genzebe Dibaba, Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and U.S. tennis star Serena Williams.