Scott Dixon, Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen and Courtney Duncan have been nominated for prizes at the 59th Halberg Awards ceremony.
The award honours elite sportspersons and celebrates their domestic and international sporting achievements.
Importantly, February’s prizegiving celebrates two years of sport because Covid-19 implications had last year’s traditional ceremony cancelled.
For Dixon, he is running for a third Sportsman of the Year medal.
He last won the hallowed prize in 2013 when he became a three-time IndyCar champion. Dixon was also the prize’s recipient in 2008 after winning a second IndyCar series and the Indy 500.
Should Dixon win a third Sportsman of the Year award, he’ll join an exclusive list of three-time champions, which includes Rob Waddell, Danyon Loader and Mahé Drysdale.
This year, Dixon finished fourth in the IndyCar championship and won his 51st career race in Texas. He also earned pole at the Indy 500 for the fourth time in his career.
Last year, Dixon won a sixth IndyCar title.
He is the third most winningest driver in IndyCar history and has won at least one race in the past 19 seasons.
McLaughlin joined Dixon in the U.S this season, making his full-time IndyCar debut.
His season highlight was finishing second in Texas, the same race Dixon won, and winning the Rookie of the Year prize.
Before that, McLaughlin dominated the 2020 Supercars Championship, winning 13 races and scoring a third consecutive series title.
McLaughlin was a finalist for Sportsman of the Year in the 2019 Halberg Awards.
In 2021, van Gisbergen asserted himself as the new force to be reckoned with in Australian and New Zealand motorsport.
He annihilated his opposition in the Supercars championship, securing a second series title with relative ease.
Earlier this year, he drove from the pitlane to win the New Zealand Grand Prix. And if that wasn’t enough, van Gisbergen won the 2020 Bathurst 1000 and the Battle of Jack’s Ridge.
Courtney Duncan has an easy case for her push for the Sportswomen of the Year award. She hasn’t lost in the two years since the last ceremony.
In 2020, Duncan won a second successive FIM women’s motocross world championship. She then backed it up with a third world crown 12 months later.
Duncan was a finalist for the 2019 prize, which was won by Lisa Carrington.
All nominees are eligible for the Supreme Award, presented to the country’s most excellent athlete, team or coach.
Formula 1 world champion Denny Hulme (1967) and six-time motorcycle speedway champion Ivan Mauger (1977 & ’79) are the only two winners of the Supreme Award from the motorsport discipline.
The Halberg Awards are on February 23, 2022.
