The Halberg Foundation has announced 26 finalists for six categories at the 57th ISPS Handa Halberg Awards – New Zealand’s pre-eminent event to celebrate and honour sporting achievements from 2019.

The ISPS Handa Halberg Awards judges reviewed 70 nominations from National Sports Organisations to create the shortlist, recognising achievements from 1 December 2018 to 30 November 2019. 

Seventeen finalists in the Sportswoman, Sportsman, Team and Para athlete/team categories are all eligible for the supreme Halberg Award – the country’s highest accolade for sporting excellence.

Last year’s High Performance Sport New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year canoe racer Lisa Carrington is a finalist again after a successful 2019 which saw her claim two world titles.

Laura Langman, captain of the Netball World Cup winning Silver Ferns team, makes the shortlist along with Zoi Sadowski-Synnott who produced New Zealand’s first Snowboarding World Championships gold medal. Courtney Duncan is also a contender after her Motocross World Championship win.

Queenstown’s Alice Robinson is nominated in the Sky Sport Emerging Talent category which features of a group of young athletes who achieved big things in 2019 including; Robinson who won gold in the giant slalom at the FIS Alpine World Cup and swimmer Erika Fairweather who earned the 200m freestyle gold at the FINA Junior World Championships.

The winners will be announced at the 57th ISPS Handa Halberg Awards ceremony on Thursday February 13, 2020 at Spark Arena in Auckland.

The Awards were created by Olympic champion Sir Murray Halberg (ONZ) in 1963 to honour sporting excellence and as a major fundraiser for the Halberg Foundation – his charity which aims to enhance the lives of physically disabled young New Zealanders by enabling them to participate in sport and recreation.