A spectacular year of sport has set up one of the most exciting contests ever for the 2010 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award. The major question in the world of sport is whether anyone can stop the phenomenal Usain Bolt winning a second straight Laureus Award.

The Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement during the period January 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009, are recognised as the premier honours on the international sporting calendar.

The names of the six Nominees for the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award, as voted by the Laureus Media Selection Panel, will be announced next month.

The eventual winners, chosen by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the ultimate sports jury made up of 46 of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen of all time, will be unveiled during a televised Awards Ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt followed his wonderful Olympic year with an equally spectacular 2009. At the World Championships in Berlin, Bolt won 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x100 metres relay gold medals, just as he had done in Beijing 12 months earlier. In the 100 metres, Bolt improved his world record with a time of 9.58 secs, taking over a tenth of a second off the previous record, the biggest ever margin of improvement since the introduction of electronic timing. He also won the 200 metres gold medal in a new world record time of 19.19 secs, breaking his own record by 0.11 secs.

Among the other favourites for Nomination is four-time Laureus winner Roger Federer. For him 2009 proved historic as he passed many tennis milestones. His victory over Robin Soderling at the French Open made him one of only six men to complete a career Grand Slam of Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open titles. His sixth Wimbledon victory in July, in which he beat American Andy Roddick, gave him a new record of 15 Grand Slam wins, overtaking the long-standing record of Pete Sampras. And at the US Open, Federer reached his 21st Grand Slam final, though he lost to Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro, breaking a streak of 40 consecutive US Open wins.

Hideki Matsui, 35, became the first Japanese-born baseball star to be named Most Valuable Player in the World Series after playing a key role in New York Yankees victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. It was a series in which he more than lived up to his nickname ‘Godzilla,’ hitting .615 (8 for 13) with three home runs and eight RBI, including a World Series record-tying six RBI performance in Game Six. His performance in the World Series has made him a gigantic sporting hero in Japan.

Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele established himself as one of the greatest distance runners of all time after another remarkable year in which he achieved the first ever 5,000 and 10,000 metres double in the World Athletics Championships, in Berlin. In a front line career of more than eight years, Bekele has never been beaten at 10,000 metres and he has won gold at that distance in four straight World Championships. His double success in Berlin followed an equally stunning 2008 when he became the first man in 25 years to win the 5,000 and 10,000 metres in the same Olympic Games.

Brilliant young Argentinean footballer Lionel Messi, 22, had his most successful season ever in 2008/09, scoring 38 goals and playing a crucial part in a glittering year for Barcelona in which they won three competitions - the UEFA Champions League, the Spanish League and the Spanish Cup. In the Champions League final in Rome, he scored the second goal to secure a 2-0 win over Manchester United. He was named FIFA World Player of the Year in December.

One of the greatest motor cycle racers of all time, Italy’s Valentino Rossi, won his seventh senior MotoGP World Championship in 2009. Now he is only one senior world title behind Laureus Academy member Giacomo Agostini who won eight. It was Rossi’s ninth world title in total having also won at 125cc in 1997 and 250cc in 1999. In 2008 Rossi had overtaken Agostini’s long standing career record of 68 500cc Grand Prix wins, and by the end of 2009 he had increased that total to 77.

Spain’s Alberto Contador, 27, won his second Tour de France in three years in 2009. Renowned as the best climbing specialist and stage racer in the world, Contador won Stage 15 by more than a minute from his closest rivals to first take the yellow jersey and by the finish had a lead of over four minutes. He beat Lance Armstrong, who had returned to cycling after four years, into third place.

Santonio Holmes, 25, was named Most Valuable Player for Pittsburgh Steelers in their 27-23 Super Bowl victory over Arizona Cardinals in February 2009. The wide receiver ensured the Steelers’ record sixth NFL Super Bowl win after catching a touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger with 35 secs left. He received the MVP accolade for his grandstand finish and his nine receptions for 131 yards.

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was named 2009 Cricketer of the Year in the International Cricket Council Awards. He took more than 90 wickets in his first 21 Test matches and averaged in the mid-30s with the bat. Johnson was discovered at a fast-bowling clinic in Brisbane at age 17, by former Australian fast-bowler Dennis Lillee who identified him as an ‘once-in-a-lifetime prospect’.

Rated No.1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world by the authoritative Ring magazine, Manny Pacquiao, 31, from the Philippines, became the first fighter to win seven world titles in seven different weight divisions when he beat Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto to win the WBO welterweight champion in November when the referee stopped the fight in the 12th round.

In 2009, American Michael Phelps was never going to match the previous year when he broke one of the most historic records in sport, in Beijing, winning eight gold medals at a single Olympiad to surpass Laureus Academy Member, Mark Spitz’s total of seven in 1972. However in the World Swimming Championships in Rome, Phelps who broke four world records continued his amazing accumulation of medals by collecting five gold and one silver.

Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen’s victory in the World Championships made him the first man in javelin history to be World, Olympic and European champion at the same time. In a dominant 2009, he took the world title in Berlin with a throw of 89.59 metres, and he also achieved the season’s best throw with 91.28 metres in Zurich in August.

Australia’s Craig Alexander, 35, joined the triathlon greats by winning the Hawaiian Ironman World Championship for the second straight year, becoming only the fourth man in history to successfully defend the title. Alexander had to overcome a 12 min deficit at the start of the marathon leg, but stormed back for a comfortable two minute victory. He completed the 140.6-mile event in 8 hrs 20 mins. During 2009, he also won ultimate triathlons in Boise, Geelong, Muskoka and Singapore.

Double Olympic gold medallist Edwin Moses, Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, said: “This promises to be a tremendous fight for this year's Laureus Awards. I can rarely remember a year, outside of the Olympic Games year, when there has been such a strong line-up of potential nominees in the Laureus Sportsman of the Year category. I think the world’s media will have a difficult job coming up with a list of just six from all the possible names and I think there is going to be quite a debate over the next few months about who should win.”