RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, CMC-Top Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are among athletes in the running for the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards 2013.

Bolt and Fraser-Pryce have been shortlisted along with a glittering collection of the world’s greatest Olympic and Paralympic stars which also includes the British lawn tennis player Andy Murray, the American swimmer Michael Phelps and Serena Williams, the American lawn tennis star.

Bolt is aiming for his third Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award after he repeated his success in Beijing by winning gold medals in all three sprint events in London – 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay.

The nominations for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award are all dominated by the Olympics.

Fraser-Pryce, the fastest woman on earth after successfully defending her 100m Olympic title, is in competition with Britain’s Jessica Ennis, who won the heptathlon gold in front of an ecstatic home crowd.

Also nominated are non-Olympians Sebastian Vettel, winner of a third-straight Formula One World Championship and the charismatic footballer Lionel Messi, nominated for the fourth- straight time.

The nominations were announced during a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.

The Laureus World Sports Awards, which recognise sporting achievement during the calendar year 2012, are the premier honours on the international sporting calendar.

The winners, as voted 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 at a globally televised awards ceremony staged in Rio de Janeiro on March 11.